The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published very Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Saturday, April 18, 1891. OUTSPOKEN RICHARD.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 596, 18 April 1891, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published very Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Saturday, April 18, 1891. OUTSPOKEN RICHARD.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’s! at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s,;

The Conservative Press has been hard pushed for something upon which to found some sort of abuse against the present Government. They have not been rewarded with much success, but at last they have discovered a subject which they think will bear the most merciless handling. The violent way in which the matter has been taken up does not appear to these scribes in the same way as it presents itself to less partial minds. They do not discern that this very violent abuse is the highest of all compliments they can pay to the Ministry, being as it is proof positive that so far nothing worse can be found to urge against them. At a meeting of the unemployed at Christchurch, Mr Seddon was very outspoken, and instead of pandering to the crowd because some of them happened to have strong lungs, he honorably told them a few plain truths. Now his words have been twisted, and some of the Conservative papers have set up a howl at the idea of a politician being frank in his utterances. They have been so accustomed to the polished ways that some Ministers have had of wriggling out of an unpleasant situation which honest ought to impel them to boldly face that they cannot for the life of them understand a man who plainly says just what he thinks and thinks just what he says. Mr Seddon happens to be a man who has himself worked upwards from the ranks, and he knows that there is nothing more distasteful to the genuine working man than the loafer who would live upon the hard earnings of other men. Sad to say there are many men who really want work in the Southern city, and in other districts, but discrimination must be used. Decent working men are a good patch above the “ Government stroke " business, and a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is most acceptable to them. It would be the most preposterous thing under the sun if, say a man toiling away in Gisborne, supporting himself and family, and givingwhat littlehe canto all worthy movements, besides paying his taxes, should be still further burdened to pamper up loafers away down South. In the case of genuine workmen who need employment he would of course only be too glad to see every effort made to help them on in the rugged path ; to place them in a position which aided by their own self-reliance will soon enable them to get on their feet again, as the saying goes. Liberalism does not consist in- toadying to loaferdom for the sake of catching a few votes, and no one will better appreciate Mr Seddon’s strength of mind than the working men themselves. The affair affords a most ridiculous spectacle of the pitiable efforts made by the Conservative Press to create a wrong impression, then to make use of working men who feel aggrieved on reading these distorted statements, and prompt them to fierce attacks upon the Minister. The savage glee with which they have taken advantage of the circumstance will probably only add to the pleasure of Mr Seddon, who has sense to know that the other side have revealed their hand without doing more than giving assistance to the object of their abuse. The N.Z. Herald is a journal which rises above the pettiness of some of its contemporaries on the same side in politics, and the comments are in striking contrast to certain others that we have read:—

Great will be the groanings among the loafing tribe, and strong will be the language in which they will abuse Mr Seddon when they are (airly out of reach of his fists. It is really a grand thing to have a Minister who is not afraid of anybody—not even of the working man. And whatever people may say about “ Dick ” Seddon, as every West Coaster calls him, there is one thing that never was said about him, that ho was a coward. A better example of the regular English bull-dog—brave, tenacious, and absolutely without fear of any human being—than the Hon. Richard Seddon, M.H.R., is not to be found in New Zealand. He may make mistakes, and he probably will, but at present he seems to be going the right way to work, and doing what few previous Ministers have ever dared to do, telling the people the truth.