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Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 321, 15 August 1879, Page 2

We are informed on trustworthy authority, that Mr Montgomery is not to be allowed to have a walk-over for Akaroa. The names of.two residents of Akaroa are mentioned, one or the other of whom it is intended to bring forward in opposition to the sitting member.

A wanton piece of mischief was perpetrated late on the night of Monday, or early on Tuesday last. Some genius managed to cut the telegraph wire just outside the office where it rims ever the the private boxes of the Post Office. The height from the ground at which the cut was made shows that it was not the work of a boy. Perhaps the gay and festive youth who perpetrated this senseless and mischievous joke may not be aware that by so doing he has rendered himself liable to penal servitude. This is the second time this malicious action has been performed in Akaroa. We hope the offender may be discovered, and if so, we think it highly probable that it will the last.

In replying to a deputation which waited on him on the subject of immigration, the other day, Sir George Grey made the following pertinent remarks :—Tho Government had had no communication from the working men on the subject, and where practically acting in the dark. If the industrial classes were desirous of seeing their views embodied in the Statute Book of New Zealand they must ser.d men of itheir own class to represent them in Parliament. The policy of the Government, which had been published, dealt with the the evils of the land system. He would make no promises, because he had been accused by his enemies of breaking so many. He cared not by whom his policy was carried out; his motto was ' measures not men,' and if they desired to see those measures of the Liberal programme carried into effect, they would at the coming election return men whom, from their past history, they could trust to support those measures." We commend these few words to the attention of electors all over tho country. They have now an opportunity of making most forcible " communications" to any Government which may be in power, by sending men to represent them who will be able and willing to carry measures which they feel to be required.

We clip the following from the Lyttelton Times: —Sir George Grey has acceded to the request of the Canterbury Liberal Association, and, as announced in another column, will contest one of the seats for the city. The Hon. J. T. Fisher (Heathcote) and the Hon. E. Richardson (Christchurch city) offer themselves for re-elec-tion. —We understand that Mr James Gammack, of Springston, has been waited upon by a number of influential residents in the Selwyn district, requesting that he will allow himself to be nominated as a candidate to oppose the Hon. J. Hall at the coming election for Selwyn. The strongest pressure has been brought to bear on Mr Gammack to give his consent, and every inducemeut held out to him of hearty support throughout the district. Mr Gammack has not yet given a definite answer, but in the meantime a requisition is being signed,, which will be presented to him some time during the present week.— Our Timaru correspondent telegraphs.— The last move of the Oppositionists to get a candidate to oppose Mr Turnbuli for Timaru, was to ask Mr Moorhouse to come forward, but he has declined. The small Conservative circle is now making frantic efforts to get a local man, but those they have suggested would not stand a shadow of a chance of election. A. number of Geraldiue electors were making arrangements to-day to ask Mr Moorhouse to op-pose-Mr Wakefield. Should he consent, his ■chance of election would be very good. Mr John Studholme is the only candidate in the field for Gladstone, but efforts are being made in Waimate to get an Opposition candidate. .Mr Turnbuli will address the electors at the Timaru Institute Hall on Monday night.

We understand that the dissolotion was to'have taken place yesterday or to-kay.

We learn from the Christchurch papers that a Liberal Reform Association has been formed in Christchurch. A meeting of this association was held in the Oddfellows' Hall on Monday evening. There were over 100- present, Mr'J. S. Turnbull, President of the Association, in the chair. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, the report ox the Provisional Committee appointed at the meeting was read. It recommended that the Central Committee of the Association comprise sis vice-Presidents, and twelve members. That the entrance be free, expenses' to be paid by voluntary contributions. The recommendations of the Committee were carried, and the following form of adherence to the Association was adopted :— M I hereby enter myself as a member, Ka&erstanding that the test of the principles of the Association is the liberal policy placed before the country by the present Government; and that the aim and object of the Association is the return of members to Parliament to support that policy. And I hereby agree to be bound by the rules, and to work in unison and harmony with the association for the purpose stated." It was also agreed that no member who voted against the Government should be recognized or have the support of the association as a candidate for the General Assembly. Mr Izett was elected a vicepresident. Mr H. E. Alport was also elected the treasurer of the Association. The meeting then adjourned.

Many of our readers will remember the perpetrator of the freak described below. The Ashburton Mail, in deseribing-an entertainment which took place in that town, says :— A " Wondrous feat by the Ashburton Wizard "was the next item on the programme, and it caused great amusement. The Wizard (Mr W. H. Bristow) first proceeded to borrow a bell-topper, the lender being Mr Frank Guinness, K.M. Having obtained the hat, the professor of legerdemain very deliberately proceeded to rip it up with his penknife, and, after literally tearing it into shreds, coolly informed the astonished owner that he was powerless to do anything more ; he had forgotten rest of the trick—the restoration of the hat—and was much obliged to the gentleman who had so kindly lent it. Thanking the injured party was addind insult to injury. Moral—Don't lend your hat to amateur wizards."

I A political meeting was held at Ashburton on Wednesday, for the purpose of considering the situation, and selecting a candidate for the district of Coleridge at the forthcoming election. Mr Joseph Ivess spoke at considerable length in favor of a Liberal candidate being selected. A resolution in favor of the sitting member (MiHart) was proposed. An amendment that the new member be a resident of tho district was lost. Finally two resolutions were carried, one in favor of Mr Hart, and the other requesting Mr E. G. Wright, a local man, to represent them. Mr Ivess was also proposed as a candidate, but did not meet with much support. Verily the ways of public meetings are peculiar. If this one be a sample of the state of public opinion in Ashburton, surely it must be a little mixed. First the meeting rejeots the proposal that the district should be represented by a local man. Next they affirm that the sitting member (a nonresident) is the man of their choice. Finally, by a still larger majority, they resolve that they are yearning to be represented by Mr Wright, who possesses the objectionable qualification of being a resident of the district.. On ono point a charming unanimity prevailed. They were of one accord in affirming that th 3 one qualification needed in a representative beyond all others was that he should " get all he could for the district." Which reminds us of a bit from Punch whore an active canvasser, is objecting to one of the candidates. "Look at his politics," quoth the A. C. "Politics be blowed "is the reply, " look at his principles. Why that man brews five and twenty bushels to the hogshead!"

The Lyttelton Times devotes an amusing leader to the subject of " fat men," and urges that the Agent-General should be •instructed to send out a due proportion of such men. Our contemporary concludes as follows :—"England has never shewn sufficient gratitude to her fat men. It is they who have made her what she is, at once the most progressive and the most Conservative of nations. They have made that extraordinary myth, the British Constitution, workable ; they are the men who have given English institutions that solidity and stability which have made them honored and respected. throughout the world. But they have not been appreciated as' they deserved ; often, indeed, coarse jeers and vulgar satire have been directed against them ; no marble commemorates their worth ; no medals have been struck in their honor. But we, who miss their unassuming virtues, and their solid worth; we who feel the want of them, may at least offer this tribute of our respect, and express a hope that we may yet have some of them as follow colonists.".