unthinking men. “That, Sir,” he said, “was the charge which the honourable gentleman levelled at the Opposition. I should like to know where he gets his ‘thinking men’ in this House, unless it is from the ranks of the Opposition. It would be invidious for me to give names; but, at all events, I should say that on this side of the House there is a compact body of thinking men who, in the opinion of the large majority of the people of the country, are giants as compared with the pigmies that follow the Government,” a little bit of boasting which brought smiles to the faces of several Opposition members, especially when they noticed the speaker’s thorough earnestness.
He did not like Sir John twitting the Opposition with not being united. There had, indeed, been many rumours afloat that the Opposition was divided, and Mr. Seddon’s name had been mentioned in connection with the supposed discontent. He soon set doubting minds at rest on that score, however:
“I have been in this House since 1879, and I have never seen an Opposition so unanimous as the present one. I have never seen such a united body of men, a body of men imbued with more respect for their leader, or who placed more confidence in him. Our division-lists last session shall be the judge between the leader of the Opposition and the member for Selwyn (Sir John Hall). There were no lost sheep there, no stray lambs, no rodents in our party, no defections from our ranks. It is a compact Opposition, a solid Opposition, with a good leader and with men who have confidence in him. That is my reply to the remark made.”
Sir John, while speaking in the debate on the previous day, had referred to defence and to the possibility of a hostile squadron coming to New Zealand waters. On being interrupted by Mr. Seddon, he retorted:
“The honourable member knows full well that a Russian squadron would not touch Kumara; it would not get much there; but if it chanced to come to Wellington during the session, I venture to say that the honourable member would soon skedaddle for the safe shelter of Kumara.”
To this Mr. Seddon replied:
