POLITICAL CONSISTENCY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5795, 25 October 1879, Page 3

POLITICAL CONSISTENCY.

In an article referring to views formerly expressed by the Colonist, and commenting on the very remarkable, not to say unaccountable change of opinion shown by the hon. member for Waimea, the Nelson Evening Mail of Saturday last says ; It is Mr. Macandrew, the late Minister for Public Works, and possibly the coming Premier who is thus alluded to. Having shown that, instead of £57,337, but £9726 was fairly chargeable to Nelson, from which the writer argues that the Minister could not have been actuated either by common honesty or even common sense in making such a statement, the Colonist proceeds to make a capital hit at Mr. Macandrew’s expense in the following words : —“ Last year he said, I have no desire to be pilleried, as I have been, and continue to be, by the Press in that part of the colony. What ought he to expect ? The pillory was an ancient institution iu England, often used to correct those bearing false witness against their neighbors, and Mr. Macandrew rightly refers to it as the fitting instrument whereby his assertions to the prejudice of Nelson are punished.”

The late M nister tor Public Works and the expectant Premier is the gentleman who, on the 19th of August, the editor of the Colonist thought ought to be pilloried. The writer then proceeds to assure his readers that “ the revolting catalogue of misstatements might be prolonged,” and that it contained items “that must be quoted as an outrageous example of what a desperate trickster may resort to.” This is the respectful manner in which the editor of the Colonist spoke of the late Minister for Public Works and the now expectant Premier on the 19th August last. And now we come to the final paragraph in this article, in which, after producing indictment after indictment against Mr. Macandrew, the editor of the Colonist proceeds to pronounce sentence in the following words : “ Language cannot express the loathing every honest man must feel at such an insult to Parliament and country as a Minister placing figures before them as true with the deliberate intent to deceive and lead astray.” ! ! ! To be loathed by every honest man ! It is a terrible sentence, but one of which the editor of the Colonist honestly thought Mr. Macandrew to be deserving. But tbe curious part of it is that a very few weeks later the judge who thus severely condemned the late Minister for Public Works, and now expectant Premier, was found voting with him. Now, no one who knows Mr. Shephard would for a moment believe that he would vote for a man whom he loathed, consequently it is fair to assume that he does not loathe Mr. Macandrew, and therefore, upon the showing of the editor of the Colonist, Mr. Shephard cannot be —but the inference is so palpable that we will not insult the intelligence of our readers by pointing it out.. Mr. Macandrew reads the Nelson papers. We know that, because he speaks of having been pilloried by the Press of the district, and it is therefore more than probable that he saw the Colonist's article of the 19th of August. How the wily old Soot must chuckle after every interview with Mr. Shephard when he hinks of the then and the now, and reflects hat among hia present supporters is included one who but a very few weeks ago could not find terms sufficiently opprobrious in which to write of him. This is the amusing feature in the case, but it has also a serious side, and one that cannot be lightly passed over. It is this. Can a representative be doing justice to his constituents, or to the country at laige, when he by his vote assists to retain in office a man whom he himself regards as “ the incarnation of sham and shoddy," “a bearer of false witness against his neighbors,” “a desperate trickster,” and one whose actions have been such as to excite the “ loathing of every honest man ?”