The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2496, 15 February 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1871.

Solomon observed that if you “ bray a ■“ fool ha a mortal’, yet will he not deil part from his folly ” —and Just so Mr llkid’s policy, or rather “no policy, is vaunted by his ardent supporters, in the face of the clear expositions of its Utter fallacy which have gone far to ■convince the public mind that he is toot the man to place at the head of Affairs at the present critical time. It may be that we are about electing the last Superintendent of Otago .; but during his tenure of office he will have great power for weal or woe to every settler in the Province, and in any constitutional changes which may be wrought out by the new Parliament—and those who read the signs of the times cannot doubt but that such things will be—he will from his elected position necessarily exercise exceptional influence in the councils of the Colony. To him the Otago members of the Assembly will naturally look for the key-note in which 'harmonious movement should be pitched. Our future

for many years depends upon the action winch may be taken by oili* sentatives in dealing with those important questions which will be most certainly raised, and probably this very next session. The question in the forthcoming election ceases therefore to be narrowed down to the administration of local affairs, or the policy to be adopted in giving effect to the laws regarding land, or even to the accepting or rejecting the advantages at our disposal by tlie policy of the General Government, but rather it widens out to embrace every element of our political organisation. The new moulding of the Constitution, so far as regards this Province, will depend in no slight degree upon the action of our {superintendent in the General Assembly ) he —the elect of the whole people—will speak with authority, and his opinions will carry weight far beyond those of any private member. Now to what does all this tend but to the conclusion that we must prefer for this high office > a man of acknowledged talent and sagacity—ft man of progress, of thorough republican ideas, and identified with the working bees of the Colony to a gentleman, however respectable, whose intellectual views have been narrowed by the necessary accidents of his position, and who in Provincial office has certainly discharged his duties most faithfully, hut lias displayed no originality of mind, is obstinate in adhering 5 to his hastily-formed opinions, and stopping his ears to the voice of argument and the logic of facts. The analogy between Messrs Mao an drew and Reid appears to ns to be that between the race-horse and the millhorse—the one, useful enough in its way, plods on its eternal round, and does most perfectly its appointed work ; the other, full of life and spirit, fretting at the restraining bit, dashes along the well-contested course, and lands its owner in victory and affluence. Did we see a chance of things remaining as they are—of the continued existence of the Provincial system as it is we might be inclined to see some advantage in securing the services of Mr Reid Provincially, Rut in the face of the coming storm which Mi’ Mac Andrew so clearly foresees, and which his opponent so resolutely ignores, we must before all things secure a pilot who lias skill, energy, and pluck to see ns through it. Lashing the helm and letting the vessel : drift, would be a fatal policy. From all his antecedents, it would be the policy of Mr Reid. He would re, fuse to believe the ship was sinking until the water gurgled in his ears, and, obstinate to the last, would go down “ all standing.” If we would in any shape preserve our separate political existence, we must place Mi Macandrew in the Superintendent’s chair.