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Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 565, 3 February 1891, Page 2

The recent session of Parliament was the shortest on record, but short as it was it served to bring out one undesirable affair that would have been best buried with the dead past, Mr R. Thompson’s attack upon the memory of a dead man, and upon one who is living but was absent at the time, was a pitiable exhibition that will be remembered with shame. We do not pretend to have any information concerning the charges made by Mr Thompson against the late Mr Sperrey (Property Tax Commissioner), but the assurances given by Sir Harry Atkinson and Captain Russell are quite sufficient to satisfy us, and have the comparative weight of a mountain to a grain of sand as compared with the assertion of a man who, in the absence of the Premier, would stigmatise him as the perpetrator of a mean and cowardly action, If every charge that could be made against the memory of the late Mr Sperrey were founded upon fact Mr Thompson’s conduct in the matter must still stand out as a sorrowful illustration of what men may come to. The letter written by Sir Harry Atkinson, which led to such intemperate language being used by Mr Thompson, simply stated that there was no foundation whatever for the charges made against Mr Sperrey. As Captain Russell pointed out, Mr Thompson had been offered an opportunity to seek to justify himself, and if he felt that he had any good grounds he should take the course that was open. Parliament should not be prostituted, for the sake of venting bitter personal foeling, and if Mr Thompson has any slwne in him his own remorseful conscience ought to punish him for the part he has acted in this painful affair,