The N.S.W. Ministerial Scandal.

Manawatu Times, Volume VIII, Issue 224, 31 March 1883, Page 2

The N.S.W. Ministerial Scandal.

From last Saturday's Sydney Town and Country Journal we quote the f«>JU lowing report of the debate in-tlie Log~ islative Assembly upon Mr Copelau&'s speech, reported m yesterday's Mana*vatu Times : ~-5i ' ■■-!, „./■"..;, On prayers being read, the premier, Mr Stuart, at once rose and said he desired to state, for the information of the Houae, that since they had last met, through cr-rtaiu circumstances which bad arisen, the Ministef'for Public Works had intimated to him : hi^ intention of pLacing his resignation is his (Mr Stuart's) hands. The announcement vvas received m solemn silence. Mr Buchanan ihoyod the adjournment of the House for the purpose/of taking notice of Mr Stuart's remarks that, af teenbou with regard to; Mr Copei&nd's resignation. He deplored especially the action of the Press/ The fe>p.o.i't of; the proceedings was I a disgrace Ho the* conductors of public journals ; with rev gard to -the Herald, it was fiendish and deittuniacal;ahd showed the superhuman malice of the ruffians; whjch allowed those proceedings to obtain^ publicity. Sir Patrick' Jennings made-- a most admirable speech, but it did nqt t receive publicity, while with a fiendish glee the" remarks of Mr Copeland were, fully reported. .He was not there to -defeud Mr -Copeland, but he considered the action of the Press, so far as he was concerned^. was perfectly - disgraceful. (Hear^ Hear.): -He; sympathised with the unfortunate gentleman. (Hear, hear.). It was, a fiendish demoniacal intention from the beginnina to bring ont.everything m bold relief, anditp do ail they could to bring ruin >upon an ,^unfortunate man. . ■ (Heai*.' ; hearV) He 'maintained that none of the English Journals would have : condescended to ithis sort of" thing. --.-They w»uld never :have descended to r such base -journalism. Probably the Sydney Morning Herald ■would not report hia speech; but if it had been ajtiksue of. incoherences how carefully it would have been considered. Altho.ugV no,t oivs peaking terms, with ;the Minister of Works he sympathised Iwith him most deeply. He had been. : the victim,'; of a . base \ combination ,./ to bring about his political / rim. :(ffear bear.) When certain- people of church? :going proclivities went through the ■ TnsoiYent:Oqurt. did; they; shave a single ; word from this infamous journal, which ■vrsecke'i the career of a man who was absolutely guiltless.ro f~ any; sin. The journal m '■•■ question 'was upheld by a pircel . of broken-down;; parsons who would ie-l their Divine .Master-* for the iwiGtched mess of pottage they got from itbeir rich employers. lHe felt the ; warmest and.de. epes.t sympathy for the and the Minister of Works , 'and h,e hoped (7611 the eve of the recess' that sdni'ething would be (ione to reinstate that gentleman; (Hoar, hear.) One would think • from the writings of these Botany Bay saints that the Minister ot Works had been guilty', of .half a dozen murders in s«e\d of V simply having been guilty oi •an impropriety m taking somewhat too much to driiik oh such occasions. And • et they tlonked the delinquencies 61 ; pt:ople whose actions brought them within the pale of the criminal law. He felt a perfect horror at the \mrighteousness of those who allowed the report m question to goiinlo* their paper.- There wjis- a' gloating dcyiiish desire to ruin;the ma» m every hue of. the report, whibh was a scandalous production, -'and would bring condemnation from every righttiiinking,person upon those . woo were the meaus of having it inKer'ted; But this was the tvay of the Sydney :Press. who m that respect showed such a miserable -contrast to the home journals A geatlem:in who was ji.resent /at the banquet tried to have the report softened down. The reporter ' rightly •eno-i'Th said he must give his report m- to," his editors, who might or might notrsoften ii down. But they had refused to do so, and the miserable prod ucti-ju they had seen was the result. liead ing the speech through they would find it was only a rigmarole with nothing m it .to which auy person could take exception on the question of sentiment or disloyalty. And yet the papers wrote a bouft Mr Copeland as if. he had cut the throats of r he whole of the- community. He hoped as he said- before,' that .the Minister of Works TTonld not' be lost to th. m, b:it that they ■ vvnnl«l welcome him back' m his place m the hou.-*e. CHear, hear.) ■'■■* ■Mr : -.olifE.i said he was present pa the occasion m question Sj far as the .speech was conaiStrujd it would not h;ve I appeared so ridiculous asit appeared had it not been fpv the interference of Mr Gope' and's socalled friends. He had every sympathy with the hon. gentleman, for he bad seen nothing bad at his hands, although 011 this occasion be had made a speech for which he deserved to hare their V- mpathies. Mr Young considered it was the duty of the Press to show up public charac ters m their true light. — Hear, hear. r— He protested against the attack on the Press, which had "greatly assisted the Minister of AVoiks during his election, lie believed they had done what they had m the matter of this report m the public interest, —-Hear, hear.r— V Mr G-arrett had been connected with the Press for 40 years, and had no hesitation m saying that amore cold-blooded attack ov a man be had never seen. Had they done this on all occasions? If they had, he would like to know what would have become of many of the of the public men,who were now sitting m that chamber.— Hear, hear.— The: Prof's of' this country was the most m the, world They seized hppn these scandals. audrollefl them ;on their tongues on every possible occasion. He had seui Mr Copelitnd an hour and a ha f before the banquet, when he. was ; perfectly sober, and he presumed he was perfectly sober, when the banquet began. They all knew that Mr Cbpfcland had had a most cxeiting time — a time that would break down half a dozen men. Gould it be tendered at, therefore, that under the circumstances a slip ha'J been brought » bout. He was surprised to hear the Government say tbat. day that Mr Copeland was to temler his resignation . . He hoped it would not be acceptedv He 1 a ; se,. v the hon gentleman i hat day, and he was complefctly crushed, and not j amenable for what he might have said if he intimatediiis intention to resign. He wotild l.i'te to know how; titey : wou'dall look ixi t hat cT amber if every word.

