FRANCIS ABIGAIL.
AN OIUKCT LESSON. A writer in nn Aiist.rnHan pap r thus discourses :—To-day a common felon, yesterday n power in tho land and a Minister of the Crown ; before that an honest leather seller, whose worst failin;.' was f«n over-weaning eonceit in the superoQiinont ability of ■' Me and Parke*." Thcso seem to be r.lie salient points in the life-history of Mr nc cording to common ustiage I ought to write the Hoi sHle Franc's Abigail. Without". presuming 1 to traverse the finding of the jury, who found him guilty of conspiring to present a false balance sheet of tho financial fungus of which he was chairman, I have no hesitation in saying that ho ouurht never to hive occupied either the highest or the lowest of the positions I have mentioned. Had tho cobbler only been allowed to stick to his last, he would probably still be to-day a I respected member of society.
His elevation to tho Ministry, though probably presented to him as a crowning and overwhelming favour, acorns to have sealed his ruin. Had it not been for tho prestige thus attached to his name, ho would not have been in such request aa a decoy-duck for the swindlers who had inveigled him into their meshes. Neither would he have been under such powerful pressure to persevere to tlio very last in his hopeless offorts to .- '.v.; " tho institution " from its well-delved fate. A private citizen can acknowledge failuro without much loss of self-respect. A Cabinet Minister or ex-Mini9ter finds it much more difficult, especially if he belongs to the " big awkward squad" of mediocrities and dummies who are I used to stop the gaps of successive Ministries. A really able man will be needed because of his ability ; a mediocrity only becanse of his record or reputation. To acknowledge failure blurs the record and takes away the hope of again entering the charmed circle or enjoying the sweets of Ministerial power and pay. When such a man allows himself to posa as the saviour and reconstructor of any concern with which he has connected himself, it is ten to otift that he " burns his boats," that he never allows himself to consider the dangers of the position, but, buoyed up with false hopes, marches on to the final slaughter like the ribbon-bedecked bullocks and heifers of the ancient Roman proceedings.
The judge's sentence has certainly not erred on the aide of leniency, and it i 3 very questionable whether one of the culprits, at any rate, will live to see the. end of it. If every director who has knowingly concurred in putting before the public a more favourable showing of the position of his company than was warranted by the facts were required to take his place by the side of Francis Abigail, the business precints of Sydney and Melbourne would be smitten with something closely approaching its desolation. It is, however, sincerely to be hoped that the tremendous object lesson which has just closed will bring about eome reformation.
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Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3190, 3 December 1892, Page 6 (Supplement)
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507FRANCIS ABIGAIL. Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3190, 3 December 1892, Page 6 (Supplement)
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