The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2365, 31 October 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1870.

Our Saturday evening’s issue contained an announcement that the Hon. Mr Gisborne was likely to be invited to represent a constituency in Southland. We do not wish to throw cold water on such a proposal. It is very good in its way ; but we think a better is possible. Mr Gisborne, though little known here excepting to our representatives, is one of the most able men in the Colony, and therefore one that the most influential constituency should seek to secure. Perhaps some of our readers may ask who is he, and what

are his peculiar qualifications 1 We are not in a position to give a biographical notice of that gentleman; for until the last session or two of Parliament, during which he held a seat in the Legislative Council, and represented the Executive there, his name has not been conspicuously brought before the public. But his labors have not on that account been the less useful. Perhaps not one of us knows the extent of service that a man renders in the course of years in the position that Mr Gisborne held previously to the advent of the present Administration. For more than twenty years that gentleman has had the responsibility of seeing the measures adopted by Parliament earned into execution. He has had under his eye the chief departments under the various Administrations that have held office during that period. He has a minute knowledge of the working of each department, and necessarily, through having had opportunity of practically knowing the working of every measure, good, bad, and indifferent that has become law, he is eminently qualified to represent any constituency that has the good fortune to secure his services. We colonists are too liable to imagine that politics, in theory and practice, are of easy acquirement. There is a strange infatuation now-a-days in the preference given to amateurs in everything. Amateur singers, amateur musicians, amateur players, are patronised and supported, while professional talent is undervalued or neglected. It is somewhat the same with politics. Let a man buy a piece of ground, and plant or plough it, and he seems, in the opinion of independent electors, to be qualified to represent the agricultural interest in Parliament. One would really imagine that it was supposed politicians grew up like apple-trees, and only needed planting on the soil to bear good fruit. Unfortunately, too often we find out by their fruits that our practice, if not our theory, is unsound. We are often tempted to wish that those who represent the various constituencies were required to undergo a preliminary training, so that they might be prepared to investigate, with ease to themselves and profit to the country, the different questions that are brought under consideration > What a saving there would be in time and money by such a process. How much more complete would be every law, and how much less of haphazard in law-making, if all engaged in it were thoroughly acquainted with the principles involved. We do not know that there would be less discussion. The ablest and best instructed men differ on questions depending upon circumstances with which their acquaintance is necessarily imperfect. Politics can never be reduced to an exact science ; but it is not therefore to be concluded that there are no principles of universal application. It is because those principles are unknown, or imperfectly apprehended or misapplied, that such gross mistakes, are constantly made. On these grounds, the services of such a man as Mr Gisborne would be valuable to any constituency, for botli principles and practice are of necessity known, by him. He has had precisely that training calculated to tit him for the duties of a representative ; and we feel glad that a movement has been made which may withdraw him from the mere supervisional functions of the Legislative Council, to take his place in the House of Representatives, where his talent and. acquirements may be more extensively useful. There is, however, one point to which we would draw attention. It ought not to be forgotten that in representing a small and uninfluential district in Southland, the moral influence of the election is lost to some extent. Whatever influence a member for a small constituency has is personal, not representative. Some of the greatest men in England represented mere pocket boroughs; for instance, Sir Robert Peel would never seek any other constituency than Tamworth. But when the late! Richard Cobden had Mi'<jhoifee bf Stockport or the West Riding of Yorkshire, he chose the latter, because in so doing he became the mouthpiece of a population of a million and a half, who by electing him added a weight to his opinions that they would not have possessed if supposed only to have been held by a majority in a third-rate manufacturing town. Why then should not Mr Gisborne bo invited to offer himself for some influential constituency 1 It has been rumored that one of our Dunedin members will not offer himself again for re-election. We do not know how far this may be true; but we think now that an election is so near at hand, the fact should be ascertained, and measures taken to secure Mr Gisborne’s services. We have too long neglected to have so influential a voice in the councils of the Colony, and have thrown all into the hands of North Island men, or men with North Island sympathies. By electing Mr Gisborne, Dunedin would be brought into immediate contact with a member of the Executive. He would

become identified with our interests, learn our requirements, and understand Middle Island thoughts. It is possible that in many things we may differ from him. We never expect to be represented by a man with whom we hold every opinion in common. But the advantage of having direct and intimate acquaintance with perhaps the most able man in the present Ministry, is too obvious to be overlooked. We think our leading men would do well to meet and consider the subject.