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Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume V, Issue 621, 16 June 1891, Page 2

The Marton Mercury nicely shows up a bitter partisan journal. It says : —The Manawatu Times, which appears to have made up its mind to see no good in the present Ministry, commences an article as follows : “ The unfortunate and obstinate Minister of Lands made a very poor attempt in his verbose speech at Palmerston South to reply to the charges made by Mr Spence in pithy and clear-cut sentences, every one of which told as the truth always will.” Unfortunately for the Times, however, Mr Spence has been proved to have not told the truth in “ those pithy and clear-cut sentences,” which our contemporary appears to admire. The “truth ”is that Mr Spence was a New Zealand Tite Barnacle of the very worst stamp, who winked at jobbery in the administration of his office, and who was treated far too leniently, to our way of thinking, in not being dismissed right off. We are afraid the Times is like the English statesman, of whom it was said that with him “every man was either god or devil.” With our worthy contemporary, the late Ministry were the gods and Mr Ballance and his colleagues are the devils. It is such wretched party prejudice and captious criticism which nullifies the influence of the press with right-thinking people.