A POLITICAL TURNCOAT.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 430, 18 March 1890, Page 2

A POLITICAL TURNCOAT.

Thk way in which some politicians can change their coats when they begin to think they have got on the wrong side, reminds us of the vulgar, simile of a cat hopping on hot bricks. Mir George Fisher, it appears, has deserted his colors concernifi g the Representation Bill, and next session will be numbered among the audacious set who intend to make a desperate effort to subvert what ’Vas done by a substantial majority after i f ull consideration. The Lyttelton Times, an able and consistent opponent of tiie Act, while still fervent in its opposition, welcomes the renegade in a way which shows that while they despise Mr Fisher for turning his coat they will not scrupla to make use of his misdirected abilities.

The Times is well qualified to make the best of any subject it takes up, and we think It signally fails in proving why this ovet.governed (and therefore misgoverned) country should continue to maintain a host ot unbusinesslike prattlers because interested politicians have raised the cry that if they are not in t&e House to shepherd the rights of the people, the latter will be crushed by tlie tyrrany of wealth. Such claptrap is not likely to have much weight with thoughtful taxpayers who have to coo tribute so .dearly to the costly show. The following is the article referred to Mr Fisher, expressing a regret that he voted for the reduction of members, is like a great many others. The only difference between him and them is that he says openly what he feels, while they maintain a painful silence. He proclaims himself to be converted back to the old ways of righteousness. They face their constituents with a ghastly smile, feebly explaining that they have kept their pledges a f economy. Mt Fiaher i« the repentant

sinner, and they are sinners who would like to repent, but through human respect dare not. Repentance does not, of course, prevent Mr Fisher having sinned. We can only deplore that he did not have the courage of his opinions a little sooner. Nothing has happened since he helped to change the numbers to make anyone change his mind. The world has gone quietly on in the usual jog-trot, the recess has been particularly barren even of political discussion. Why there should be a change in any man’s opinion it almost passes comprehension to understand. But as there is a change for the better let us no: quarrel with it or look too nearly into it. Let us instead wish that the example of Mr Fisher might be followed by a sufficient number of members to make it passible to revise the decision of Parliament. Economy was the wretched cloak under which this iniquity was perpetrated. The whole world had gone mad about economy. Nothing but the wildest assertions, nothing but the most reckless promises of reform were of any avail with the multitude of the electors. They had been demoralised by a course of bad writing and bad speaking, and they were ready to applaud denunciations of all expenditure, on the mere ground that it was expenditure. The budget of that time might just as 'well have been arranged in two columns, one headed “ Revenue,” the other entitled “ Extravagance.” The only radical reform was the abolition of all spending except upon the payment of debts. To hear the politicians rave one would have thought that the colony had no business to have any services at all. Railways, the Post, the Telegraph, the Customs, these and many other departments of service were luxuries, to be ruthlessly supressed by a virtuous people. That was the temper of the public, goaded by unscrupulously exaggerative politicians under pressure of low prices and dull trade. Amid the indiscriminate criticism, some of the shafts were soon to hit their mark. If the men who preferred the interest of the country to any other interest had been more numerous in the ranks of the politicians, they could have shielded the best points of the public expenditure from this terrible hail. But a very large number of our politicians are time-servers. They believe in bending to the storm like the reed. To them the virtue of the oak, standing up majestic against the blasts, having a settled determination to break with mightiest crash rather than give way one single jot to the brawling pressure of the wild time, to them this virtue is not conceivable. The wind of popular fury attacked the number of representatives, seeking to destroy that which the popular cause had most to depend upon. In the popular interest the majority should have stood firm. But the majority bowed to the storm, false to their trust and the number of members was reduced in pretended acclamation. After the mischief is done, we have one of the renegades returning to make confession of his sin. How many of the others would be ready to do the same out of tardy justice, with a little encouragement ? The only way to test the question of general repentance is for some member of the Opposition boldly to attack the Representation Act before the next session is many days old.