The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JUNE 18, 1888.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4509, 18 June 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JUNE 18, 1888.

We are loth to enter into a controversy which, might be made interminable, in connection with our political ideas, bat in all fairness to ourselves, it is demanded that certain portions of" Old Colonist's " letter-appearing in our last issue should be referred to. Our correspondent com*.: menees on a peculiar hypothesis of his own creation, viz.: he for Borne reason— ;fc may:bis coarenieoee—ftMumes that our jtrictures upon the present Ministry are confined to two issueß—the misappropriation of the public estate, and a ridiculous parade of certain aaUevi points in their administration. How he arrives at such aconelusiou.it is quite impossible to say, but if he will peruse a file of the Stab, he will pereeire- that whererer adverse comment has, in the public interest, been demanded by Ministerial actions, it has been given on subjects not embraced by his somewhat vague description of our lines of objection. The writer " presumes " tnat w* flpboM th« nationalisation of the land—bVtwblilt,right such an assumption is given birth, to we do not know—-and starting ori such assumption he proceeds to show the evils likely to arise from the state of things consequent upon it. We have no desire to knock, down bis house of cards, but we cannot refrain from repeating that the wholesale alienation of land by the present administration and their friends should be checked, and in order to save the lands of the colony from such misappropriation some immediate steps should be taken. Our correspondent asks, that we should prove these exceedingly grave charges.. Have they not been proved over and over- again ? Has # not the existence of the various land rings in the North Island proved them? Ijtave not the [various ■ Whifaker cum-B^s«ell-cum-Bank of New Zealand-, and their barnacle-like companies and associations proved the existence of the system which we have condemned ? Would not an examination of the records of the land courts offer additional proof? Did " Old Colonist read the disclosures which led to the famous libel iction, Whi taker v. Jooes, ia which legal technicalities were used to prevent further exposures, and the nets which were made public owing to that prosecution P They related inter alia to lands not far distant from our own district. Our strictures have been made

id the public interest, tod have Wo baaed upon occurrence! patent to the reader* of, the *ailj preaa. We don't .. ■ . * •l.J.ji«nijn«i«.uw dupvie the arKumenti of Old Colonut •• to the land heiug y*Jo«l«M io its

primeval condition, of that there is no j question; in fact, in previous articles we' complained of such a state of things. The acquisition of colonial acres by jniifliir means is oar trouble, nnd its di«con-, tfojaance our aim. The/ridiculous parade, and. t ihe bloodless Parihaka nonsense] hardly require notice, but our;»«wrre«poi# dent, in an outburst of desire for a. fresh' argument, asks us if we intelligently re.--viewed the measures introduced by tbe I Government. To this we would reply that

■"where- ire have felt called upon to do so, it has been done, and whether intelligently or not—from our correspondent's point of f^ew^ititr impossible for us-to say. A. number of expressions are quoted as having been used by us, which we must emphatically disclaim; and comparisons have been instituted between the present Gbvirnmint and its -predecessors which we aW not dis* possd to!enter into. Misdeeds which may be laid at the door of past administrations cannot be placed to the credit of the present one, nor can they reduce*the -magnitude of any evils which may be laid! ito its charge. Our. duty,,. to vigilantly guard the interests of the people,, demands the immediate exposure of arty wrong-doing by individuals or bodies! who are placed in certain positions for the public^weal; and even at the risk of .incurring the displeasure of so powerful a combination as a Ministry, we feel that it W°uM be acting dishonestly on our part in withholding adverse criticism, were we to deem it deserved. Many eases, where there are "axes to grind," .produce long-continued and fulsome adulation of the Government, and we with regret say that it is within our knowledge that the colonial press has included such. ' It is gratifying to receive disinterested advice as to cur honesty and dignity in criticising the actions of the UJovemient, and me will—to >use an mfcorism of that Government which r'H'Oid Colonist" so reverences—"keep steadily' in view" the good>oatqred remarks at the end of bis entertaining I loiter.