DUNSTAN'S MEMBER

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 251, 21 November 1872, Page 8

DUNSTAN'S MEMBER

(From the " Cromwell Argus")

The session of the Assembly jnsfc concluded; has been remarkable for the high position in Colonial politics taken during, itei. progress by our member, — the " honourable member for the Dunstan," ;is they say in th^ House, — Mr. Thomas Luther Shepherd. ' Perhaps no " private " member, — no member who has not yet been in one of tlie Ministries, — has had his name so generally buzzed and bundled about as this aforesaid member for the Dunstan. In the telegraphic reports of nearly every debate, ' his name is found as a speaker, and generally well up in order of precedence. Correspondents of newspapers often made him the subject of their criticism and anecdotes, — in his favor or .otherwise as the peculiar, politics of their papers may have "required. And; if wje remember- rightly,' as'yet'no "other Wan. ■Mr. Shepherd has been rifimc&asa; likely/ 'or a possible .recipient of the; ©S"&e.6f~Minister -of 'Mi^esV'-,-. -Bf thesjJ /"means, > his name h'aS^befen "before the public ipnn extent tlt^t few would-have tliCHiglwfes j probable. Wo -;onferts that his success* —for. such, we suppose, it nifty lie p CAlled* — has surprise* l >us. Possibly, howovor, it 'ought not ; for it is- but another instance of what those men who jliave been hatched,, as it were, among !suri;piHulings of modesty and timidity, mayyichieve when they break through their, outer crust, and ai\s warmed up, by ex'.un-pie, into emulation. We are beginning to fiiuPfihat' we formed a false and unjust opinion"* <>f Mr. Shepherd. Stupidly enough', we b«lie,v.ed that his modesty would ruin hi? chance, as' a* politician.' "His-^iivsb appearance, in the House gave grriillicls, fc»"-iur2<M£fceufc, for* this belief. When he artfee^to*' address the assembled wisdom of tifafeHilnd, and found himself in the preseHdfe' of St> many. '' honourable," high-minded, gentlemen, it seemed as if h'e f would sink through the floor, under the burden of his own, un fitness, and- un worthiness. And those afovesaitV^e&tleraen,— -for of such.; is th e House ofi moved thereto, by- that cohsiderateness for the-feelingsjjjf others "which, judging •by ; their I . speeches, forms so pvqmiuenV;"a ' "characteristic of their natures, relieved the blushing orator of .their presence, and so spared our member the shame and humiliation of a " break-down." Other motives for this geiu.«r-i.l flight have hec gri-.-°n l>y ill- ! naturerl persons, tvo ">ve a,re conyj-^pea i that tills vorson of the aJair is as trus

'as new. ' Our member was ,lefl to recover his'courage and recall his blushes in the presence of empty , benches, iiut, since that time, Mr. Shepherd has struggled liard to overcome tliis "constitutional defect in his nature and organisation... He has taken- frequent opportunities, unostentatiously and unassumingly, of making himself heard ; and he merely wants to be heard to be appreciated. Although he orice declared that he seldom " Hansardised " his fellow representatives, this statement is hardly, wo think, consistent with that prominent of Mr. Shepherd's attributes, — truth; though it is perfectly consistent with that most prominent of his attributes, — modesty. No subject, it may be seen by a perusal of Hansard, is beyond the reach of our member's logic and arguments,— when his constitutional timorousness is once overcome. For instance, upon Sir D. Monro's motion regarding the question put by the Governor as to the likelihood of tbe House granting supplies in -case of a dissolution,— a motion which involved a'grdat' question of constitutional practice, and to-the discussion of which a" large amount of knowledge of constitutional precedent was necessarj to be brought, — we find that Mr. T. L. Shepherd had his say. It is a strong and sufficient reason for the belief that h.e has overcome his early diffidence, that he had the temerity to debate at all upon such a question with men like Sir D.'Monro/Mr. Stifford, Mr. Gillies, and Mr. Fitzherbert. But he said his say with so much of the modest, unobtrusive, unassuming manner so natural to him, and so familiar to his constituents, that he seems to have made but little impression ; his arguments and deductions called forth no questionings or' denials from those who spoke to the motion_after him. The House foully and entirely ignored his coy and bashful utterances. We find that he quoted from Professor Hparne on tho Government of England. Judging by what has been seen of him and heard from him iv his public appearances among his constituents, we were almost inclined to think that, to use a popular form of expression, Mr. Shepherd knew as much about Professor Hearne as Professor Heame knew about Mr. Shepherd. But this our error in judgment is simply another instance of the false impressions liable to be formed as to t!ie extent of knowledge possessed by individuals so reserved and shy of boastful display as \* Mr. Shepherd. Mr. Shepherd, also, possesses versxtliity. An example of this is close at hand. Upon the "grand" no-confidence motion of last session, — wo refer to the former of the two such motions, — it is recorded that he spoke for two hours. Such a feat is in itself aston'shiug, — for a variety of reasons, — when we consider the speaker. But when it is remembered that, if Wellington rumours be true, he had made up his mind upon which side to vote only two or three days before he so spoke, it will at once be allowed that Mr. Shepherd can lay claim to Versatility in no ordinary degree.. Probably it may be laid to the charge of bis shrinking, retiring nature, also, that there has been so much hesitancy on the part of tbe present Ministry in regard to tho cre.ation of a portfolio to be held by a Minister of Mines. They seem to have wished to spare an individual so tenderly constituted as is Mr. Shepherd the painful necessity of being forced to give a refusal to their offer of a seat in the Cabinet ; and it may be when he has left Wellington, we shall hear more as to the- fulfilment of the promise iv reference to this malter made by Mr. Waterhouso. This, it will be thought, is rather a strained view to take of the matter ; and ill-natured persons may be fqund to say that Mr. Shepherd is only too willing to sink his modesty for the nonce, and accept office. But, at any rate, none can say he has not earned it:

This we have written by way of reparation for the injustice we have done Mr' Shepherd continually in our own mind, and occasionally in these columns. 'But we wisli, in .she interest of his constituents, to re'inark that it is questionable whether bis modesty of manner " i ft»(J l ,bashfulnpss of expression will cond'tice/'ttf" the advancement of those .fri'ire?ests. in the House of Representatives.. Little, at any rate, has been accomplished in. this direction during the session of which we have spoken. It is recorded of Fox, the English statesman, that to obtain oratorical proftVency, he determined to speak in Parliament at least once every sitting night. Here is an example worthy of •imitation by our member, We do not hold it "before him in the hope that he \yills eyer attain j;o . th.e^/auie acquired 6f&!^o > x, even % tm ' wcti .. .a course; but *bjf C \i£ "he might J>.e f^ab^d mqro.. easily *tfr"/!»ei£ : rid of hist burdenaome^ativ*?' bashftilness and-aell'-distrust. ... . :8 4 ****.*'