THE APOTHEOSIS OF FISHER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8345, 4 February 1913, Page 6

THE APOTHEOSIS OF FISHER

The sunshine of marvellous good fortune appears to be descending in abundant measure on the heads of the good people of the West Coast, they have reached an important epoch in their lives, which is a matter upon which they are to bo warmly congratulated, and it goes without saying that they are duly grateful to the beneficent influences that havo created this epoch. To speak more plainly, the Hon. F. 51. B. Fisher has graciously condescended to visit them in their remote isolation at Kumara, to display himself uud his marvellous gifts of oratory and statesmanship for their admiration, and to accept from them the fragrant adulation and appropriate self-abasement to which ho is becoming so accustomed, but which, nevertheless, is so distasteful to such a modest and self-effacing individual. All this and a great deal more wo read in the columns of the squatters’ journal, per special telegram, from the pen of an individual who was onco an abandoned Liberal, but who has since repented of his political misdeeds, and is now “ reformed ” and seated at th© feet of the incomparable Fisher. The story reads like a chapter from “Alice in Wonderland.” Mr Fisher, we are told, dealt with the “ follies and sins ” of the lato Liberal Administration with “the gloves off,’’ which was somewhat rash and indiscreet of him. We mean leaving the gloves off, which is calculated to worry his patrons the Hawke’s Bay squatters, who have been initiating him into the niceties of squatocratic etiquette. However, being a political gentleman with peculiarly clean- hands, and being amongst West Coasters who havo not rubbed shoulders with the squatters of Hawke’s Bay, the absence of those gloves was immaterial. Such a speech had never been heard before, we are told, and wo are quite prepared to believe it. There is only one F. M. B. .Fisher, and we are glad of it, so that it is to be hoped the people of the West Coast sufficiently appreciate the condescending magnanimity that prompted such an unprecedented flight of oratory for their .education and enlightenment. It goes without saying that they were profoundly impressed. The veracious narrator tells ns the speech exercised such a startling effect upon the West Coasters that forthwith they yielded up the misleading Liberal principles they had hugged to their deluded hearts for twenty odd years, and instantly became Reformers for the rest of their lives. Sad that such convincing rhetoric should be wasted in the wilds of the West Coast when there are so many slaughtermen, and Waihi Federationists and other people of equally open mind waiting to be convinced by the political gospel according to the persuasive Fisher. “ Old residents declared that the speech excelled everything that had ever been delivered there.” From our knowledge of F. M. 'B. Fisher, this may bo readily believed. Certainly, Sir George Grey delivered occasional speeches on the West Coast, and he was accounted something of an orator in those days, but th© fact that the Hon. F. M. B. so easily, and emphatically surpassed him implies no reflection on the oratorical powers of Sir George Grey. It simply adds additional and well-merited lustre to the name of the immortal Fisher. “ Th© young generation,” w© are told, “ were delighted with Mr Fisher’s frankness.” However, this is a superfluous bouquet. The young people have repeatedly been delighted with his frankness, and more particularly on the lawn tennis courts, yrhen his partner was not playing up -jib Mr Fisher’s standard of skill. Oh, yes, Mr Fisher’s frankness has already made a name for itself, and w© are pleased that the young people oi the West Coast found it so charming.' And that meeting of old-timers, where Mr Fisher, with the nowspaper-ercated halo around his head, sat at the “ identical table from which the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon once ruled the destinies of Kumara.” But wo must desist. The unconscious humour of the situation, but withal the pathos of it, is overwhelming. Of course, the writer of this delightful adulation never heard the story of the live ass in the dead lion’s skin.