THOSE NEWSPAPERS.

Patea Mail, 9 August 1881, Page 3

THOSE NEWSPAPERS.

There is one public man in the colony who “ never reads the newspapers.” Who can it be ? It is the Honorable William Rolleston, Minister of Lands, Acting Minister of Native Affairs* Minister of Mines, etcetera. That which is the daily solace,' and newsbearer, and educator, and stimulator, to the ordinary man, is to Mr Rolleston a thing unknown, or contemned, or put aside as a corrupter of his rigid integrity. When Mr Rolleston makes up his mind to do a certain thing, he might unmake his mind and leave that thing undone, if he read the newspapers. They might tell him something he didn’t;know, and so alter his purpose. Mr Rolleston prefers not to know anything that newspapers can tell him, and so he is never troubled with second thoughts, never worried with other men’s ideas, never disturbed in that serene little world which is all his own. They say Mr Rolleston is honest; that he is upright and unchanging. Poor Mr Rolleston 1 Newspapers are to him the erabletns of original sin, ; he never has the luxury of resisting temptation to do evil, because those evil newspapers never get near to tempt him. He lives in a palace of truth. He never requires to learn from newspapers, for worldly knowledge is sin, and ignorance is the only bliss. If he read a newspaper, it might give him a new idea, and of course the official mind cannot be troubled with new ideas.' What delightful company Mr Rolleston must be, seeing no newspapers, and knowing nothing new J He would be a great catch for a dinner party—an official Rip Van Winkle, brim-ful of the knowledge of a dead age. To him the sights and sounds of old time would still be the sights and sounds of to-day. The world changes not, because Mr Rolleston does not change. That which makes other men happy makes him miserable. The secret of happiness is to know nothing. Happy Mr Rolleston 1