THE TAPANUI COURIER AND VINCENT PYKE, M.H.U.

Dunstan Times, Issue 831, 22 March 1878, Page 3

THE TAPANUI COURIER AND VINCENT PYKE, M.H.U.

The writer of Current Topics” in the Tapanui Courier, in commenting on a lead'n? article in the Tuapeka Times, which was highly laudatory of Mr J. C. Brown, tne district M.H.R., says :-I do not wish to octraot from Mr Brown’s merits as a membo’- for a moment, brut the following style of thing is rather too bad. Writing of Mr Brown the Times says “In Lawrence it might bo said of him as of the ancient 'Roman : ‘lf he needs a monument look round yon !' ‘ Comparisons aro odious,’ certainly ; but tbo contrast seems almost forced upon us between the brilliant and versatile genius of the representative of the Dunstan and the homelyunassnming, steady qualities which have gained for Mr Brown general estimation here, and a position of very considerable influence in Pnrlioment." Bather rough this on Mr Vincent Pyke, who I certainly think has done quite as much for his constituents during the time he held ofKce as ever Mr Brown (with all his wire pulling) has done for Tuapeka. V incent Pyke was one of the strongest advocates of the county system (which the Tuapeka Times so strongly believes in), whilst Mr Brown opposed it tooth and nail. Further, after the Act had been brought into force, whilst Mr J. C. Brown was obstructing the proceedings of the Tuapeka County in his futile endeavors to obtain the Chairmanship, Mr Vincent Pyke was up ami doing, and the county named after that gentleman is now held up as a model both for the amount of work done, and the economical style in which its affairs are managed. Mr Pyke h’s a'so, through his efforts in Parliament, reduced the gold duty by sixpence per ounce, thus conferring a special boon upon a large section of the community, and even during the last session of Assembly has obtained more money for his constituents than did Mr Brown for Tuapeka. In following uptho laudatory strain the Times says of Mr Brown : “ But for him the railway connecting us with Dunedin would never have been completed —we question if by this time it would have been eve” initiated.” It 5s not so long ago that the worthy member for Tuapeka admitted before the Chamber of Commerce in Dunedin that he got the vote tor the Tuapeka lailway through the Assembly “ by back door influence,” and even some of his staunch Provincial allies professed to ho shocked at such conduct. But let hy-gones ho hy-uone. If the Tuapeka people wish to show their appreciation of Mr Brown’s services; well and good, but it is hardly generous of the local journal to draw comparisons upon a gentleman representing an adjoining constituency. The comparison, however, does not appear to mo so very odious after all, as far as the worthy member for the D unstan is concerned.