Mr Hogg on the Stump.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2659, 28 July 1887, Page 2

Mr Hogg on the Stump.

BY Our Wellington Watchman.

As a worae than Scottish Sabbath sadness broods just now o'er Wellington, as nothing whatever is stirring Imre, uavo a few palsied patriots who nightly exhibit themselves on the platform political, chiefly for tho delectation of the blase larrikin, permit mo to como to Masterton for my news, and to offer a few humble passing remarks on Mr Hogg's oratorical flights of Wednesday last. Should that gontleman deign to peruse this tributo to his greatness,'l entrant- him to-be calm.

"Mr Hooo as a Scuolard, " You'd scarce expect one of my age, To speak in public on the s?age,And if 1 chance to fall below, Demosthenes or Cicero, Don't view me with a critic's eye, But pass my imperfections by. Of all persons who on earth do dwell, one would least have suspected Mr Ho£s of the modesty of using the equivalent of the foregoing verse to any audience-let alone a Masterton audience. Aftor tackling, in his well-known free-handed manner the most abtruse political topicstopics before which the most veteran statesman stands awed and irresolute—' after settling to his own entire satisfaction

every disputed point, whether on earth, in heaven, or the waters under the earth; after promising to huatle us straight into the Canaan oi peace and prosperity in two years—if we will only accept liim as our Moses—ho admits Ins only qualifications arc luck of scholarship and oratorical gifts. This is very remarkable I Considering that he, for years past, has, from his "obscure den"-I thank him for the words-directed his penny syringe of bucolic criticism against men of all degrees, we might reasonably-have sup> posed he wa.3 mentally armed cap-a-pie for.enterprises so arduous. Mso! •however. This bush Ohesterfieldian censor of manners, men,, and morale, when no longer concealed by the ramparts of his obscurity, apologetically admits his'illiteracy. Byron hit on a solid hunk of everlasting-truth when'he sang:— ; •' "A man.must serve his timotoWry trade , '....■' Save censure; critics all are readymade.'' ■ ■ ' ■ But let it pass.

Why Mil Hoao left his "dun." Because Jie:ia a professional patriot. He admits it. Because he has "no axe to grind;" ho says so; surely he knowsf Neither fame, Government advertisements, nor the honowvium would suffice to drag Mr Hogg from-aeain 1 thank him for the words—his "obscure den." He is not built that way. But where these things are powerless duty is paramount. Duty and benevolence alone beckon him into the tortuous paths of politics. Ho has simply como forward to " raise the masses." By the "masses" Mr Hogg signiQes "the people"; by the "people*- ho meaus thoso who, like himself, have not wealth but want it. Though no scholar .himself ho is going to " raiso' tho people." Let us trust "the people" may not bo rude enough to say: "Patriot, raise thyself!" The Government m.not paying Mi* Hogg's, election expenses in hard cash, for three reasons. First, because'hard cash is scarce; because the Government are uot in the Illicit ol giving away what they want themselves; and, third, because tho Government do not want Mr Hogg so badly <is all that. But, pace <«a, most inestimaUo flow, thou art in close communication with Messrs Stout and Ballance, and thou art the nominee of Messrs Stout and Ballauce, or thou art nothing —I do not say thou art not nothing.

Mr Hoao on " Cream." As long as gentlemen of Mr Hogg's calibre keep to good globular generalities and utter nothing but oracular ambiguities they are pretty safe.' .When they cut the paintor and -voyage into particulars, thoy enter the unsurveyed sea of ftihginour fog and t'ahglo .themselves in tho drift of contradiction. -Mr Hogg perpetually contradicted himself. Hero is a specimen, 'Speaking of 'par iinproviahed condition he attributes'- it, among "othor things, to- • " Rich men-leaving Now Zealand to settle in England,"taking .with thoi'n the , wealth they had accumulated here. Every .vessel that left Now Zealand took away from its shores some of the •cream of the colony, and this was'si disastrous/state of affairs." ._ If Mr.Hogg's language has any meaning, he acknowledges in the words quoted thatcapita! is a good and necessary thing, the •■loss of it a "disastrous state of aOairs," .and "those owning it aro the " cream of tho colony." Mark, then, what he said a little later on—"The working .'class was what the colony required dndnot (I italicize) the larqe capitalist. J v'.. '•'.' Ho continues:— '. ;'■•"■.' • "Thofrcotradeolass belonged to a clbbs „ (sic) of men who would made them all flaves to tho foreigner, and hewers of wood and drawers of water to the London Egyptians,". _' Bead together, this is tangle—Tlio capitalists (Freetraders to a man) aro the cream of Now Zealand, Uiey would make us hewers of wood, drawers of water—slam in short. The loss of their capital is very disastrous to New Zealand: capita! m not wanted, but working tun only arc wanted: Oh! Mr Hogg! Then again Mr Hogg's simile is as mixed as his logic. It was the Giboonitus who wcro "hewers and drawers" to the Israelites not the Egyptians, A small matter, perhaps, but when dealing with a • Chesterfield, a critic and a censor 'tis woll to be strictly accurate Mr Hogg ok Voqel. Mr Hogg loves Sir Julius. It is not on record whether Sir Julius loves .Mr Hogg, As Mr Hogg professes to go the whole animal iu the paths of radicalism, and as Sir Julius is a very decided Conservative, there is another little discrepancy here.. Mr Hogg probably-admires Sir Julius on account of that gentleman's expansive generous way of handling money—tho country's money. Then, both of them have a kangaroo-like predilection for" leaps and bounds." The jumping of Sir Julius is stopped,pro rem. but Mr Hogg is quite prepared to assume the'mantle which'has fallen from the shoulders of the Hobrew prophet,'and to leap and buck on his own account. Ho said :—"

