THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1891. THE OPPOSITION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2269, 20 October 1891, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1891. THE OPPOSITION.

Mr Alfred SaxjNders M.H.R. for Selwyn, cannot be regarded as a staunch supporter of the present Government. He has given support to the present Government so far, but in his recent speech he has declared himself an independent member. He has never been a supporter of a Liberal administration. He helped Sir John Hall to turn out the Grey Ministry, he helped Sir Harry Atkinson to eject the Stout-Vogel Miuistery, and so on. He has therefore up till recently time been a member of the present Opposition, and it would appear that even now his allegiance to the Liberal Government is not of a nature that will bear any severe strain. Whatever he may say, therefore, ought to be regarded as pretty impartial, and due weight ought to be given to his utterances. Speaking of the present Opposition he said in his speech to his constituents last Friday evening—

That it was the most educated, the most experienced, the most wealthy, the most organised, the most original, the most angry, the most abusive, and the most useless Opposition that has ever existed in New Zealand. After referring to tin individual members of the Opposition, Mr Saunders said that during the last financial year of the late Government that Govern ment expended, or committed the countr sto, more than £IOO,OOO of unauthorisea expenditure which had never been voted b,, Parliament, much of which was of tac most reprehensible character, and appeare in some cases to have been male b; irresponsible Civil Servants, without even the knowledge of the responsible heads o i the departments whom Mr Seddon described as having been mere figure-heads Perhaps the most striking proof of this would be found in Hansard of August 20 vol. 73, pages 420 to 425, which wonli be found well worth reading, as there Captain Bussell and Mr Fergus charged Mr Seddon with falsehood and deception, when In was only telling the simple truth about what they had themselves permitted to b. done in their nane, but apparently witaout knowing it. Coarser, nor more unparlia mentary language, was never used in an, House of Parliament than was there use in abusing Mr Seddon; and yet Captain Russell had afterwards to sit in silence, at the Public Accounts Committee, and hear his own friends give evidence which prove Mr Seddon to have been perfectly right, and hear all his coarse, abusive denials o. Mr Seddon’s truth to have been entirely unfounded.

This is the character Mr Saunders ha‘ given the party of which the Hon, W. Rolleston is leader. If it came from a member of the Government, or from one of their most enthusiastic supporters, we might possibly take it with a grain of salt. But it does not; it comes from Mr Saunders, who, until j ust recently belonged to the same party, and who does not appear to have any great love for the present Government, although supporting them for the time being. What Mr Saunders says, therefore, must be true, and what does that amount to 2 Simply that the present Opposition leaders are ex tremely reckless as regards the truth, and that they belied and slandered the present Government in their frantic effort to attain their own ends. Knowing, therefore from Mr Saunders’ speech that the utterances of the Opposition leaders are not to be relied upon, we must be prepared for them. It is a sad state of affairs when men occupying the position of Captain Russell, Mr Rolleston, and others, lesort to lying in order to vilify their opponents. It is disgraceful, but they will continue this until the people take the matter into their own hands and keep men who cannot tell the truth out of Parliament.

THE NEW ELECTORATES. It is hard to believe that the published new electoral districts is not a huge hoax. They really look like a burlesque on what ought to be, yet we have no reason to doubt but that this is the way in which the Representation Commission has parcelled out the colony. Nothing could be more absurd than the way South Canterbury is divided, except the name which at least one of the constituencies has received. The one we refer to is that which extends from somewhere abput the Hae-hae-te-moana to the Pareora. Now this used to be the old Gladstone constituency, with the exception that a good deal of country has been added to it on the Pareora side. Yet, instead of calling it by its old name, the eccentric old gentlemen who form the Representation Commission have called it the “ Pareora ” constituency, after the river which forms its southern boundary. The Gladstone constituency is amongst the oldest in the colony; there was a member for Gladstone twenty years ago, and there was the Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works The name is associated with the best public enterprises in South Canterbury, yet the unfortunate imbeciles who form the Commission have cast aside this old and honored name—the most honored in the empire—and called the constituency after the river which forms its boundary. It may be said they wanted to give it a Maori name, but, if so, why not call it Temuka 2 which is the chief town in the constituency. What does Pareora signify 2 Does it mean that the member represents the trout in the boundary river 2 Of course we know the name makes very little difference, but in this iqstence it shows that the Commissioners fyave a very poor conception of the fitness of things. Then, why has not Timaru been extended southwards, and some attention paid to community of interests, arid compactness of electoral districts 2 Had the Commissioners been paid for making the constituencies inconvenient to work they could not have succeeded better. With regard to the district in which Geraldine stands, why was this ancient name . also rejected, and the constituency again called after another river. Geraldine is a very old name in New Zealand politics, but it is not only 1 old but famous in old country politics, j yet it has been sunk into oblivion, and *

the Rangitata has been substituted in its stead. The Commissioners appear to have a peculiar penchant for naming constituencies after rivers. A cynic might say that this denotes that their brains are of a liquid nature. At any rate the divis ons are as inconvenient and absurd as they could possibly be made. Timaru is made as compact and as con veuieut as it could be, but the arrangements with regard to the others are scandalous. Why was not the Pareora district joined on to Timaru, and the Levels Plains and Seadown put on to the Temuka district 1 That would have made both more compact and more workable, but at present Timaru is all right, and this district all wrong. There is time enough to enter protests yet, and we trust our public bodies will take the matter in hand.