THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5456, 21 September 1878, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

(From the Dunedin Evening Star, Sept. 11.) It is a pity that the Attorney-General cannot manage occasionally to drop his very unfortunate habit of “ special pleading” upon every possible subject, and under all manner of circumstances, opportune or otherwise. Nobody expects that a lawyer, in arguing his case, should set forth the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but tbf truth. If he is in the wrong, it is essentially his business to bamboozle the Court or jury if he can; and if he is in the right, the least said the better. The object is narrowed down to the fine point of obtaining a judgment—a verdict in his favor; complete ingenuousness would stamp him as unfit for his business. Gentlemen of the Bar, however, are not wont to carry their professional consciences into social or public life; and although politicians are allowed great license it is expected that they shall be truthful according to their lights. They may distort theories, but they must not misrepresent facts; they may consistently break their promises, but with regard to the past they should be particular in not allowing imagination to supersede memory or record. The Hon. Robert Stout, especially since he ha been distinguished by that prefix so obnoxious in the eyes of bis great chief, seems to have found it impossible to make a plain straightforward statement on any subject. If lo interviews a deputation he beats about ti.-,. bush, and, so to say, dodges the questions. When he makes a great speech he envelopes 'is subjects in such a web of subtle sophistry that one does not know where to have him or what he is at. His manner is pleasing when he chooses, and the words fall not nnmelodiously from his lips, so that at the time of ’utterance he pleases the crowd ; but when an attempt is made to analyse his meaning and put together what ho has been pleased to tell his audience, it is found, as notably at the Queen's Theatre meeting before the session, that nobody is the wiser with regard to what the Government really intend, and that as regards the speaker himself he may be written down as a constitutional conservative democratic radical —a hybrid of his own creation, whose political proclivities are sufficiently uncertain to be dangerous. It must not be supposed for a moment that Mr. Stout is not thoroughly in earnest ; he is so in maintaining himself and his party in lower; and it is indeed to' this purpose le devotes his rare intellectual powers and the practical skill which has deservedly won him eminence at the bar. More homely powers, we conceive, would win him greater eminence in public life. A character fordisingenuousness will gradually, if he docs not care to shako it off, eat out the very heart of his popularity and prestige ; and the absence of generosity so notably : displayed on late occasions towards political opponents will do much to weaken his prompt waning influence in and out of Parliament. The banquet on Saturday was made the occasion for Mr. Stout to deliver himself in his very worst style. No doubt both himself and bis colleague were naturally irritated to find that they were not in the position of “ first fiddles,” and especially at the enthusiasm with which the name _ of Sir Julius Vogel was. received. This is kio excuse, however, for the exceedingly bad taste displayed, and the almost vicious attempt to detract from the very obvious merits of the initiator of the Public Works scheme, which characterised both Ministers. Mr. Fisher certainly was only an imperfect telephonic refrain of his colleague. HJs tinfoil was not so perfect as if it had been of brass. He did his beat, but broke down. There was great method and ingenuity in the way the AttorneyGeneral put his case, contriving as he did that a delicate compliment to Mr. F. J. Moss, a new and red-hot supporter, Provincialiat, Separationiat,‘ tod Liberal, should glance off the weapon with a back-handed sweep of which he sought to annihilate the fame of Sir Juhus: — This evening I amused myself by looking up eomd io ld : volumes of the Votes and Proceeding# of the Provincial Council, and if one were to go through them ho would see that some oS the men now lauded for their railway enterprise were once deadly opposed to railway censtructlon. But, sir, there is a time for everything, and I am glad that there is here to-night a gentleman who moved in our Provincial Council the first practical resolution on the subject of railway, enterprise in Otago. I mean Mr. Frederick Moss. It was he, who, in 1863, moved for a commission of inquiry into the necessity of two lines of railway—one from Dunedin to the Clutha, and the.other from Dunedin to Fort Chalmers. At a subsequent session lie insisted that ’ for the opening up of this country properly wo should construct light railways into tho interior. It is

now fourteen years since that scheme was agitated, and this Ministry has gone on proposing that that scheme should be carried out. I mention this to show you that, after all, Ministers can only register what I might terra the resolutions which public opinion has come to before they have taken office.”

This brief • extract conveys really the venom of the speech. “Some of the men now lauded for their railway enterprise were once deadly opposed to railway construction." The impression intended to be conveyed is that Sir Julias was one of those “ deadly opponents.” Now we have taken the trouble to consult the Provincial Council bluebooks, and we find that Mr. Stout has stated what to some extent is true, but by no means the whole truth. In the session of 1862, before Mr. Moss bad a seat in the Council, the committee on “Survey, Engineer, and Road Departments,” of which Mr. J. L. Gillies was chairman, recommended in the report that “ a thoroughly competent civil engineer ” should he sent for from Britain for the special service of laying down main trunk lines of communication throughout the province ; and in 1863 the same committee, in their report brought up ou September 8, and adopted on the motion of Mr. Gillies two days later, especially raised the question of “ railway communication,” suggesting “ that the time had arrived when it should be considered.” Mr. Hardy, on September 9, moved a resolution to the effect that the civil engineer selected in Great Britain should be instructed to commence his work of laying off the permanent lines of communication, so that the Government might “at once reserve from sale such lands as may be required for railways and ferry reserves.” This was negatived upon a division ; and, oddly enough for Mr. Stout’s argument, we find amongst the ayes the name of Mr. Vogel, and amongst the noes those of Mr. Moss, Mr. Maoaudrew, and Mr. Reynolds. Nearly a fortnight afterwards Mr. Moss certainly did move two strings of resolutions relative to railway construction, but it was understood that lie did so rather as a member of the select committee upon “Roads and their construction" than iu his individual capacity. He may possibly, however, have been laying the foundation, which he afterwards established, of that influence with the country party which he afterwards used for party purposes. At all events, during his long career of office we heard no more of railways to the Wakatipu, or of “the commission” upon the subject of interior railway communication generally. Mr. Moss is an excellent citizen, and has borne his part in the labor of the early days ; but he did not directly orindirectly originate the Public Works scheme, and no one knows this better than Mr. Stout. “ Honor to whom honor is due!” Such paltry attempts at depreciation only reflect upon those who condescend to use them. Julius Vogel will, we predict, he a name in the history of New Zealand when even the mischief done by the “Liberal” Ministry is forgotten, and the names of its members are as if they had never been.