A Friend to be Saved from.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 435, 29 March 1890, Page 3

A Friend to be Saved from.

[TO THB EDITOR. 1 Sib,—ln yonr article re Mr Gannon’s bankruptcy you seemed to forget some of the features of the case, which, fairly explained, would place him in a much better light. At his meeting he stated that he bad got into snch a bad position through having property (which properly dealt would have made a substantial return) forced into the market, not merely to be sacrificed, but to place the unfortunate man still deeper in debt. And then, apart altogether from the bankruptcy, and with all deference to you, sir, I think one who baa struggled so much for the public good is entitled to some consideration when he is down. Take the case of Sir Henry Parkes, of Sydney. He was the Premier of the mother colony of Australasia. Yet he went bankrupt, a private subscription was got up for him, and he is still the leading man in Australasia, and the prime mover in the great Federation scheme which has attracted the attention of the world. Let your judgment be more lenient, Mr Editor, and' if your own turn should ever come you might get a helping hand.—l am, etc, / Fair and Square. [Our correspondent’s whole letter may be judged by the gratuitous insult which he offers at the finish. We are to base our judgment on what Macaulay calls the teaching that virtue is only to be regarded as the coquetry of political prostitution 1 We did not overlook the point alluded to, because, taken with other facts, it is so transparent as to weaken the bankrupt's position instead of being a good defence. The comparison with Sir Henry Parkes is too ridiculous to be treated seriously, and as for sympathy there are others more entitled to sympathy than the bankrupt, but if anyone feels sympathetic in the matter they have the Parkes case as a precedent, admiring friends having stepped io and relieved that gentleman from his discreditable position, and he had to pay 20s in tbs pound. —Bo.]