The Evening Star MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2389, 28 November 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1870.

Mr Reid’s u tail ” has voted as men vot£ who blindly follow a loader ; but the day of reckoning is at hand. There is every reason to think that the indirect means taken to secure .the victory were not even politically justifiable. Although it is not considered politic to put weapons into an opponent’s hands, in certain cases mppressio veri is equivalent to political dishonesty. The members of the Provincial Council are supposed to express the opinions of the electors in the different districts in the Province, and in order to enable the Council to judge of those opinions, certain constitutional forms are required to bo observed. In accordance with this rule, the inhabitants of Tokomairiro and Tuapcka, alive to the advau-

tages of railway communication, sent down Mr H. Bastings with a petition, numerously signed, for presentation to the Provincial Council, asking that a line connecting the districts might be included in any scheme of-railway construction the Council might recommend. There can be little doubt had that petition been presented, as it ought to have been, on Thursday, the decision of the Council might have been materially influenced by it. It is idle for anyone to say that it could not have been presented on that day. It would be equally idle to assert that those gentlemen to whom its transmission to the Council was entrusted, could ignorantly have made the mistake of presenting a petition to his Honor the Superintendent addressed to the Provincial Council. The petition was in town in ample time for presentation. It was not only numerously signed by the inhabitants of the districts, but it was signed by great numbers of merchants and wellinformed men in Dunedin ; but it was not presented, held back—and we have no hesitation in expressing our belief — for political purposes. We are strengthened in this conviction through having been informed by several members of the Provincial Council that letters advising of the petition having been transmitted to Dunedin, and asking their support of its prayer, although dated the 18th November, were not placed in their pigeon-holes at the Council Chamber until after the division on Friday morning. Then followed the farce of its presentation to his Honor the Superintendent, who as a matter of course pointed out, what no doubt every member of tlie deputation know, that it was not addressed to him, but to the Provincial Council. Mr Magassey, in his speech on Friday night, alluded to the charge brought against the Colonial Executive of tampering with telegrams, and very properly remarked that were it substantiated, their term of office would not be worth an hour’s purchase. We quite agree with him ; and recommend our contemporary not to rest in mere empty threats, but to push the matter to its ultimatum. And in the case of the Tokomairiro petition, the point at which the hitch occurred should be narrowly and determinedly examined into and ascertained. We are not in a position to hazard an opinion how, where, or in what manner the regular course of presentation was interrupted. There is good reason to believe that the Provincial Executive knew of the petition before the division took place. It is impossible to believe that Mr Brown and Mr Hay were ignorant of it; for the last-named gentleman absolutely asked the House to postpone its decision until that petition was presented. We charge them both, then, with, at the least, neglect of duty to their constituents. Whatever their individual opinions, those who elected them had a right to expect that their wishes should be attended to, however their members might vote ; and we hope and trust that at the coming election, or earlier, both those gentlemen will be required to explain the reasons for not urging on the presentation of the petition in its due course; and if that explanation is unsatisfactory, we trust the electors of the districts will mark their disapprobation by never again returning them their representatives. It is no use mincing matters that require explanation. The public have a right to know whom they can trust. There has been so much party spirit shewn in this matter that it is time the constituencies learnt the means taken to secure an adverse vote. It is folly to attempt to gloss over the matter. The Executive must know that the people are not witn them in their obstructiveness, and that the root of it has been a factious opposition to the progressive policy of the Superintendent. A good deal of nonsense is talked about moribund Parliaments, as if a Parliament of four years old was not better up in its work than oire of men new to their work, with crude opinions based upon imperfect information. Had the House been nearly equally divided in opinion, like the Provincial Council, no Government would have been mad enough to have accepted a bare majority in favor of the Public Works and Immigration scheme; but where 45 voted for the second reading, and only 7 against it—when included in that 45 were men ou whom the country will have to rely for the future guidance of its affairs, the epithet “ moribund ” fails to convey censure. It would be well for us all to adopt the course that Mr Yogkl recommended in the closing words of his speech on the second reading of the Immigration and Public Works Bill—g Lot us think of the people—not of “ ourselves, net of parties. Let us “ forget all differences, and give to the “ country the future yb/ch this Bill “ promises.”