THE HON. THOMAS FRASER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5685, 19 June 1879, Page 3

THE HON. THOMAS FRASER.

(From the Lyttdton Times.) Captain Fraser is another representative of the military class. He has a kind heart and inflammable temper. But Captain Fraser is not superficial or obscure. He is well read, is fond of natural science, has a good knowledge of the world, and bis mind, when it is not carried away by its natural impetuosity, is logical and sensible. His fault lies in his fervor. His Highland blood boils too fiercely in his veins. He carries too much steam for the size of his engines. The result is that when he should pause he is precipitate, and his machinery is constantly breaking down. He is the embodiment of exaggeration—

Railing and praising are his usual themes. And both to show his judgment in extremes ; So over-violent or over-civil, That every man with him was God or devil. Captain Fraser does occasionally get hold of a subject on which his excessive energy does not expend itself in vain. He has done much good in repeatedly bringing before the Council the defective state of our gaols and lunatic asylums. It was difficult for him even to exaggerate the evils of the latter, and we owe much of their improvement to his persistent efforts in that direction. Another subject respecting which he had not so good a case, and on which he wasted a large superfluity of steam, was the Jackson’s Bay Settlement. He was in communication with some unfortunate Italians, fato profugi, whom Sir Julius Vogel had located iu a corner of the district, and who were utterly unsuitable to the place. Captain Fraser’s sympathy was roused, and he not only condemned the whole settlement, but he denounced its promoters and managers iu unmeasured terms. His charges were of a grave character, and his utterance of them was fiery and vehement. No one, we are sure, will be more glad than he is if, as is currently reported, the result of the recent Commission of Enquiry proves that the personal charges so freely made against men in authority in connnectiou with the settlement are wholly unfounded. Captain Fraser, with all bis impulsiveness, is every inch a gentleman, and is as ready to retract when he finds himself in the wrong as he is energetic in assault when he imagines himself in the right. He is the Quixote of debate. He is the champion of distress, and the sworn foe of oppression. His misfortune is to believe vagrant wenches to be noble damsels in captivity, and to mistake windmills for giants. We cannot compliment him on his style of speaking. It is spasmodic and effervescent. He boils and bubbles for a few minutes, and then suddenly subsides. But Captain Fraser, with all his failings, is an estimable and useful member. The Council could better spare a better man. We prefer honest earnestness, though it may be often in the wrong, to cold-blooded indifference, which is never in the right.