The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1889. Honesty v Diplomacy.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3181, 16 April 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1889. Honesty v Diplomacy.

We are afraid wo are living in an ago in which the good old saying " honosty is the best policy" has lost a good deal of its value in the minds of public men, The word honesty appears to have been to a great extent set aside by a number of leading public men, and that of •' diplomaoy" lias taken its place. Every transaction that involves a certain degree of secrecy, finds a convenient shelter under the assortion that, for diplomatic reasons, it would bo bad policy to allow the course by which a certain object is to be accomplished to become public. Honesty is considered a capital thing, wheu it is convenient to bo honest: when it is not, it is very often calmly set aside and diplomacy takes its place. We do not allude merely to the statesmen of this Colony, but to the civilized world fts a whole, Every European state has its diplomatic corps, beaded 1 by an ambassador, at the Court or headquarters of every other one, and each ono tries to ferret out as many Stato secrets as possible, Of ' course, each ono is perfectly aware ' of the object of the other, and takes , the best means at its disposal to foil i them. But the ferreting out goes on I just the same. It is part and parcel > of diplomaoy as applied to international matters. It we look nearer home, we stumble across bits of diplomaoy at almost every step. Every party in Parliament, whether it is in powor or pot, uses it; but, ! naturally enough, the one that happens to bo in power has the best opportunities for displaying its talents. It was the Stout-Vogel Ministry which attempted to gull the Colony into that gignntjp fraud, i tho Midland Railway, for no other reason in tho world than thatit would seouro almost a block voto of Canterbury and West Coast representatives. When it was found that tho majority in the House of Representatives had set their face against the job, diplomacy enabled the Government to induce an English company to undertake tho construction of the work, and an enormous area of the public estate was set aside as a morsel to benefit the foreign capitalist. The opposition nefided no diplomaoy in the matter. They knew that tho land was practioally worthless, and they could honestly vote iu favor of giving it away for the sundry millions which the company will have to spend in return. Another instance, which afforded the present Government an opportunity of employing a bit of diplomaoy, was the appointment cf a judpe of the J?uj)iomc Court, to fill the vacancy caused by th,e death of Judge Johnston. The names of quite a number of legal gentlemen who arc lindflttbtodjy well qualified; to fill tho high of|c,e, were mentioned as likely to receive the appoincmontjbufc Ministers were vei'y slow in makiog it-. Th«y had tp don-

sider which way the wind was blowing, and when at last thevaoanoy was filled, it was undoubtedly filled so that a certain powerful centre of population would be highly pleased. There was the same shifting—we aro almost tempted to call it flliiftlessness—with regard to the appointment of Railway Commissioners, And even at the present time there is more of it over the vacancy in the Cabinet caused by the resignation of Mr George -Fisher, We are, of course, well aware that the Premier has stated that it is not intended to fill it, but we are fully convinced that unless ho has been previously shamed out cf it, he will, when Parliament .meets, rise in his place in the House and say that he has found that he has been acting illegally, and that in compliance with tho expressed desire of-his supporters, he has been reluctantly compelled to fill the vacancy. Tho timo which he has thus gained will afford him ample opportunity to apply diplomacy in selecting a suitable colleague, There was a time when such things were unknown in New Zealand—the time of Stafford, Domett, and Fox,-who required no finessing towsist them in carrying out thoir public duties, and who would rather have resigned any day in preference to having resort to trickery. It is said that a keen public eye is the best safe guard against corruption. It appears to us, however, that the public eyo in New Zealand has been taught to watch tho Government eo keenly* that the number of those, who think themsolves capable of conducting the affairs of the colony has increased to such an enormous extent that all sorts of tricks and counter-tricks—in fact the most shady sorts of shady diplomacy -are being employed by all parties to gain their ends. Some honest member of Parliament who is not beset by office hunger has a fair subject here working a most desirable reform.