TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3259, 12 December 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1881.

Mr Smith's success at Waipawa may be directly attributed to Mr Ormond's want of tact. Holding the position that he did ia the Legislature; regarded by very many as a more than probable leader of a middle party, and being distinctly a representative man of the chief industry of this provincial district, it was due from him to his old constituency in particular, and to the colony at large, that he should have striven to the best of his power, to have secured his own return. Ia other words he should not have allowed himself to have stood a chance of being beaten by a second-rate man. The narrow majority that placed Mr Smith at the top of the poll showed that a little more energy could have brought about a different result. No doubt Mr Ormond thought he was working, and no doubt he worked harder at this election than on any former occasion, out we venture to think that he does not know what it is to work in a contest of this kind. Mr Smith has probably, been making preparations to ensure a victory ever since the last elections, and his success is the reward of his labor. Mr Ormond depended largely upon his past public services to recommend him to the electors, forgetting that a mauhood suffrage had placed names on the roll whose owners were as much strangers to him as he was ignorant of them. These men, new comers most of them, knew nothing of Mr Ormond, nothing of the history of the district, and, perhapp, were not competent to judge of the respective political merits of the two candidates. Mr Smith made it his business to look up these men ; and the knowledge of his generosity to many who, in the dull times were in

need of kindiless And toSsicleration, was widespread tiiJ-S'tighout the whole of tbe district. As to whether Mr Smith had bad an eye to the future in the dispensation of his charities concerns no one ; the help* ing hand that he gave to those who wanted it was well-timedj ahd Hberality in a period of disllress ia not forgotten. Mr Ormond also rendered great assistance at the time we speak of, but, it was of a less direct and of less rtenrcnal nature. And this) of pourec, made all the difference ia Mr Smith's favor. A bag of flour to a starving family is more appreciated than any parliamentary influence tbat might be exerted to procure for them daily bread by hard work and poor pay. Ormond'a assistance took the direction of making the family indep undent of charity ; Mr Smith's help was .in the character of something td-go-Oh-with till work could be obtained. Social economists would say that Mr Ormond took the proper course, but politicians would be of opinion that Mr Smith's procedure was best calculated to secure for him personal frendship, and friendship enters largely into a political contest. Rut putting liberality and charity on one side, Mr Ormond depended too much on his previous career. And however much a career may entitle a statesmen to tbe strenuous exertions of his friends, not even a Gladstone could hope to succeed upon them alone. A hurried trip through the bush settlements, a hasty visit to the few centres of population, will not do now-a-days to secure an election. It should also be remembered that amongst the many settlements that have sprung up within the last few years a considerable proportion of the people never see a newspaper ; an active canvass should have taken this fact into consideration, and provided a truthful literature to those liable to be poisoned by false statements. On the whole we are inclined to the belief that Mr Ormond's defeat was his own fault, a fault that loses his valuable services to the colony at a time when they were moßt needed.