"My interests aro identified with tho people, and if my policy is. earned out • in two years, the colony will be prosperous and happy." Again he said ; " It is the duty of the Stato to deal with I the Monopolist, and I belicvo 1 have a method in view that will be extremely effective." Half of Mr Hogg Beoms to clwißh the capitalist; the other half of him to hate the capiralist. Now if he. has a plan to do away with tho capitalist, why.does he not reveal it 1 Mr Hogg is a professional patriot. He has a little plan. He knows how to make us happy and contented 'ere twenty four moons have faded, Why ; then not stato his little plan, pro-tow publico ? Not he! He locks the weird project in the recesaes of his mysfceri&Uß brain and practically says:—" No Parliament;, no plan from this peculiar patriot." He might tell us.

Mr Hogo ok Lakd. Here Mr Hogg wag on his natural element, Ho does not believe in Land Nationalisation, but behevos in Balknce. So Mr Hogg love 3 both Ballance and Vogel. This is rather unfortunate, because those two gentlemen hate each other worse than a whiskeyarian hatcß cold watery Mr Hogg will find the proverbial difficulty in serving two masters. He cannot Berve God and Mammon. ] shall back Mammon, if Mr Hogg be returned However; Mr Hogg does not believe in Land Nationalisation. He does not boliovo in confiscation, He docs not believe very much in village settlements—he called them "gropings." Half of him utterly disbelieves in capital, Yet he believes that:— " The peoplo should settle on the best land in the Colony." Will ho unlock that secret of his, and tell us how-if ho believes'- neither in Lancl Nationalisation, ' coiißfication, capital, nor settlement-how in the name ofcomraqn-sonse, he is going to settle the people oh the best land? Is he going tolm/ back tho best land, and if bo where is this modern Moseß going to the money?. Claptrap,' friend Hogg,

arrant'bunkum (this word alseWPyoui' own) to get votes -and you how it, ■Mi* Hogg is in the same boat with many; more would-be Radical reformers. M could easily, if permitted to ( steal one man's land, put another man on it, But in a country district he dare not talk of confiscation, and his ideas go no further than confiscation, so he; liko.more of these 'Reformers,' ta'ks'high-soundiii? balderdash nbotit making cvr ryone happy but as for the modm operand','save some, high falutin about protection, nota word, . not a single word, Government'.shoulcl " build up," he says, not "'knock down," • True, Oh ! Bombasfces Fiirioso, but not. one-word of building rip", in all tby ventricious verbosity, ~+■, Mr HOQG OX THE PEOPLE, '#& Mr Hogs falls unsuspectingly into mjr trap which engulphs so many raw radicals. He talks of" the people" as' if he were some two-ponny - half • penny German potentate, and as if. "the people" were soraeabatnet class of the community, and if Gove-mment were some ruling abstraction. Sir Robert Stout-yospec-ially since he became &Y KorSfcUepeatedly commits the sama Ifsuder. When Mr Hogg learns the alphabet 01. his new creed ho will know that New Zealand is a democratic Country; that " the people" are tho Government ; that he and all of us are the people,,.and that Government so-called is simply: tho administrator of the people's will. This ' .confusion of ideas, coupledUvith.tbo mass of undigested HonryGcorge wliichweichs on Mr Hogg's political cheat leads, him into the following stupidity of cxprea--sion : . ..;.'■? ;-': h And if by any effort of legislation 1 thef '■ ■ peoplo would be made happy, even by ' . an expense to the Colony, it should he dono." •.'.•• 'There is a smooth-patcd platitude for yon-but it catches the applause of jfcpv unthinking. Reduced to sense it mel» If the wholo Colony could be made happT even by an expense to itself, it should bo made happy. Certainly; no one but an inspired idiot weuld deny it; but no one -section of the Colony should be made happy by the unhappinoss of another section If Mr Hogg and Jack and Jim own ktweon them, say a bag of oatmeal, Mr Hogg has no business to abstract Jack a share, simply to make Jim happy -and get Jim's vote. Yet this is'tho true meaning of the "large-hearted" Ballauce s fatiguing fads. Mr Hogg's idea of making "the people" hapatU by bncling them work, and pauperizfiWhem, lilis is not radicalism, or ehe, but. Jinglisn village conservatism-a reminiscence of some "rot" Mr Hoik heard m early youth. The true end and aim of radicalism in not for people like Mr Hoggand Sir Robert Stout and Mr Balkiico to /'govern" "the people," or bossthemwithgrandmotlierlylegislatiounot to feed and clothe them iu workhouso uniform; hnt to iuduco us all to gover# ourselves; to develop, in short, a ham and not socialism or despotismil Uf the real naturo of radicalism, Mr U'lg?, his address demonstrates, knows no more ihan an emu of equations,

Mr Hogg ok Peohi-iion, ; Protect us from such a fuiwo of utter irredeemable noiisonso! I will hereafter diß3Bct it, though, if permitted.