The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1887. MR HAWKINS' MEETING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2618, 8 June 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1887. MR HAWKINS' MEETING.

Mr R. S. Hawkins well deserved the large and appreciative audience that listened to his eloquent address on on Monday evening last, because he had spared no pains to do justice to the occasion; and to the oratorical ability which he possesses in somarked a degree. We must congratulate Mr Hawkins too for setting an excellent example by placing the interests of the Colony more promiently before the meeting than mere petty local requirements. Mr Hawkins took a high level in iris address, so high indeed that occasionally he was out of touch with those questions of the day which demand consideration at the present time. People, for example, though somewhat surfeited with an overdose of Imperialism do not desire to follow Mr Hawkins to an opposite extreme and declare this Britain of the South a republic. We are not as -yet, prepared to haul down the national flag and say good bye to the old familiar strain of" God save the Queen." MiHawkins takes us to America and shows us there an almost perfect type of democracy, but we are not ripe for similar institutions and even Mr Hawkins admitted at a later.stage that official corruption permeates through the happy land of which he is enamoured, The electors of New Zealand are called upon to decide the issues now submitted to them by the Ministerial and Opposition parties in the House, and not to speculate in abstract forms of Government which the country neither desires nor needs, Again, unnecessary decorations are not popular with the community, but if anyone is to denounce rank and to decry titles we should feel disposed to pick out some democrat who does not happen to be a brother-in-law to a baronet. We fear that the Premier is not the only "Robert" in New Zealand who is capable of combining aristocratic prejudices with democratic utterances. Possibly the most marked characteristic of Mr Hawkins' late 'address was not as some people declare his "History of England" but the utter absence from his remarks of any expression of confidence in any public man in New Zealand. He abused the Premier, and we know of old he has said hard things of Major Atkinson. It is true 119 gave Mr Ballarice a little pat on the shoulder but-then immediately afterwards he administered him such a severe dig in the ribs that he is unlikely to be classed as a sound supporter of the Minister of Ltatfs. We attach some importance to thiiiitoint because it would not be to the advantage of this district for its repre-

sentative to go clown to the House like an Israelite, with his hand against e'vory man and every man's, hand against him, It is to tho advantage of this district, as well as to the colony, that members should ho returned who will adhere to one or the other of the two leading parties which control the affairs of the country, It might be a novelty to send a member like Mr Hawkins as a sort of explosive to clear the legislative atmosphere, but such an' experiment is not an undertaking which will commend itself to- any prudent constituency. _ There is one minor point in Mr Hawkins' address which calls for remark, viz., his explanation of how the reduction of the County roadman's wagC3'came about. This was a flea that he should have left sticking to the; wall. It was inferred from hisremarks.thatthrough action taken by himself the lot of the County roadman had been ameliorated, as thoy had become possessed of comfortable homesteads. Now it so happens that the happy thought of providing these homesteads emanated from Mr Mackay, the County Chairman, and it was through his exertions they were obtained, We scarcely think Mr Hawkins ought to have assumed even by inference a merit, to which Mr Mackay is clearly ontitled. The oracular replies and non-replies given at the close of the meeting, to the. various questions propounded, were eminently unsatisfactory; but possibly physical oxhaustion after a long address, may be accepted as an explanation of them. The speech as a whole was an intellectual treat. The fireworks prepared for the occasion went off well, the squibs being fully primed, the Catherine wheels luminous, and the rockets sky high; but if wo ask ourselves how much nearer the speech brings the people to a right understanding of the real issues which the country is now called upon to decide, we .mist declare that for all practical purposes, it is outside the limits within which the verdict oi the electors has to be given,