they uttered w< re reported. Why, they w>uid look as 'foDlis-h as Mr : Co, eland looked on Mon ! ay rooming. The th e« jioints which we c on Mr Copelaud's mind were coherent enou»h — about thp railway pass to Mr Redmond, the Trisb land qu s*ion. He had met with so maay interruptions that he no donbl go! very excited and did 'l'se snch expressions as reported . He did say, "ho did no' care a devil for the Ministry," and there ware a good many others thought the same, — Laugher. — Only let them wait a bit and they would find some of these people .of the Press tripping, and then they would want a little of that charity which they now denied to Mr-'Copeland. Mr M'Elhone did. not think anything could palliate tho conduct of JVfr Coneland, as a member of that House and a Minister of the- Crown. 'As regards the Evening News, it always denounced him and because.;it could not mike a tuol of rhe Government that journal turned round and abused them all round trom top to 'bottom. Some" of the Press could be bought for anything — a »ood feed and a glass of rum would buy 'any of them — and they 'would write whatever 'they wete wanfed to. But what else could be expectedjfro.m mon who got such, miserable salaries. If the .Uerald had de>nounccd some of the members of tthat' House as they had denounced Mr Cope* land, Ihose'hon. gentlemen would never have dared to hold up their heads again. Some of tho public men m Australia had' been the • biggest thieves m the world ; but they had beea let alone. -At the same time he said again the conduct of Mr Copeland was unjustifiable, and he considered he had adopted the only courae he could do m "esiguing his position. He wished everyone who had gone to that dinner-had three months. The Minister of works, was quite sober when he began dinner, but had drank some brandy- by mistake instead of wine ;.and to this all; the evil was attributable. He should be very glad when they got Hd of all these saints days and, stuck to their own Australian holidays. Mr Sydney Smith thought the mem--her for Mudgee would have shown bet- ' ter sense if he had let the matter rest instead of dragging it u,p on the motioo. for adjournment. If- any public man misconducted himself it was. the duty of the Press to recovd his utterances. It was the duty of the House to stand upon its dignity ; if they did not, the sooner they gave up their positions as members the better. Mr Leviea -said the conduct of the Evening News was of a most blackguard 'character. He believed what that j jurnal had written about Mr Copeland was • libellous. He regretted the unfortunate m which that gentleman had "placed" himself, out >at the same\time hoped he would not resign, and that the Government would stick to Mm. : /} . Mr A. GL Taylor thought .thi punishment his own colleagues wished to. m? flict upon Mr Copeland waß cowardly •and undeserved. But he wis' ed to call the attention of the Government to terms that had been made use of that night that certain members were thrives, and far worse, so r ar as their public conduct was coacerned, than those w.bo had been taken to task ; anl yet those hon. gen« tleman had not been called to order by the Speaker. The Speaker called Mr A. G. Taylor to order, and s ;id he had not heard terms so poiutedly and specifically used as would justify himia calling any hon member to order. Mr Taylor continued his remarks and said he considered the charges made i were specific. As the Government and the House wished to call - him -—Mr Taylor— to order on eveiy possible oceasi(»n, he would do the sanw when he heard hon members travelling around the bound of fair.debate. Mr Garvan said the result of this affair to Mr, Cop land must be very ' d(trimen(al. lie regrotted that the Press had adopted the tone that it had done. He (as chainnm of the banquet) ' bid n quested the representative of the i le iding journal to deal lightly with the matter; but he was sorry that that geufletnan had not, felt inclined to do ' so. Mr Cameron thought if Mr Copeland weiv present that evening he might well eyelciio "so.ye me from my fiiends." He was sorry this sensational debate had taken place. Mr Buchanan having briefly repliel, tre motion for adjournment was put aud n- gatived . ,