MR WRIGHT'S CANDIDATURE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1607, 12 July 1887, Page 3

MR WRIGHT'S CANDIDATURE.

For some time past it appears to have been assumed as a certainty, or at least a probability that Mr E. G. Wright would accept the opportunity afforded by the occurrence of a general election to offer himself as a candidate for one of the seats ; and the political quidnuncs who are at such times as the present especially busy have been excessively anxious to penetrate that gentleman s intentions, and ascertain the parttcular seat for which he proposed to come forward. Wakanui, SC?5 C ? ,J Kaia P 01 '» Christchurch South, and half-a-dozen other electorates have ! b een at various times selected for Mr B^,, b l these bus y f olk, but, as generally happens among those other speculators who essay to spot the winner of Cup or Hurdles, the political prophets have managed to hit upon everything but the right one. Their uneasy minds may now be set at rest m this particular matter, for Mr Wright announces m the columns of the Christchurch papers that he proposes to woo the suffrages of the electors of the classic AT at i? ,, Avon> formerl y represented by Mr Kolleston, and since and until last !* ss £, n , by Mr Harper, and for which Mr Blake is now the sitting member. ■I Is L sl : name d gentleman is already m the field as a Government supporter, and was to have been opposed by Mr Dunlop (also a Ministerialist) but as the latter, m consequence of the advent of Mr Wright, has withdrawn from the field, the contest will probably he between Mr Blake and Mr Wright. As the present member was elected m the very last days of the session, and only sat indeed for two or three days, it is impossible to form any estimate of his abilities or qualifications as a member, and Mr Wright must necessarily prove an exceedingly formidable opponent, having already an excellent Parliamentary record to appeal to, and being unquestionably a man whose presence m the House (with whatever party he may ally himself;, is a gain, to the House and the country For not only is Mr Wright possessed of great business ability and of great experience m local government, but he is possessed of a technical knowledge m relation to public works which is of great value. In announcing his platform we observe that he abstains from identifying himself with any particular leader or set of leaders, and although it may be inferred from the fact that he opposes a Government supporter— that he is an Oppositionist—there are only one or two points m the articles of his political creed upon which he is at issue with the cardinal principles 6i the Ministerial policy. It may be said that this is manifestly an incorrect assumption, 'in that Mr Wright would carry, retrenchment into all departments, and thus would not except even that of education, and that as the Premier has distinctly said that there shall be no retrenchment of any sort m connection with the Education system, it necessarily follows that upon this point at anyrate Mr Wright and the Premier must be upon opposite sides. That is so, no doubt, but the same thing applies to a large number of Ministerial supporters, and the Premier will have to. yield upon this point* or there will soon be no Ministerial party at all Mr Wright, it will be seen, concurs m the necessity of lending a helping hand to local industries through the Customs tariff, with the reservation (m which we cordially concur) that m so doing care must be taken not to lay excessive burdens upon agriculture. He is also, as we have said, an advocate of thorough-going retrenchment, and he assents to the village settlements policy, but again, makes the sensible reservation that public money should not be wasted m settling people upon poor unsuitable lands. He urges the placing of the railways under the control of nonpolitical Boards, a course infinitely preferable to the present system, or to the miserable hybrid proposal of Mr Richardson last year, for the establishment of Boards of Advice only. Up to this point then, m the cardinal principles oi an Assistive Tariff, Retrenchment, and Village Settlement, Mr Wright could be a consistent supporter of the present administration. Upon the Railway Boards question, and upon that of Retrenchment he, like many other Government supporters, would go beyond the Government proposals, but that is all, and there is really only one matter upon which it is difficult to reconcilehis views with those of the Liberal party. That is m reference to the land policy. Mr Wright would throw open all Crown lands for I sal 6at their fiirl value, and would, we infer, dd away with the perpetual leasing system altogether. There we think he is seriously m the wrong, for while we ourselves would gladly see lands opened for sale at a . fair price m Canterbury, or elsewhere m New Zealand, this should only be under conditions insuring improvement Bind settlement, and preventing the further aggregation of big-block holdings. Land for sale for cash and on deferred payment at a low price there should be, and there should also be, the choice of taking up land under perpetual lease, agricultural lease, or any other of the forms of tenure known to our land system^ We would give to every one his choice as to system with regard to all lands opened for settlement, and we would open for settlement all lands suitable therefor throughout the colony, but we hold that it would be a fatal mistake to allow any capitalist to come m 'and buy up any area he pleased and shut up the land against settlement for ever. We cannot think that Mr Wright can mean this either, and shall look for his explanatory remarks on this head with great interest, We think it quite possible that when these appear it will be found that even upon this point Mr Wright's views are not incompatible with those of the Liberal party.