WHO "SHOT HIM?”

Patea Mail, 28 December 1881, Page 3

WHO "SHOT HIM?”

When Mr Bryce said that “a” special correspondent shot him (by word and wish, of course) all the “ specials ” were expected to give some account of their behaviour at Parihaka. But instead of denying the impeachment, “ Ruffian ” in the Wellington Herald, and “ Ipse dixit ” in the Evening Post both claim the questionable honor. “ Ruffian ” writes : “ On the evening of the day upon which Parihaka was invested, one of the array, bellicose from drink, loudly proclaimed that, had he been Mr Bryce, he would not have given the a minute, he would have ordered every one of the to be shot. The reader possessing the slightest knowledge of camp vernacular will find no difficulty in filling in the blanks. I retorted warmly that had Mr Bryce given any such order he deserved to be shot on the spot. The persons to be thus indiscriminately shot down, be it borne in mind, were between two and three thousand inoffensive, and unarmed men, women, and children quietly assembled in their own village. Even Mr Bryce will admit that is a very different thing from expressing a hope that he would be shot—i. e., shot without provocation. The account of “ Ipse Dixit ” differs, and runs thus : —Date: late on Guy Fawke’s Day. Special (to lackey ; unstrapping revolver which he has been carrying all day) : “ Hullo I I say, do you wish to put that dangerous weapon to a noble use?” Lackey: “Yes: what is it ?” Special: “ Shoot Bryce,” Lackey (horror-stricken at the sacrilegious tone adopted towards his idol) ; “ By , I shall shoot the next man who dares to use words like that of honest John Bryce, the best man in the country.” It seems not improbable that there will be more confessions before the week is over; and indeed the colloquial expression “ He ought to be shot ” is such a common one, that more than one reporter may have used it in an off-hand way. The Pressman is long-enduring. You may humbug him, and put him on the wrong scent, and say he is paid to lie. This moves him not. But tell him there is a place ho mayn’t go, and he is bound lo be there and make an item of it !