AN EXPLANATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1673, 27 September 1887, Page 2

AN EXPLANATION.

TO THE EDITOR. I t Sir,— Rof erring to a letter which aa- r peared m last night's " Guardian," charging l ma with being a turncoat, I would ask l you to publish the following letter which ; I forwarded to Mr Buxton a8 an explanation of the stand I took m the late ' election. * Gkorge W. Lbadley. y Wakanui, ' September 24th. Mr Buxton, 1 Mt Dear Friend,— l have this day ' received from you a letter, which I am i sorry to say has given me great pain With regard to your candidature, first let mo say that I fear you do not realise the issue that is before the electors m the present contest There can be no doubt but that the definite issue is as to whether we sh*ll submit to increased taxation, or gin > m for 'drastic retrenchment, and endeavor to bring our future expenditure within the limits of our present income. That mmy mind is the issue. Xam aware that efforts have been made by the candidates and organs of the party with which you are a'lied to raise other issues, md generally to distract the attention of the electors from the main point But honorable men can only regard these taotics with the disapprobation which they deserve, and ordinary intelligent men can easily ace through the miserable sub'erfugea and disguises by win oh political partisans Reek to mislead the ignorant and too confiding. Briefly, then, your pa/ty seek to impose crushing taxation on the laboring olasdes of this colony, some of whom you have told us are walking for 10s per week, and upon the property holders, many of whom like ourselves have given the best part oE their lives m tho endeavour to acquire a little property, and who after a quarter of a century's hard toil having succeeded m securing for themselves a little home, will find themselveb taxtd up to the hilt through laws passed by a party of meu who themselves have little or no stake m tho oountiy, a party represented by fair Julius Yogel and a party with whom you have voluntary allied yourself You say iv your letter " that you have higher mot yes thm Freetrade and Protection." I have no doubt you have. But you must not forget that your leaders viewa and not youra are the rule by which your action is to be doi er mined. You have allied yourself with certain men by whose dictation you mast be governed, whose policy you have. accepted and who will look for your assistance m carrying it out You may cay that you will not surrender the right of private judgment. That will be all well and good so long as your private judgment and your party's policy agree, bat if ciroamatanciß arise m which the demands of your party say one thing and yuur conscience and judgment say another, and you elect to obey conscience rather than party, then you will be denounced as a politloal renegadw and a rat. Now coming to matters more paitlcularly personal, you will remember that bifjre you had publicly declared yourself a candidate when conversing together upon the matter yon told mo that you would come oat as an Independent. 1 then told you that if you did I would support yoa. Well when yoa delivered yoar address m Ashbarton you told us that "after having searched and studied and read and inquired Into these things, you had deolded to come forward on the side of the Government." This deliberate and decisive statement was only five days after you had told me you would come forward as an Independent oandidcta Tyro days after this deliverance I waa with yoa at yoar own fireside, and £ told yoa iv the preaouoe of your own fami y that when I heard yoa declare yourself a supporter of tho Government I was very much disappointed. I repeated that statement la the occasion of y^ar visit t) Wakanui when yoa etaytd the night with me and added that on'a of the last things under heaven, which I would Bup port was Vogeliem, With regard to what I said at Wakanui the motion was for thanks. What I said was that there were too many lawyers and newspaper men m the House, what we wanted waa more men of our own class and the electors were to be congratulated upon having an opportunity of sending one of their own class to Wellington. But 1 would beg to remind you that fhore are three farmers m the field for Raugituti. My remarks as published m the ixahburton papers might lead anyone to suppose that I was making an appeal on your behalf, but the gentlemen who supplied the report put m no doubt what he thought I ought to have said. You oharge me In your letter with working againat yoa. That I deny. I could, had I have wished it, (influenced 50 or 100 votes m this election ; d< zena of peoplo have come <o me and asked my advice, but I hava invariably advised them to uao their own judgment and ap to Thurnday night last even Mr Roileaton did not know how I was going to vote. Referring again to your letter, you apeak of the "higher rlccb and aßptratbns" which Bbould influence In us tills important crisis, I hope you will give me credit for as pure motives as those that you claim for yourself. In conclusion I must say that m view of all these things and claiming the right of private judgment and Independent action, untrammalled even by the claims of friendship and believing that the liberty which you would olaira for yourself yoa would accord to others, I must ask you to allow mo to exorcise the franchise without fear and without reproach and at the same time to believe me when I say that it is not Buxton that I vote against, but the reckless spendthrift party m whoße ranks Buxton has taken his stand* Hoping that you will accept this explanation In the spirit m which it li c ffered and that the dliferenoe that sxists between as m oar political opinions will not affect oar mutual friendship. I beg to remain, Your sincere friend, G. W. Lbadlby.