A PARTING SHOT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 319, 18 January 1908, Page 6

A PARTING SHOT

KKIR HARDIK'S LAST WORD. Mr. Keir llardie, liefoie leaving for Mell>' urne 1-v the Marama, telegraph'il the l'.n-t's -peeial at Invercargill, said that he had lio|R'd to lie taxed by fiome of those who had lieen writing to the papers about his sayings and doings in India. He had refilled point-blank to be drawn by newspapers into dealing with the Indian ijuoition. He confessed, hawever, that on the eve of his departure from New Zealand he would not have regretted the opportunity of making a statement, and depended upon some of the valiant critics in tlie press being present to give him an opportunity. A more patient or more loyal people than the people of India did not exist on the faee of the globe: There was no sedition and no rebellion in India. The so-called unrest had its origin in good and sufficient cause, and when that cause was removed, the agitation su'.i--ided. . , When he had used a certain expression about the editors of the New Zealand pies- he had not in his mind that they had unwittingly and unknowingly published wrong statements, but th it when they got to know the truth tlin" neither withdrew those statements nor apologi-ed. The editors of the AngloIndian papers, acting as one would expect gentlemen to act, had frankly withdrawn their statements and apologised for having made them. In an editorial note concerning the above the " I'ost " says: "Abiit"—he left for Indian " Exeesnitt "—he went off pop and said a lot more than he ought. "Eva»it —he naturally shirked the sore subject. " Krupit "—but when lie was leaving -Sew Zealand lie broke out grievously. Really, Cicero's words for Catiline'* flight tit very well Jlr. Keir Hardie's; and we do not stress the similarity of habits. Mr. Keir Hardie is loyal enough; it is merely his buccal capacity that lietrays him. In his farewell vehemence at invercargill he referred again to the "liars"' and "cads" whose contemptible chorus follows his triumphal tour. M hen Mr. Hardie wis in Wellington, we took the trouble to answer him point by point out of the oracles approved by hie own mouth, lie was convicted by evidence from India, and exhibited in the pillory where his pitiful English press had placed him. That he did not like his position we can see by tlie foam and froth in the wake of the Marama. The categorical denial, we notice, is still wanting. The tirade of insupporti'd inconsequences is rather tiresome. Mr. Hardie would better have guttled in silence.

Adolph Felder, of Chicago, was sentenced by the Justice on the Bench to talk tor half an hour to his wife every day. "Sext day he defied the Court by cooking his own breakfast, and leaving the house without saying a word. Mr*. Felder not want a divorce. She only wants her husband to talk to her. A> he refuses, the onus is on the Judge either to make him talk or send him to ffsiul.

A young lowa doctor i* credited with the intere-ling discovery that the ankle i- jdarvd between the foot and the knee t<» k« e|» t!w» calf away from the corn.