The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1889. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1907, 22 June 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1889. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

Talleyrand used to say that language •was given to man to conceal his thoughts. On the same principle we presume that Speeches from the Throne have been invented to enable Ministries to conceal their policies. At any rate, it will, we believe, be generally admitted that the speech delivered by His Excellency the Governor, last Thursday in opening Parliament has been put to that use by his responsible advisers, for certainly a more vapid, senseless piece of nonsense was never uttered by human lips on an occasion so momentous. Speeches from the Throne, of course, are nothing more nor less than formalities handed down to us from times when Kings excercised greater influence on Parliaments than they do at present. They served to make a display of pomp and splendour, and to introduce the monarch to the representatives of his subjects, but these days are gone, and with them should go such meaningless formalities as speeches from the throne. However, it is a very harmless thing, except so far as that it takes up the time of Parliament; it will no doubt be continued, at any rate, until people become more enlightened, and there is an end of it. We are promised in it that the Hare system of election will be introduced. Here is the Government who have always been crying down " fads " introducing the greatest" fad " the mind of man has conceived, It has never been tried, and it has been condemned as unworkable by some of the foremost thinkers of the day. That the measure will be thrown out goes without saying. No Parliament could be got to adopt such a proposal, at least unless it was a Parliament of rich men who wanted to get the whole matter into their own hands, as Mr Buxton said at G-eraldine. We are promised a reform of the Upper House, but no indication is given of the shape it will take, and consequently we shall reserve judgment on that and other subjects mentioned until we know what the proposals are. There is nothing in the-speech worthy of note, and it would be only waste of time and space to refer to it at any greater length. .—«. THE RAILWAYS. The Railway Commissioners have acted i!he part of cowardly bullies. They disregarded all public remonstrances until Messrs Mundell and Co., of Geraldine, threatened to run a line of coaches in opposition to the railway from Geraldine to Timaru. As soon as. they heard this they commenced to tone down, and now we gather from Mr Mundell that they have come to some new arrangement with him. What that arrangement is we do not at present know, but certain it is that it has been extracted from them, not because of the respect they had for the convenience of the people, but because of the dread of competition. All along the line to Dunedin the interests of the country districts are completely sacrificed to the interests of the towns, but the Commissioners care nothing for that. They know that they can do what they like with country people, but that if they offend the towns public men would make things uncomfortable for them. We have tried to stir up our public men to take some action here. We might as well try to move Mount Cook, and we would be certain to find as much energy in it. We have therefore only "to sit down and bear the crushing tyranny of the Commissioners. There is nothing else left for us until the next election, when we hope the rotten management inaugurated how will so stink in the nostrils of the public that they will insist on the expulsion of its authors from office. CORRUPTION. A nice little bit of business has already been made public by the Wellington correspondent of the Lyttelton Times. He Bays that the Government has kept the Taranaki Harbor Board from bankruptcy by advancing £ISOO to it. This is unauthorised expenditure, and is against the expressed wishes of Parliament, but it is this district which is represented by Sir Harry Atkinson, and therein lies the explanation, Sir Harry holds the purse-strings of the colany, but doubtless he will be made to account for this piece of business.