THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1892. OE BRAV GENERAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4127, 2 June 1892, Page 2

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1892. OE BRAV GENERAL.

The wftrrior who'pranced before the World till his contemptuous fellowcountrymen ooined an ironical nickname for him, is now like Julius Caßsar in one respect—for he is dead, and no one mourns that Boulanger is gone. But another General is vexing the peace of the World, for Booth succeeds to Boulanger's place before the public eye; and we could almost wish, sometimes, that he too were gathered to the angels. If the Government could tell the truth, we fanoy that they would heartily endorse our pious aspiration for the soul of General Booth and the safety of the Colony of New Zealand. The Salvationist leader has .been a great trial to the Government from first to last. When he came here on a visit some months ago, it was with the blare of trumpets and the plaudits of the multitude who hailed hitn as a rescuer of the poor. Now, it behoved a Liberal Ministry to be in touch with the judgment of the people; it behoved them to be very civil. to the idol of the hour; it behoved them most particularly to insist that any and every scheme for the rehabilitation oi the masses would command their earnest interest. And so" the right hand of fellowship"—o vapid produot of inter-denominational teatights I—was ostentatiously, extended to the reverend; regenerator of oiety—andLordOnslowasliedtbegentlenMto lunch to meet the Premier of the Colony. The lunch was a gin-not the kind of gin that the soldiers of the general used to know all about, but a veritable man-trap fbiall that. Desperately anxious lo please, tickled by the 'cute eloquence of Booth, taken in by the simulated sympathy of Onslow, the hapless Ballance coramitted himself to some kind of offer of land fop a Salyatiopist .colony, We quite believe that he meant no harm; for we are tolerably sure that he meant nothing at all—but the General meant business; Down in his' pocket-book he wrote it j and af this monient the Ministry is l being scourged with a rod of the Premier's own making,

Wears genuinely sorry for tho Government [ and Re think that their sworn foe. the Evening as jt is strong, might be merciful to thern, No very great harawjll really happen through the postprandial politeupbs'of'our Premier, The anxious fears which have disturbed men's I breasts for the last few days are now shown to have but .a slender foundation in fact, Tlio Hebrew sagacity of General Booth did what sagaeity could do unaided by hard fact, to twist a. non-committal speech 'into a very definite ofter; and the gentlemen whose business it is to mauui. facture news for the colonies did the rest. Wp investigate, and we breathe again. We %d stungent conditions were fa "ijje offer pf land for .'.'Army" purgoWj .tbat/in of the pffer ms quaii'ged by j£be" of terms which, as Jjr tlallance doubtless thought,..fjeneiiStl wo'uh] no); be inclined to accept.; and that not even the necessary preliminary of" a formal aejeptase' has yet been complied with by the re* oipient of these; lavish favours, We. do not believe, Jben, that anything will come of the affair.* '

Put we feel that the Government of New Zealand' has had ~a narrow We entreat Ministers;' to remember, io future, that some 'people may be tiresome fifloufih to believe what they say—especially str|ng.«rg. Ifo be token at their word is,'wp"are I aware, a novel .experience for these 'gentlemen/ and they have our sym-

pathy Inthe' unexpected situation, VV>; do not suppose" that it will hap. pan to them often; but it would seem-to-haVe happened to them this timoj and the episode should convey to a "Liberal" Government a very solemn irarniDg, When next they' make promises that they have no real intention of carrying out, they will address those promises to packed-moetings of Mr own sup™ porters, who will quite understand their worth. They will be careful that no Bhrewd visitor to our shores shall be tho recipient of Ministerial assurances of any kind, i lest he incontinently, embody those assurauoes in a memorandum, with a view to olaitning their fulfilment later on,