The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1891. CURRENT TOPICS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIII, Issue 2514, 14 November 1891, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1891. CURRENT TOPICS.

Ashburton has every reason to be 'proud of-the position occupied on the prize list of the Christchurch Show by iti exhibits. Sheep, horses and cattle all took high honors, and the distinctions are all the wore valuable m that there was scarcely a class at the Show m which the quality of the exhibits was not higher than it has ■ ever been before. Even then the full strength of the district was not put forth; though Mr Thomas, President of the local A. and P. Association made * laudable and public-spirited endeavour to secure a complete representation of our stock and produce. Tne present success should act ag an incentive to continued exertions to maintain and improve the quality of our farm stock and produce. The districts is fast acquiring the reputation 1 which it merits for excellence m these " respects, and united determination to continue m the path of progress will soon definitely establish it. The hope that the late Mr Parnell's followers had that the death of their leader would rally the people of Ireland again to the flag under which he so determinedly fought, has been dispelled by the result pi" the Cork election. The constituency being that for M^'which Mr Parnell sat at the time of ' Ns death, bis iuwwe. and. ujftujory i«uat

have been deemed to be strong aids to Mr John Redmond, his successor m the leadership of his party, and one of the ablest and most popular men and most gifted orators of that party. Mr Kedtnond himself must have considered that the result of the election was certain to be m his favonr, for lie resigned his seat for Wexford and risked all on the Cork contest. His opponent, as far as we know, had nothing to stand upon but his cause, and on.his side the fight appears to have been purely one of principles, and he came through it with a large majority m his favour. It is to be hoped that the Parrtellites will; at f&st recn|.ni*-e that their day is past, and do what Mr Redmond threatened to do if defeated m the Cork election—resign their seats m Parliament, and retire .into private life with Him. m the Nationalist ranks would then be obtained, and the amelioration of the country proceed without hindrance. Ireland will never be trusted with Home Rule while her political representatives are split up into two hostile parties. Now that Ministers have finished their tour, and have delivered the usual, series of ppst-sessional speeches, and the counter-demonstration of the Opposi*. tion has taken, place with, of course* more post-sessional speeeches it is to be hoped that the public will be allowed to rest for a little while. Toujours perdrix is proverbially unsatisfactory, however appetising the dish may be were not too frequent, and what with; sixteen weeks of a session,;and.a " Hansard" that will run into four volumes, and six weeks of public speeches, (or thereabouts) since Parliament rose, the public has been gorged with politic^ absolutely to repletion. As to the* demonstration of Wednesday last, it was a well-deserved compliment to Mr Rolleston for the manner m yhichj after Mr Bryce's retirement, lie led the Opposition, and as to the quantity and quality of the speeches there was nothing to complain of, Mr Scobie. Mackenzie, of course, carrying off' the honors for brilliancy. The Hon. Mr Stevens made the best he cduld M his case for the Legislative^ Council, and as all present were of one mind, everything went off merrily and satisfactorily to the promoters of the banquet. And we are very glad that it did, for Her Majesty's Opposition have justas much right to honor their leader, to enjoy themselves, and'to indulge m mutual admiration as have the members of the Ministerial party, and nobody need grudge them the success of their gathering for thes^e purposes. Care had very properly been taken to exclude all discordant elements, as MiBruce very neatly hinted, and there was therefore not a breath of dissent to ruffle the surface of the self-com-placency of the happy £ unity. All very nice indeed and quite as it should be; but just one word of caution to thoss who .would sanguinely deduce from the enthusiasm with which speeches m denunciation of Ministers, their party and policy, 4 wero received at the banquet, the conclusion that therefore those speeches represent the general trend of outside public Opih'on. Let such remember that it iv not 1 the counsel for either side who lorm the jury m a causey and that usually neither plaintiff" nor defendant can be trusted accurately to judge the merits of the case. Tn this case, that of the Government policy versus the denunciations of the Opposition-, the jury is happily a much larger one than was: assembled at the Christchurch banquet, —and to that jury—the people of the colony at large the issue may very safely be entrusted. . ■