THISTLEDOWN.

Te Aroha News, Volume XII, Issue 1750, 13 July 1895, Page 2

THISTLEDOWN.

“ A man may jest and tell the truth.” —Horace.

At the banquet to Mr Ward at Wellington, Messrs Seddon and Reeves were both boasting of their modesty, the former .in th e past, the latter in the present tktse. The scriptures tell us not to speak evil of the rulers of our people, so God forgive me for suggesting a doubt of what our. Ministers say. I have followed the, Premier’s career for the past thirteen years, and have recognised precious little signs of modesty about him. Mr Beeves is colonial horn and bashful ness is an extinct virtue here, except among a few children of Irish parents, in whom heredity has prevailed over the accidents of the place of their birth and their environment. Mr Reeves had enough of art, if not modesty, to deplore his fob lowing the best speaker in the colony. Here he showed his . judgment, as Sir Maurice O’Rorke, is without doubt, the best afterdinner speaker in New Zealand, On any literary or social question he is without a peer probably anywhere, and the best orator ever known here on political and serious subjects is Mr Fitzgerald, now AuditorGeneral. His command of language, however, leads him into constant collision with heads of other departments, when he thinks some small informality of audit is detected;

v ' Every road leads to Rome/ Fitzgerald aud ; O’Rorke are both! Irishmen; modesty is a prevailing Irish characteristic. Some shortsighted people may laugh at this; but as an Irishman always extra shy, and a large knowledge of my countrymen I can swear to the fact. If a Hibernian’ appears forward it is really owing to his excessive shyness, which he seeks to cover by an amonnt of bluster, quite foreign to his character. , .

The papers which hold up their hands in righteous indignation at being called Conservative, invariably denounce Home Rule for Ireland, and havenow pronounced it dead since the fall of the Rosebery Ministry, as-a matter of history both Balfour and Chamberlain are pledged to a large measure of local Government in Ireland, and Conservative consciences aro easily squeezed, as 1807 shows. What lam concerned about at present is only, however, a collateral issue. The Duke of Cambridge is to retire from the position of Commander-in-chief in which ho- has so .long displayed his keen interest in buttons and. lace, and his utter ignorance of, and indifference > to more serious matters ; the only two possible candidates; bar the Duke of Connaught, whom the nation will hardly stand, , are Lordß Woolaely and Roberts,: both Irishmen. The main argument of the Unionist ’againstHome*Rulo is that Irishmen are incapable'of governing themselves, ignoring the fact that the majority* 6f • the Premiers and Ministers of Australasia have been Irishmen, and none are responsible for the present depression, not to- speak of France, Austria, or Spain, who have drawn Borne of their best men for 15Q years from ..* the old sod.’ It looks the very irony of fate that Lord Salisbury’s Government will have to. appoint an Irishman to the most responsible position in the British empire. In the past both have befen employed to rectify the blunders of Englishmen, but Lord; Roberts has the Irish trait of modesty, which his rival shows no sign of, and has shown his capacity in serious, war-fare of which Woolsely has had no (experience since he was subaltern. .

The meeting of Messrs Reynolds’ constituents will take place on the 24th, and perhaps a word or two to them will not be amias. I think they will admit that tbia column has always shown an intelligent sympathy with, them, and therefore I hope they will take my remarks in ’good part. We know already the terms offered for the season by the New Zealand Dairy Company, and we know also that such terms, though below past figures, are actually higher than home prices last year warranted. At the risk of being chargeclwibh self-repetition; a man who deals with our home trade must go in for as constant repetition as a schoolmaster, for it 'is jnst a 3 hard to drive home a truth to the minds of adults as boys ; at that risk I still urge on milk-suppliers not . to keep too stiff an. upper lip on the 24th. Last year was admittedly disastrous to companies, but they can see their way to hang .out and Bear the combination which effected that disaster, if only fairly backed by tbeir supporters. Danish and Swedish suppliers beared the market in order/to starve out the colonies, but this is a process which they cannot, stand for an indefinite period, even with our climate ;'• with their own the case is stronger-- Even now'the Swedes are send-' ing. frozen milk to England, finding butter does not pay, and this is a sign of the end. I neither know nor. care a fig for Messrs Reynolds personally, but I do know a large number of the suppliers all over the Waikato, and am proud to say can count onmost, if; not all of them, a 3 my personal friends. In their interests, and that of my adopted country, I write not for the sake of jiny firm. Hang together and get a good grip of the English market and then you are right, but do nob spoil all by hanging out for a price for your milk, which the present price of butter will not pay. If so, you aro working only in tho interests of the local grocer, to whom you will -he .bound soul and body. Dairying, as I have said before, is hard work, but dairying for the benefit of a storekeeper whether in Auckland or Waihi is white slavery. lapvx.