The Dunstan Times.

Dunstan Times, Issue 909, 19 September 1879, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

B nea'h the rule of men entirely just the pen is mightier than the sword.

I'll 11 >A V, SEPT KM BE I! 10. >79.

The Ihiilv Times Iris lieen hoaxed. HoMEKsonietimes nods, ami th • Great. Panjandrum of (Hago Journalism Iris hemi caught napping. Some stnpendons jokis*, wlioin mu contemporary gravely dosignales as “ the soundest authoiit.y,” has persuaded him into (lie belief that constituencies elect their Parliamentary representatives, not because they think them the b, sr men, but In cause they are County ('haitmen! The fact that, many of these gentlemen represented the same districts when County Councils were not in existence is apparently lost sight of. It is coolly stated that “ settlers are positively afraid at tin present moment to vole against tinChairman of the County Council. bee-ait.se tltey know that ij they da they will nut i/et their roads attended to nor thrir bridges cared for.” A more astounding proposition surely was never set. forth in the dignitv of hading type. What has become of the hallot- ox and our boasted seereev of voting] Not th it t the assertion affects this electorate much ; for, thanks to the paternal shn ting up of the hind by the late Provincial Government, settlers contribute, we a e sorry to say, but a comparative y insignificant fraction of the voting power of this community. But the whole thing is an absurdity, and evid ences that the Daily Times and its "authority” either know nothing of the working of the County system, or that the latter has been practising on the credulity Of the former. .Will it surprise (fur contemporary to learn that before a'nV fnoney .can be expended Chairman on roads .or hridg-s the work must be formally sanctioned, and the necessary expenditure authoris d, by the Council, after Notice of Motion has been duly gi\ cn—just - tis ally similar work* would have to be sanctioned »y Put liament ] The Chairman, indeid, by viitne of his pi sition, is restrained from placing such notices upon the <’■ uncil's Ur.ter Paper; and, as a matter of fact very’ rarely dues so. Wlicu he does take

such an 'unusual course, lie has to vacate the cliair, which is then filled l>y another Councillor, and thus the Chairman not only loses his casting vote, but transfers it to the-ti mporury occupant of the cliair. What then becomes of the groundless and (to the electors) derogatory statement that they are “posirivn’y afraid" to v<Ue against the Chairman because of their roads and bridges 1 Our contemporary selects as bad examples of the present state of affairs, Messrs Fyke. Cheek, and Brown. Wherefore in the fitness of things this is done it would be difficult to surmise ; or why Messrs Hirst, Shanks, Fulton, and the Hons Osmpbell and Hall, with a few others, are not included in the list. Perhaps it is because these latter belong to the “landocracy” for which Sir George Grey entertains such noble contempt, and the Daily Times with a judicious eye to business regards wit > such touching affection. Ifegarding our own member, “ ilie soundest authority ” has given the Times to “understand” (?) “that Mr Pyke would not stand the ghost of a chance of silting lor the Duuslan, if he were not Chairman of the County Council.” Are we mistaken, or do we herein detect the echo of a voice from that pleasant hamlet, the hearts of whose people, like the waters that enviiou their classic locality, ate supposed to “mingle in peace ” —though the ordinary student of nature and human natnie would fail to discover either ciieumsiauce were he not sob-formed ? As Toots says—it’s of n> consequence. The statement is ludicrous enough to provoke the inextinguishable laughter of gods and men. We do not pretend to the p ssessioil of equal omniscience with our big brother of Dunedin, and coii'-equentlv we cannot venture to pronounce upon what may have happened in other dis' ricts. But we do profess to know as lunch, if not a little more of our own district, as the “soundest authority" of the Daily Times; and so far as Dunstan is concerned, the connection between the County Chairmanship and the Parliamentary seat, is as clear as that between Goodwin Sands and Tenterden steeple. Of a verity the wearer of “ the little red button ” has been most cruelly hoaxed.