The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1891. THE GOVERNMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2210, 4 June 1891, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1891. THE GOVERNMENT.

There are in the present government two strung men. These are Messrs McKenzie and Seddon, They have bo far carried out their duties duties vigorously. All their laient energy* and strength have bean called forth and exercised in the work they have had in hand, and they have so to «p»'jk *'surprised the natives” with the rapidity of their movements as wed as the decided way in which they have performed their duties. We admit that we are vary friendly towards them, but we must confess that the vigorous manner in which ihey went about retrenchment astounded us to a degree that made os doubt the wisdom of their actions. The only explanation we have had so far is that given by the Hon, John McKenzie in his speech to his constilutents last Monday evening, tnd in that he succeeded in completely j(l iißfying u*. We have commenced to uu blish the speech and a put of it appears [ Q another column, but as it is very Jong It will lake several issues to give it in full,

It will all appear however in due course and by this means our readers will be t placed in possession of the minister’s own •> explanation of his own actions. In the meantime however, we must I: enter our protest against the unfairness c with which these two gentlemen are bo- ( i ng treated by the Conservative newspapers, the way they ace being misrepresented, t vilified, and libelled, and the complacency 1 with which lies are manufactured to bring i them into public contempt has never yet been equalled in this solony. The whole i explanation of this Is that these two gentlemen are certainly the most powerful i of the Ministry, while at the same time they are the most defiant in their attitude towards their opponents. They are being assailed because of their strength, in the < hope that as constant dropping wears the . stone, so will persistent misrepresentation weaken their influence. They have given a terrible and unpardonable offence to the Tories. When they took office the cry of extravagance was raised, and they were at once dubbed the "scatter-cash Ministry.” The Tories thought this would do. With this cry they ousted the Stout-Vogel Ministry before, and fondly hoped they would do the same with the Ballance Ministry. To their utter discomfiture the present Ministry had hardly taken possession of their portfolios when they began to out down expenditure at a tremendous rate. Hitherto the ery of the Tories was more "retrenchment,” "economy,” and so forth, but they did not mean it. Their onn Premier told them further retrenchment was impossible, althongb.expenditure has been eut down by about £100,0091 since. The Tories did not mean what they said. They only desired to make people believe that retrenchment was necessary, so that if the present Government did not retrench they could point to them as a "scatter-cash Ministry.” In this they have been checkmated, baffled, discomfited completely, and now they are terribly angry, as they have thus been deprived of the only peg on which they could , hang a charge. They j now wish to try to make the people believe the Ministry treated the dismissed civil servants with cruelty, but could retrenchment be effected without depriving some of employment? The changing of the chief surveyor has also been looked upon as a terrible crime, but it will be remembered that the previous Ministry—tiiat is the Atkinsonian’s pets contemplated doing the same thing before they left office. But we shall give our readers an opportunity of judging for themselves by publishing Mr McKenzie’s speech. From this they will be able to see the actions taken by the Ministry, and also to compare his utterance with the disgraceful efforts of the Timaru Herald and the Christchurch Press to twist and distort his meaning so as to make things appear the very opposite of what they really are. We are glad to feel, however, that both papers have very little influence in the country, and that whatever they say will have very little weight.