THE Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29, 1879. WHOLESALEDBRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 87, 29 October 1879, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29, 1879. WHOLESALEDBRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.

.'AWordi are tliiiigs, aud * 'drop^if'inlc fallinß'iike " dew npon a thought, produces t!.:it which makes thoijsapds, perhapsmtltiws think."

From the disreputable cpnduot of .the i;SAi.irfAdrpinistrat'ion veyer since: the* h tiii&tf -T&mlrtMrttei^ iirsuir ceeded m grasping the reins of po wer i :wexwei?e\^rep£wed; j;cL ftnd jit proceeding to extreme measures before being driven from the Treasury benches ; but m pur .wildest specula^tOTis~wreTieTer:could~bave~imagined it^would be guilty of the bare-faced arid Jfoffatiiqiis cojru ptjon y^hich just been exposed. The Legislature very properly punishesi a Candidate vvhftjTOayj.gain an entranc,e Jnto the House through bribery, by nuHifyins: his election, and relegating him back t ,to )i}s farmer .. obscurity, but what- pufiishraent -could be severe enough for Ministers of the Crown who would seek to retain place and pay by openly • b'arterin^for the votigs thei^siljipbrter^ Ih^he first case of the would-be legislator 'pays out of his own vpocket the price of his ambitious la«pirations j m the other, the unscrupulous Minister whom fate has pitchforked into possession of chest, dips shis,; hands into the publio'Coffers, and squanders the revenue of the, colony for his own personal purposes and t aggraui disement. "The scandalous announcemade m the House on Eriday night by Mr^-BTSAJD^WoODL'that he < and three of his Auckland confreres had '.' ra tted from their party, sworn allegiance to the Hall Goyeinment, and that the price of their, treaohery wall half a 1 millipn ;of .;money, might well take the House, by surprise, and cause members of both sides of the Ghamber "to receive the. statement with wonder and disgust— wonder, ttat' any --Go^ernfiienf :^ Would Qpenjly parade its .corruption, and disgust at the mean, paltry tools who had bartered their honor and honesty for a miserable mess of pottage. The one party; has proved to the House and the country how untrustworthy.they are for the high posi-. tion they occupy, and to what vn t scrupnlpus. tends t the, funds rof the colony. would be devafcecl ; while the other have signed their political death-warrant and ostraeisatipn by. eyGry man of honoxable inetincts., be;; ; he. friend , 01^ oe -^ r - Reader , tVjijOD ■ jyill now and forever- vimore 1 occupy the 'high e»i* nifche 0 amowgßt colonial notorieties, but His fame^-. like .' (that :X)fo:hjs a greai^pwto^pj^ JiH)A'B 'IfeCARIOT— WiII not "Diß of "a very . pleasing or enviable nature. There were tvvo acts m the tragedy feco'rded jji Bibli(jal history, and the sooner the Waitemata Eat finishes, the programme^ and disappears from tlib gaS;e |6f- all honorable men, tfee. better/ ; Jtidasj aoldzhiss; master for thirty pieces of stive r, but jn^atonement for his black-hearted- treachery he made the only recompense m, his power—^he dicl not burden the earth long with his presence? ;fpy hevfprtbwith went and hanged himiself'..i His Colonial counterpart fuily equalled him m duplicity and treachery,; but ~ym fear -he lacks the "courage vto v r,id_ the VHo use of.' hiw pestilential presence, and shooild he suffer pbliticaT ' stran^ulatip,n, the; operation will be no he, of his -own seeking^ Although the i moral atmos-

phere of the Legislature will be tainted so long as those notorious roclen ts, haunt the chamber, their uitiipate...condeirmatioa and punishment will- lie with the constituencies they have outraged and eternally dishonored-. Truly has it been said that " the way of the transgressor is hard/ aud the: feelings of the renegades, Jean \.bp£ better imagined than envied; sat pilloried m their seats^ while members on both sides : pf- ; tlve»^p®ur.led.. denunciation^ and invective at the cowering trai-, tors,. There they sat, tongue-tied and spell-bound, while speaker after speaker — Maori as well as Whiteman — descanted upon conduct happily without parallel or precedent m Colonial history. To the archtraitor alone was allotted the whitewashing: process, and if cool brazen effrontery could "■ have succeeded, JVfr. Rea.der Wood would have carried the ; day as it was, he merely proved his undoubted right to be the spokesman of the gang, being utterly devoid of shame, and glorying m his duplicity and treachery. The contemptible subterfuge invented, to the effect that the quartette had deserted the Liberal party 'because of the dethronement of Sir G-eorge Grey, was most convincingly exposed by Mr. Reid, who taunted Mr. Reader Wood with not only exhibiting at every caucus an earnest dgstae-to get -i»id;bf^the4eadjership ofr the ".member for "the Thames*/ but actually proved that he was the very man who proposed Mr. Macandrew as leader of the party," Had the Government sought to .effect . the rhappy dispatch," or commit political s\iicsde, it could not have proceeded m a more effectual manner, as for each one of the four new adherents they will lose at least -three times the number, and an index of what they may expect can be gleaned from tbje utterance of '.") Major Te WvHEObo, who said he had been : m Huce'd to go over to the! Auckland side by Mr. Swansbrij whlbm- he looked upon as being the only true 'man 1 amongst the Auckland party, Afc 'the same rate that these four Auckland members were bought it would cost £2,000,Q00 to buy the whole of the Auckland members. / He did -not think jthpy./set a good example "tb.fhe ßlj&ori members. He had heard before of the hon. member for Auckland^ that the prow ol his canoe swayed from side to side. It was the hon. nieinber- for Waiteraata whq hadj himself ; appointed. .Mr.Macaodrew leader of the ; (Xp position i ' But it is not m the House alone that Mr. Hall will find that his unblushing^bribery.has alienated support and raised; up opponents, i The y New Zealand Times," hitherto a mo.st,p,er-. "sistent, red-hot, thiolc-and-thin supporter! of the Tories>of'whoinxhe is •_th_e :lea<ler, has come to the conclusion that even a highly- ; C6nservative Ministry is not a : , blessing, if the price to be paid for" it" is "£500,000, and m a cleverly-written • article, which we produce points '6 dt the' gross injustice, which would 'bo perpetrated were, the promise made 1 to the Auckland Four, redeemed. To, the eternal credit of the other members fnonvthat Provincial District be it told tha,t they indignantly denounced the conduct of the renegades, and " stigmatised the unholy oampact entered into, as a scandal and disgrace, reflecting elisi honor, and ob,liquy alike upon the culprits themselves- and- the constituencies who had the misfortune to .elect them.