The Evening Star. TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2459, 3 January 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1871.

WrtlEE there is no doubt that the vote of Dunedin will materially affect the result of the election of (Superintendent, we must not lose sight .of the fact that the country districts, and nioi'e especially the goldtields, will have upon this occasion a much move powerful voice in the matter than they have ever before enjoyed. The Rolls ove perhaps two-thirdsuheavier than they -were u 1807' and this is especially the case upon the goldfields. The registration has been in most instances well shepherded, and the holders of miners’ rights, not privileged by that qualification to vote for a candidate for the Superintendency, are now almost to a man registered electors; of course we except Mr Shepheud’s friends—the Chinese—who by-the-bye it is reported are about being naturalised in large numbers, and may seriously affect the return in some districts for the local members. In considering generally the subject of what we may be allowed to call the “ country vote,” the public must not be misled by the tone of the various local papers. No doubt the

majority take what we call the Reid view of the Immigration ami Public Works Act—“£<s., that having been originated by Mr Vogel, it is not to be countenanced. in Otago. Portunately when we are behind the scenes, we are able to form a pretty correct judgment as to the importance more or less to be attached to the utterances of our petty oracles, and hud no difficulty in attributing to their true source the patriotic effusions of such Eatanswill journals as the Taapeha Times, the Bruce Herald, and the Oamaru Screamer. The only legitimate emotion which pervades us in looking over such papers is intense surprise that any compositors can be induced by double wages to set up such unmitigated rubbish ; still more, that any business-people will pay money for advertisements. Perhaps the general idiotic tone of the leading matter induces confiding tradesmen and others to trust that their advertisements will be road as a pleasant relaxation from amateur leaders and ungrammatical locals, and that even a paragraph setting forth the praises of “ Daffy’s Elixir ” may be an agreeable change from the virtues of Mr Gillies’s road-engine and all that it is not going to do, or the eternal letters on the land question, requisitions to the “sticket minister” of the Clutha and other lively subjects. Loudest-mouthed in declamation, florid in language as in type, is the TuapekaTimes : published at the very paradise of mud and whiskey ; fostered by the magisterial publican, the Whittington of Lawrence ; provided with pabulum by that ornament of the General and Provincial Senate, Mr James Clark. Brown ; and edited by the proprietors generally—whoever they may be. This country paper holds a proud pre-emi-nence in illogical raving and reasoning

misrepresentation. Ex uno disco omnes. We may take the Lawrence thunderer as a fair sample of the production of the Press when in the hands, not of the “ Fourth Estate,” but of a few illiterate persons who have money enough to buy a plant, and just sense enough not to attempt to write themselves, hut to obtain any particular sentiments by the yard. The Tunpeka Times is, of course, Mr J. C. Brown grammaticised and rendered intelligible. What are we saying—“ intelligible 1 ” Save the mark! Mr Brown’s politics are an enigma. First the devoted follower, the enthusiastic adorer, of Messrs. Vogel and Mac Andrew : anon the bitter opponent of both those politicians, the gnasher of teeth and tearer of hair at the very policy he did so much in 18(57 to initiate and carry through. Well, Mr Brown has got a paper, and can rave to his will ; but do not let anyone suppose that the sentiments inspired by his versatile mind in any way represent public opinion. When the Press is unworthy, public opinion is beyond its influence; and we regret to say of the majority of our country journals, that beyond affording a medium for advertising cattle shows, hospital subscriptions, and the approaching’ visit of the Chinese giant, they are of little use in their generation. Some of our City magnates—the mighty Fish and others, for example—can hardly believe it, but there are intelligent people even up country, who do not entirely derive their opinions from the weekly sheets which, being neither triumphs of the typographical or the rhetorical arts, deluge each district at the regular intervals of their infliction. Except in Mr Bastings’s sacred parlor, the ravings of Mr J, C. Brown, editor of the day, are unheeded, .and the eloquent pleading of our Bruce contemporary has little influence against the stern logic of facts. We want people and we want money—the most ignorant taxpayer knows so much ] and men will not be led to oppose a policy which in its realisation gives a fair promise of both, and all the prosperity thereon accruing, at the mere whim of shelved politicians and mongrel newspaper proprietors. It is a curious fact, and one worthy of consideration, that in Otago, wherever there has been a great political contest, the bulk of the Press has found itself to have been on the wrong side, and to have apparently mistaken public opinion. The reason of this is very simple. Instead of guiding, or even representing, the opinions of the day, each petty proprietor or editor has indulged his petty spite, or aired his shambling hobbies; the library has been less frequented than the taproom ; the very expression “ leading •“ article ” has become a jest, and when it is •' omitted on account of a press of “ matter,” the heart of the subscriber rejoices with a great joy. There are honorable exceptions ; but we must go far up country tor them. The Cromwell A ry us and the Lake Wakatip Mail —especially the latter, now an oldestablished paper—have distinguished themselves for an intelligent handling of the great subjects of the day. There is no attempt at fine writing; but there is an honest dealing with facts, and a desire to help forward the public good without consideration of private ani-

mosities or even of political disagreements. Mr Vogel was never a favorite in those districts, but the local papers stand alone in advocating his present policy, and give sound, good, common-sense reasons for their advocacy. We believe that the country generally will endorse their opinions, and that a triumphant majority at the election .s will consign the “ do-nothing “ party ” to the obscurity they will so well adorn,—( (donununicatcd. )