MR G. W. LEADLEY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1676, 30 September 1887, Page 2

MR G. W. LEADLEY.

TO THE EDITOR. f IR.— la the " GaardiaD "cf the 27<h there appeared a letter to Mr Buxton, and signed by Q. W, Leadley. Would yen favor me with a portion of yoor spaoe m wheh to make a few oomraontfl on thai letter. Since I have bad the pleasure of M 1 Le^dley'a acquaintance I have regarded him with no mean amount of respect, deeming that certain patent quall'.k'B m him justified me m extending such teaptct; for 1 have always thought aaoh Belf-made men aa Mr Leadley specially worthy of honor. Th 9 feeling I experienced on readng the above-mentioned letter to Mr Bux on can only be understood by those ia my position. Such a fretted exhibition of verbosity — suoh a counterpane of empty rhodomontade, never fluttered and flapped 1 1 such a gale of " wind." There are evidoDily other nor-westera than thoße of nature. lam thankful, however, that tho result of the eUoJon ha 3 proved the matured aaeds of judgment m ih<3 mi j rity of tha Ran git at a eleotora to have been able to withstand the onslaught of such guets as mint have been blowing amongat them throughout the recent campaign. In these days of culture, individuality and mental independence — pot to speak of Fre.'thought — I had thought the pastures whoroon acoient oraoiea were wont to graize and fatten had all been broken up, and were now under the plough of enlightenment, baiug cultivated and tilled quite abreast of the times, but it eeeens 1 have been ruiett.ken ; for, according to a statement of Mr Leadley 'e, immense areas of euch pabturea still exist Jor my purpose, let me quote that statement,-^" I could, had I wished it, influenced 50 or 100 votes m this election ; dozens of people havn come to me and asked my advice " Sir, if there be such a thing aa essence of egotism, I may be justified m asserting this quotation to be a sample of it. Were I a member of the Wakanui community 1 would repudiate. I would denounce such a statement m a manner that the autbor of it would clearly understand. As one jealous of the reputat'on of the intellectual status of the electorate, of which he is a member, I challenge the truth of such a statement. But to make ilr L's estimate of t c mutual capacity of those people, amongst whom he lives, more clear, let me quote again from his letter. In speaking of the issues numbers of Buxton'a party have sought to raise, m order to distract (according to the oracle) th« minds of the people from the main poiut, he says : <l But honorable n,en can only regard these tactics (ibortions of hisosvn brain) with lhe disapprobation which they JfcHorve, and ordinary intelligent men cao easily see through the miserable subterfuges, etc., etc." If ordinary intelligent men can easily bee through ladders of evil, iind yet di.zena and fifties of the Wakauui electors could only see through those ladders by proxy— by the medium of Mr Ltadley's infallible intellectit follows that tho percentage of ordinary intelligence amongat these eleotora is painfully and dangerously low. To reduce the meauiog of these staiemeuts of Mr Leadley's to an inoffensive p int, let me ratber ascribe them to a detect m his own organism, than to his intention of dire.t y insulting at least a 12th part of the Raugitata electors. There is au abnormal developement somewhare m Mr Leadl^y'j cranium for which he is not quite accountable. Don't you see Sir, that two or three suoh men m any electorate, if such waa thelc rvish, could render all tha trouble contingent to an election the marest faroe ; for with one wink of their oncular eyes — one cock of their almighty (humbß— they could f quash the chances of any oandldate In the arena of polite i. lam ure all tho.e who have read Mr LeadUy'a letter wi>) feel sorry for Mr Hclleston for having all along bden ignorant of the support, of such a powerful unit as G. W, L., especially m the face of the result of the election. It would surely have been a aoarce of great oomfoct to him to have known of such support. It ia difficult; to realise the faot that the Hon W. liolleaton might now havo been m a position to add M H.R. to his name had U W. Lesdley ouly so willed it. I hope Mr Leadlev will accept this letter solely as a gratuity from a friend. It is the expression of a deßire to reveal to him the c>nel oonarqueaoes, the dangerous pitfalls that have got to be avoided In pampering to an inordinate passion for the use of verbal harmoay and ftawery phrases. — I am etc , An Elector.