SIR WILLIAM FOX.

Temuka Leader, Issue 175, 13 September 1879, Page 3

SIR WILLIAM FOX.

Those of our readers who are acejuainfcu ■with the political antecedents of Sir William Fox will appreciate the following romaiks which appear in the Dunedin Tribune:—Sir William Fox, sober man that he is, has allowed himself at a critical period in the ahairs of the Oolony, to bo placed at the head of the would-be saviours of the people, whose good oil ices are now tendered “for a consideration.” It is finite true —and the fact will he dulv pressed upon the electors—that Sir William has no desire to accept office in any new Cabinet; but a gentleman whose conscience is elastic enough to enable him to solemnly aver after his fifth defeat, that he had given up ail active participation in political affairs for the rest of his natural life, and to subsequently bring forward a no-confidence motion, can hardly be called the master hf his intentions. If there is anything upon which the Opposition can be highly complimented, it is on their selection of a leader. A gentleman wT.o can snatch a knighthood in an underhand, surreptitious and undigniis; ! manner, who can renounce his soleni" political protestations at a moment’s notice, and. who has had more experience than any other man in the Southern hemisphere, of tumble-down cabinets, is undoubtedly an admirable leader for a party whoso groat object is to delay reform to crush native industry, to establish a land aristocracy, am! topiacc the cultivator and the artisan under the iron heel of imge money-lending and land-speculating monopolies. We tell the electors of the city and suburbs, if they are true ’to themselves, true to local interests, true to colonists, they will refuse to listen to the'false logic, absurd promises, predictions and special pleadings of representatives who have lately betrayed a, Cabinet Minister, whose patriotic, unselfish character is as brilliant in Otago as that of the Premier all over the Colony. FIGHTING IN THE FRENCH ASSEMBLY, An extraordinary scene occurred ■ in the French Chambers on the 16th June, on the debate on the Education Bill. M. de Cassagnac delivered a violent speech against the hill, in which he accused the Minister of Public Instruction of unloosing a mass of systematic calumnies against the religious orders, and of falsifying documents: and, in cornection with tin’s charge mentioned the name of M. Tirard. M. Gambetta, the President, invited M. de Cassagnac to moderate bis language; but the latter nevertheless maintained the expression “falsifying.” The words were received with loud protests, and the President was called upon to formally censure the speaker. M. Gambetta then put it to the vote that M. de Cassagnac lie censured and temporarily excluded from the House. A t these words the Left hurst into applause. The Bona paitist deputies’flew- down in a fury to the foot of the tribune, an 1 in collecting in front of the Ministarial benches began shaking tln-ir fists at the members of the Cabinet present, and calling them by every offensive term. The deputies of the Extreme Left in turn rushed down to tuc d.-fence of the menaced Ministers. M. Tiraid, standing up, replied by a threat to the insults of one of his aggresors. All the spectators were on their feet; women were gesticulating screaming’, and brandishing their parasols and fans; men in the upper galleries added to the uproar by stamping their feet and yelling. M.‘ Gambetta violently rang bis bell, but in vain, while at the foot of the tribune several deputies of the Left bad actually come to blows with Bonapartist deputies and had to besepaiated by the ushers. M. Gambetta rose and put on his hat. The meeting was at an end. The sitting was at an end. The deputies were requested to retire to their bureaux. The questors had the galleries cleared, and calm was restored in the House; but the agitation in the lobbies was extreme.