The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1885 The Wakanui Election.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1550, 8 June 1885, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1885 The Wakanui Election.

No one who has the credit of Wakanui, the interest of the Ashburton County, or the prosperity of New Zealand at heart will fail to rejoice that Mr E. G. Wright has been prevailed on to offer his services in the House of Representatives to the electors of Wakanui. Just now especially, such a man as Mr Wright is much needed—sadly needed —in the House, and it would be a colonial loss if his services should not be secured. But of that calamity we have little fear. In one of the most important qualifications for a member of the House of Representatives, Mr Wright has never had an equal in that > Assembly. He is not a" great, he is not even a very good speaker, he is not a good partisan, he is not a good sectar rian, he is not owned, not even by any class, but for calm, steady,/thorough, unflinching, gation of any subject, cult, that concerns his constituents, either directly or indirectly, Mr Wright has no equal and no rival. Besides ■ great natural ability, a very quick perception, and an energy of character that is carried to a fault, Mr Wright’s early occupations have singularly qualified him to understand everything connected with public requirements and public works, and have given him an insight into the joys and sorrows, the wants and w ; shes, the sympathies and prejudices ofallclasses and conditions 6f men. Thus,in none of his public positions, innumerable as they have been, has he ever proved a failure, a nonentity, or even a commonplace representative. Ask what he was in the County Coun--1 cil, what he is in the Harbor Board, the Plantation Board, the High School Board, Road Boards, or in the mercantile ventures with which he is associated, and you will be told that he was ; and is E. G. Wright in all, and those who have worked with him, or against him, know well what that means. Nothing has ever shown the force and , power of a member of the House of Representatives more strongly nor more amusingly than the action of the Atkinson Government and the attitude ■ of the Otago members towards Mr Wright in 1883. Major Atkinson dis- • liked him for his opposition to the undue expenditure in Taranaki, and the whole force of the Otago members forbade the appointment of such an able man from Canterbury to the portfolio of Works, Yet he could not be ignored, and the result was, as we all know, an offer and an indignant rejection of that refuge for mediocrities—the Postmaster Generalship. To have accepted 1.1,250 a year, to close his mouth and to endorse the imbecilities of Mr Johnston as Minister of Public Works, was never likely to prove a temptation to a man with such overflowing energy of character. Since Mr Wright’s resignation of his seat in the House, there has been no one who has even pretended to take his place; indeed, several of the good men, most like him, have gone too, so that the reports, the statistics and the financial proposals have laid on the table in peace. Some able and busy men have been elected, who have really no time nor thought to spare from their own affairs ; innumerable talkers have multiplied words without knowledge, and filled the pages of Hansard without throwing a gleam of light to the country, whilst still more empty heads have jumped up and down in their places and filled the Order Paper with notices intended only to' rescue their names from deserved and inevitable oblivion, -ome vain spirits have learned a speech or two and repeated them to their own delight and to the disgust of those who heard them; but the men are wanting who really legislate and think for the country ;jwho quietly study the blue books; who point out the inconsistencies of proposed Acts, and the weak points in plausible but selfish schemes j who will get to the bottom of every subject, however complicated or difficult, and will vote, not to the order of a Government or of an Opposition whip, but in the best interests of their constituents, as ascertained by a clear and able head, and by an amount of indus- 1 try that shrinks from no investigation, however laborious. Such are the re- ( presentatives that the country wants, | and such is the man who now offers his 1 services to the electors of Wakanui. 1

Mr W. 0. Walker at Methven When Mr Walker addressed bis constituents at Ashburton some months ago he touched but lightly upon the business of the approaching, session of Parliament, but at Methven on Thursday evening he referred at considerable length to one or two measures which are likely to occupy the early attention of the House. The member for Ashburton is essentially a party man, and although a new member ot the House of Representatives he has long since learnt, in smaller assemblies, the need of abrogating his personal opinion to the policy of his leaders. His industry, loyalty, and intelligence have won for him a position in Parliament which is not likely to be advanced by legislative brilliancy nor imperilled by ambitious intrigues j while an energetic and conscientious representative of the people he will remain aq active compliant parti*

san. We have so recently discussed the influences and effects of party government that we shall not refer to them here further than to observe that Mr Walker’s relation with the present Ministry has probably inspired some of the views he, enunciated in his Methven address. His remarks with reference to Federation, Native Affairs, and Cheap Money were no more vague than the recent utterances of Ministers on the same subjects; these are evidently matters npon which Mr Walker’s opinion is still to be formed, but we have no doubt when formed his opinion will not seriously diverge from that held by his party. The question of local government is one with which Mr Walker is particularly qualified to deal; he fi/Sed a seat in the Provincial Council for some years, and since the abolition of the provinces has been intimately associated with every detail of local administration. His remarks upon the subject are very much in accord with our own views, but we shall watch with interest for the system of “ assured finance ” which is now promised by the Colonial Treasurer as “ample endow ments ” were in 1876. Mr Walker’s remarks upon Protection were, to say the least, ambiguous. In his opinion the great difficulty of the question, the chief objection to it, was that it taxed the many for the benefit of the few. He thought it would be better than Protection to assist their industries by means of bonuses. By that system the assistance would be given by all, and would be legitimate and fair. We fully agree with Mr Walker that bonuses distribute the tax more equitably than protective duties, but if the fallacy is to be persisted in let us face it honestly, and provide for it in the appropriation for charitable aid. Free trade needs no further support from us, but we trust that the deservedly popular member for Ashburton will follow his own good common sense on this question, and still further earn the esteem of the agricultural community he represents.