The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1884. The Selwyn Contest.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1054, 19 January 1884, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1884. The Selwyn Contest.

Since last we wrote upon the subject of the coming Selwyn election the conditions of the contest have been materially altered. Mr Wakefield and Mr Richardson have had a conference on the matter, with the result that the latter will not offer himself as a candidate, and the late member for Geraldine will be left to fight the battle with Mr McLachlan alone. Both these gentlemen have placed their views on ■ public affairs before the electors, who will now be able to form an estimate of their respective merits, and the result will depend upon whether or not the present Government can number sufficient supporters in the Selwyn district to ensure the return of the candidate pledged to do his bast to keep them in power. This is, indeed, the only issue upon which the election can be decided, for no comparison can be instituted between the two contestants for the seat on the point of political ability and experience. Mr McLachlan’s address on Monday evening was, so far as can be judged from the report, what one might expect from a fairly intellligent man, who has given no special attention to the subjects he discusses. He is, according to his own statement, no believer in party Government, but if he does not state positively whether he will support the Ministry now in power, we may be certain that the Ministry will, for obvious reasons, support him. He is, in fact, just the sort of representative that an astute Premier can use as he likes, and we venture to say that if the Selwyn electors return Mr McLachlan to the House he will simply record his vote blindly for that party which will flatter his vanity. We have already plenty of men in Parliament of this type —men whose political opinions are not founded on logic, and who have not the courage of their convictions, for the simple reason that they possess no convictions strong enough to be worthy of the name. Take, for example, Mr McLachlan’s views on the land question, When he last contested the seat he expressed himself in favor of Mr Rolleston’s scheme of perpetual leasing, but since then he has altered his opinion, although he quite failed to give any reason for the change. The address throughout shows that the candidate’s ideas of reform are very superficial; he appears to have some vague notions that something is not quite right, but how to remedy the evil does not come within the scope of his knowledge. Mr Wakefield’s speech stands out in striking contrast to that of his opponent. It is not necessary to be in accord with everything that he says for us to recognise that the late member for Geraldine is one of the soundest political thinkers in the colony. Not only can he put his views clearly before his listeners, but he adds to the gift of oratory a clear knowledge of the principles which govern the proper administration of public affairs. It is worthy of note that, so far as the main subjects of policy go, the opinions of the two candidates are almost identical. They both deprecate excessive borrowing and reckless expenditure of money upon unremunerative works; neither of them is in favor of the perpetual leasing system—albeit Mr McLaciilan’s conversion is of recent date —; nor do tj>ey think that the question of federation and annexation comes within : the scope of practical politics. BjR; with this all similarity between the two addresses ends. Mr Wakefield does not satisfy himself with a mere enunciation of his views, as does his opponent, but he is ready to give reasons for the faith that is in hjm. Those reasons may not in every instance be cqnclu-. sive to his listeners, but they are carefully argued out, and prove that the speaker is in earnest in what he says. And furtbepipore he does not dilly-dally and talk abo.ut suppojrtjng a Ministry whose actions he does not app/roye, simply because he eonsiders that as gopq men could not be found in the present Parliament to take their places, but he i declares straightforwardly that if he is :

returned he will go to the House as a member of the Opposition. He says, ' in effect, “ I have a great admiration for Sir John Hall as an able, statesman, ' and had he been at the head of affairs ! he would have had my allegiance. I , hold, however, that the present Government are not working on the lines , laid down by him, and, thinking thus, I should not be justified in supporting them.” Considering the unworthy ' tactics used by the Ministry in the Inangahua election tactics which were condemned by even their best friends —it must be admitted that Mr Wakefield has no reason to love the Atkinson Government. Still, we do not believe that this will in any great degree influence his actions, for it must be remembered that his present opposition to those in power was the reason and not the result of the treatment he received during the West Coast contest. As a matter of fact, Mr Wakefield has for long been a trenchant critic of Major Atkinson’s policy, and his speech on Tuesday was little more than a forcible reiteration of what he had said and written on the same subject often before. Nor would it be easy to disprove many of his arguments, and especially worthy of notice were his remarks on the borrowing propensities of the colony. Just now the people are jubilant over the successful floating of the second million of the loan, and it is as well that a word of warning should be uttered as to what this borrowing means to us. It means nothing less than an increase of L4Q,000 per annum in the way of taxation to enable us to pay the interest on the money, and we have therefore a right to insist that what is spent should be for remunerative works. This, as Mr Wakefield pointed out, is exactly what is least likely to be done, and it is quite possible that when the whole of the loan is used up the colony will have one or two unnecessarily large railway stations and a few useless roads to compensate her for the extra taxes she has to pay. We regard this portion of the admirable speech of the ex-raember for Geraldine as the most worthy of careful consideration on the part of every person who takes an interest in the future welfare of the colony. As the result of the election, who can foretell it ? Mr McLachlan is not an out-and-out supporter of the Government, but it is quite certain that they would rather see him returned than his opponent. The Inangahua : affair is proof that no effort will be left untried to secure their ends, and it remains to be seen whether the Ministry have as great an influence in the Selwyn constituency as they had on the ! West Coast. The presence in the . House of so keen a critic of his policy as is Mr Wakefield would be gall and wormwood to Major Atkinson, although we think it would be for the good of the colony to have so able a 1 politician in Parliament, no matter upon which side he might range himself. Nor can the late member for c Geraldine be reckoned an Oppositionist in the same sense as Mr Montgomery ; or Sir George Grey. He is, in fact, ' an avowed believer in the policy of the ! Continuous Ministry, as they are called, [ in their best days, when Sir John Hall | held the reins of Government, and it is . probable that his old friendship and admiration of their late representative ’ will have greater weight with the Selwyn ! electors than any other claim Mr Wakefield can put forward. At all events we sincerely hope to see him ’ returned at the head of the _ poll, if ’ only to prove that real ability can sometimes gain a victory over strong ’ Government influence, which, in our opinion, should not be exercised in Parliamentary elections.