New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY:) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4984, 14 March 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY:) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1877.

Mr. Travers, in addressing the electors at the Foresters’ Arms Hotel on Monday evening, impugned the accuracy of our report of the address which he had previously delivered at St, George’* Hall. He quoted from one of the evening papers what he was pleased to call the “ exact words ” ho used on that occasion when speaking on the education question, and said that he had been misrepresented by the New Zealand Times. Now we may inform Mr. Travers that wo are perfectly satisfied as to the competence of our reporters to take down the “exact words ” used by him regarding education, or anything else; but at the same time we consider it necessary to let him know that ho has found a mare’s nest this time, and that the report from which he quoted was exactly the same as that , which appeared in the Times some hours before his evening paper was published.

In fact the reporter of the evening paper in question had simply clipped from the Times Mr. Travers’ remarks on education as they appeared in our report, and sent them in to the printer. We shall not accuse Mr. Travers of endeavoring to misrepresent us, but we must express a decided opinion that he not read our report when he referred to it in terms of condemnation on Monday night. Anyone who is curious on the subject has only to compare the report read by Mr. Travers from the evening paper with ours, and he will find that one is an exact reprint of the other, and yet Mr. Travers eulogises the one and deprecates the other ! So much for Mr. Travers’ talk about “ misrepresentation.” It is unfortunate that Mr. Travers should, according to his own account, be continually suffering from misrepresentation. It is singular that somehow or another he is never correctly reported. Perhaps this may arise from the fact that when correctly reported he does not always approve of what he himself said. Reflection makes him object to his own language, and his memory failing to serve him, ho begins to think that he never used the language attributed to him. He very much resembles the French people, who whenever their armies suffer a defeat raise at once the cry of “ treachery.” In all dilemmas Mr. Travers has recourse to one excuse—“misrepresentation.” We tell him plainly that lie has never been misrepresented in the New Zealand Times, that with regard to his utterances on the education question wo are satisfied as to the accuracy of our report, and as to the justice of our remarks thereon; and that, finally, if Mr. Travers would be a little more definite in speaking his political opinions, would bo simply plain and straightforward, and not endeavor to make up by vehemence for his tendency to speak obscurely, he would render himself less liable to be thought to talk equivocally, and would not have to complain of “ misrepresentation.” But if anyone has to complain of misrepresentation that one is surely Mr: Hutchison. In his speech last night he referred to the cruel manner in which some writers had endeavored to malign him in connection with the plans for the Town Hall. It is not too much to say that the most audacious falsehoods have been circulated in reference to this affair, and for electioneering purposes of the very worst description certain partizans of Mr. Travers have endeavored to make out that the adoption of a particular plan for the Town Hall was due to the influence of the Mayor. As Mr. Hutchison said, this was a pure fiction, and a mere election dodge from first to last, and as such the electors will treat it. In one thing it will be impossible fortunately to misrepresent Mr, Hutchison Last night ho said plainly that he would work cordially with the present representative of Wellington; and an elector hit the right nail on the head when he said that it would be impossible for Mr. Travers to work cordially with anyone.