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Southland Times, Issue 612, 31 December 1866, Page 2

A celebeated lady writer, in commenting upon the erratic appearance of political patchmongers, affirmed that three qualities only were requisite for a man to gain public, notoriety if not public applause. " The first was impudence, the second was impudence, and the third was impudence." We are free to confess that, to a certain extent, this cutting satire on the discrimination of the people, at the time it was penned, was well deserved ; and, even at the present day, may without overstepping the bounds of truth, be applied to some of the colonial communities. To a very considerable extent the colonists, especially in New Zealand, are not students of public economy — they worship sound rather than reason. As long as the Goi vernment can give them all they ask, the stump orator or clamorous place-hunter may, if he possesses the qualifications above-mentioned, attain to the position of a village politician, a kind of political " star " that amuses those who look upon him in the same manner as would a theatrical mountebank who proved more absurd and boisterous than any had been seen before. But, when things change, and some self-reli-ance is called for on the part of the people, if the comic politician alters his performance and adopts the melo-dramatic character of a bold and reckless denunciator of things and men — placing every one on the same level with himself, attributing evil doings to men in power from no other reason than than the idiosyncracy of his own mind is tainted — he not unfrequently obtains applause from the unthinking, and with inflated yanity gives utterance to foul and discreditable libels and abuse with an audacity that understands no bounds, men may for the moment imagine themselves stars of the first magnitude, but after all they are falling stars that fli-.'ker for a miuute and sink into wellmerited obscurity. Southland can boast of having in its midst such men as described — men who with the impudence that ever characterises the skin-deep declaimer, puts forth false assertions with a fluency that would de credit to a Glasgow " cheap John." A personnamed Kinross, is oneof the chiefs of Southland's " cheap Johns ;" j he tenders his wares as the street hawker did his gilded farthings, with the shout of a " dozen golden sovereigns, all for one shilling." This worthy is reported to have said, at a meeting held recently at Wallacetown, after giving utterance to a number of hackneyed statements with reference to Governmental expenditure that " the Council voted £200 only for printing, but the Government had expended considerably over £600. It is worth while to pay a paper for its support, and they have done so handsomely." This assertion we need hardly state is levelled at this journal, and it is as false as it is impudent. We havp. nfiVAT, oitl-vor dirAP.t.Ty or indirectly, sought or obtained a favor from any government since our establishment in this Province. Nor would we think it worth while to call forth to notoriety the sayings of such an obscure individual were it not advisable to expose the foolish, yet pernicious effect, if allowed to go unrebuked, that men of this class might exercise upon the minds of the simple and unthinking. Here is a notoriety-seeker, who, inflated with vanity and self-conceit, mounts the rostrum as a patriot of the first-water. No feelings of moderation is permitted i to enter the manly bosom of this second I Bbuttjs. No idea of the limited nature of the resources of the Province in a monetary pomt — no thought of the position of the colony generally — is allowed to enter • the foolish head of our stump orator. No ! Mr Kinross is a self-denying patriot. He is one of those class of patriots, not uncommon at home, who think that any Government to be liberal and noble-minded ought to gratuitously feed, clothe, and supply with tobacco the multitude, and who favor anybody that denounces a Government as rotten. He calls it a crying shame that so much money should be expended upon the police, the gaol, or any other necessary institution. Forbid the thought of extravagance says our stump. Rather let us follow the example of California. Let us establish a Vigilance Committee. It is much the cheapest. What matters it if a few innocent people are hanged by mistake, or the scenes of the West Coast re-enacted here. Look at the economy. With a kind of whining howl he points to the expense of the gaol. Let us have no imprisonment, no turnkeys, nor other expensive luxuries. Such is the strain indulged in by Mr Kinross. On all subjects connected with the administration of the Province he is a perfect monomaniac. He would gladly make one to annihilate all semblance of authority. With a yell of fierce delight he would willingly ransack the archieves of the Government oflice, with a view no doubt of destroying a certain little document, peculiarly interesting to himself, and indeed, not without just cause. For it is but necessary to state that this youthful hero once upon a time held different opinions. He did not always think that any one who was connected with the Government, nor who might be called upon to take part in the administration of local affairs, were plunderers in the worse sense, and ought to be hel4 up to public reprobation. No ? He is a canny chiel. At one time he held very contrary views. He even made an application for a Government appointment, and in the most abject manner solicited to be admitted amongst those who he now designates as the despoilers of the public purse. Such is the character of this political humbug who seeks

to - gain for himßelf the character of a thorough disinterested man having nothing but the interest of his adopted home at heart. As long as such men are permitted to engage public attention so long will men of standing and ability hold aloof from the political arena, and thus bring discredit upon the community at large ; let the people discard such ravings as emanate from men of the Kinboss stamp, and let them rather put their trust in gentlemen of known ability and acknowledged integrity. It is only by this means that they can successfully hope to have their grievances effectually redressed.