Gubernatorial Utterances

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 34, 10 February 1904, Page 4

Gubernatorial Utterances

Mr P. J. O'Regan, ex-M.IT.R., has : been remonstrating with His Excel- : lency the Governor, through the me- i dtum of the Press, for having in a speech at Winton a few days ago made brief reference to the preferential trade queeUon. This calls forth the sarcastic comment of Truth, which observes that Lord Ranfurly may haive been indiscreet—■even a lord is 'human—'but the indiscretion of the hot-kcaded Radical singletaixer, who has been taking him to task in the OtngO' Daily Times because he darod make a vague reference to the fiscal! question, transcends anything his genial Excellency may have said or done. It was quft'c rational of flic Governor to take the thing for granted in a colony which tos a preferential trade Government, and has passed a PrefcrcrF tial Tariff Act, but it was quite irrational of Mr O'Rogan to assail him with abuse and to make Mm the vehicle of an attack on Mr Chamberlain. But irrational conduct is the natural thing to expect from a .single-taxer, just as abuse has been the distinguishing characteristic of the free-trader. In any case, any high officer of the State wilio is precluded by his position from retaliating must expect to be m«ic a target of by all the rabid cranks in the community. It is regarded as a line sign of jndQpendence to blackguard a Governor, and gives a man a status with a certain class. Possibly this was not Mr O'Regan's object, hut the tone of his letter would lead the intelligent reader to suppose such to bp the ease. W|iien a man starts out to show that a Governor has outraged his office because he had made a mild allusion to a policy endorsed by the country he is governing, harsh conclusions are justifiable.