THE OAMARU ELECTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2243, 3 October 1889, Page 2

THE OAMARU ELECTION.

The re-election of Mr Hislop as the member for Oamaru does not m the least surprise ns— indeed we regarded it aU along as a forgone conclusion. Mr Hislop has succeeded, as nearly everybody outside Oamaru expected he would succeed, m his appeal to the constituency, m getting returned by a substantial majority, and m making that appeal has taken tbe proper course under the circumstances, but the result is merely to assure himself that his immediate constituents have not lost confidence m him, and by no means to secure a verdict of approval from the country at large k of his conduct m connection with the Ward-Christie episode. Indeed the election cannot even be taken as the verdiot of the Oamaru constituency on that question, as beyond all doubt this, which to the colony at large was the major issue, was locally regarded as altogether a minor point, the pronounced majority recorded for Mr Hislop being mainly due to the feeling that as member for the district during some ten yoars he has rendered good and faithful service to his constituency, and that even admitting that ha had gone wrong m the Ward affair, Oamaru did not feel herself called upon to discharge a tried and satisfactory local representative merely bectlfo as a Minister he had " put his loot m it." Indeed one of the local papers (both of which strongly supported his candidature) plainly took tbis line of argument, and it is fair to conclude that this view of the case was accepted by the electors generally. Nor can the late contest be regarded as a fair test of confidence or want of confidence m the Atkinson Administration, for the other candidate, Mr Dunn, clearly did not even attempt, though calling himself a Liboral,to pose as the chosen gladiator for the Liberal Party. He seems not to have been very clear aB to hiß political views, and stood almost solely on the platform of the Ward-Christie affair, as one who disapproved of Mr Hislop's action therein. The latter possibly owes the largeness of his majority to this fact, and to the unmistakeable faux paß of his opponent m respect of that unlucky letter of his about a work of local interest— the Oamaru-Naseby road. Of the two men Mr Hislop is incomparably the better, and indeed the constituency can almost be said to have had npne other than Hobson's ohoice. Now that Mr Hislop is once again a member of the House, the question of prime interest is whether he is again to be raised to the status of a Minister. It may be predicted as a certainty that the Premier will afford him tho opportunity by placing a portfolio at his disposal, but if so, will Mr Hislop accept it ? We sin* corely hopo not. He is painstaking and industrious, and has unquestionably been m tho past a great aid to his chief, but m the Ward affair he made one of those political blunders which come under the Napoleonic definition and which oannot readily be retrieved. It will be wise therefore on bis part to take the advice which I ,la frtend? » re mm* to have tendered him ahd" to' *efo se to accept, for the present at anyrate, d s**aew a * i of Ministerial responsibility, and indeed ms taking that course would be the most generous return he could make for his chief's generosity. Moreover, as our Timaru morning contemporary has already pointed out, now that Oaptain Russell has joined the Cabinet, there is not only no necessity for any further addition to its number, but "if Mr Hislop, or anyone else, be now taken into the Ministry, something very like a broach of faith will be committed, for it wa. understood that the number of Ministers would be reduced by one." j