THE HON. MR FISHER SLANDERED.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2500, 19 July 1888, Page 2

THE HON. MR FISHER SLANDERED.

A whiter, under the non-de-plume of "Taniwha," in the Australasian, who supplies " New Zealand Notes " to the columns of that journal, lately made a most scurrilous attack on the Minister of Education. The writer is well known to be Mr E. Wakefield, part proprietor of the Wellington Evening Press, and formerly a member of the House of Representatives. We take from the Ringitikei Advocate the following extract of "Taniwha's" offensive production, and we also give the Hon. Mr Fisher's manly reply, which a friend of his has sent us with a request for its publication The precious letter in question, after giving a brief sketch of Mr Fisher's career before he entered Par- / liatnent, goes on to say Mr Fisher has also been twice returned to the House of Representatives, where ha never distinguished himself much, except by his inordinate pugnacity, and by delivering care-fully-prepared speeches of an extra knock-ine-down character, mainly compiled from American orators. Bnt he has a Bomewhat terrific presence, and vast lung power; and is, in fact, an abnormal specimen of a pushing, ambitious, political intriguer of tho transatlantic type. Hence lie was taken into the Atkinson Ministry last session, undisguisedly as a sop to the ' working man,' and as Ministerial 'chucker out' 011 occasion. He lias been a dismal failure in all respects, however, and it has ended in his trying to play a lone hand under the table." Mr Fisher is an able and rising man ; he is possessed of the true amor patria so rare in this country amongst our politicians, and he is an exemplification, even to a more distinguished degree than Sir R. Stout of the aphorism " from log hut to White House," Would wo had more like him than so many of Taniwha's stamp. The following is Mr Fisher's reply to the Australasian :— Sui, —How it can possibly interest the Australian readers of a carefully compiled and high-class journal such as the Australasian admittedly is to wade through a column of fatuous fanfaronade, tho output of a disappointed and likewise a discarded and despised politician, whose privilege it is to furnish you with " New Zealand Notes," under the pseudonym "Taniwha,'' is a thing that passes the coniprehonsion of all persons in New Zealand of healthy and honourable mind. For in Now Zealand we know " Tiiniwha." It cannot be, and it is not of course believed, that it is the desire of the conductors of the Australasian to speak offensively or discourteously of those public men in this country who, at the present moment, are engaged in the difficult and thankless task of extricating the colony from the consequences of many years of vicious legislation, and of the still more vicious financing of a treasurer of evil repute, who is not now a resident of this country ; and to us in New Zealand the wonder therefore is that your columns should bo permitted to be used as a vehicle for the public expression of tho malignant and splenetic outpourings of a former member of the New Zealand Legislature, who, in consequence of certain peculiarities in his past political career, could not now secure a seat for any constituency in any part of the colony of New Zealand. It is, of clurse, idle for a moment to suppose that the reputation of Sir Harry Atkinson, a soldier and a statesman whose name is respected in every household-in New Zealand, could be tarnished or injured by the publication on your side of the water of ill-natured statements, which would be refused insertion in any newspaper in New Zealand, except, perhaps, in the struggling and sickly journal of which "Taniwha 5 ' enjoys the distinction of being a reputed part proprietor. Nor is it at all likely that I shall suffer in public estimation through the misrepresentations of this ill-conditioned person. It is true (as " Taniwha " says) I am a compositor, one who, having " served his time'" in a well-known Melbourne printing house, migrated to New Zealand, became a Hansard reporter, mayor of the capital city of this colony, member of Parliament, and Minister of Education in the Ministry of Sir Harry Atkinson. All of which is not disgraceful, but it is nothing to the purpose. What is to the purpose is this : Does it accord with the fitness of things that an unscrupulous person who is totally without influence in this country, should have access to the columns of a great and powerful journal in Australia, when it is, to us at all events, clear beyond all question that the evident and only object of this person is to hold up to public ridicule men upon whose characters there rests not a stain of any description—men who, it is admitted, are throwing whatever energy and ability they possess into the effort'to retrieve the fallen fortunes mf this r country - by building up its public credit abroad as a first and essential step towards the restoration of its prosperity at home. Surely, Sir, as a matter of justice and of right, this person ought no longer to be permitted to use your columns for such a purpose. "Taniwha's " political lampoonery is not new to us, as I have said, for while a member of Parliament he was compelled to apologise on the floor of the House for hav -

ing, as an anonymous newspaper correspondent, most shamelessly slandered many of his fellow-members, whose genial inter course he had been permitted to enjoy, and with whom he was for the time allowed to exist on the most familiar and friendly terms. The apology " scene will ever be remembered by those who witnessed it. For its pitiful abjectness it has never been equalled in this country, within or with ant Parliament. [For particulars of this unedifying scene see New Zealand Hansard, vol. 22, page GlO, et supra. 1 I trust, sir, you will do me the justice to insert this letter. I have already explained to you that I am not unknown in Melbourne, where I passad many of the best years of my early manhood. X have friends and relations still residing in that city, and I am known to many of your public men, one of whom, desiring that I Bhould take steps to protect my good name, was good enough to send me a copy of the Australasian containing the offensive letter of which I complain. Moreover, the Australasian is filed in the Parliamentary Library here, and it is read by members of the New % Zealand Legislature, which is now in ses- 7 sion. Upon consulting many of my fellowmeuibors to whom I referred your " New Zealand Notes," and upon whose judgment I determined te rely, they decided that I ought to resent the offensive terms employed, if only for the pnrpoee of making known to you the opinion entertained of "Taniwha" and his contributions by members of the New Zealand Parliament; for, as many of them very properly point out, there is no knowing which of them may next be assailed in a similarly brutal fashion. Believing that it cannot be your desire to unnecessarily wound the feelings of persons occupying prominent positions in New Zealand, who certainly have done nothing to warrant "Taniwha's " vulgar caricatures, and adopting the dictum of Sir A. Roll it, solicitor to Mir Provincial Newspapers' Association, of England, that a person traduced in any newspaper lias a claim 1.0 public refutation through the columns of that paper, I ask you to insert this letter in the next issue of the Australasian.—l am, etc., Gko. Fisher. Wellington, July 6th, 1888,