The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2499, 18 February 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1871.

By their works shall men be known, and by them they ought to be judged. Our objection to Mr Reid becoming Superintendent of Otago, is founded on the conviction that through absence of early training he is utterly unfitted for practical business. In another column we give a precis of the correspondence between Mr De Carle and the Department of Land and Works respecting the formation of the Clutha Railway. We are not greatly concerned in the question whether the principals expected to obtain the contact. As it is very certain Mr MacANDREW would never have agreed to it in the face of the action taken by the General Government, and as Mr Reid’s signature as Secretary for Laud and Works would have been worthless without his, the conclusion all must arrive at is that Mr Reid has been playing a game in which he has been cleverly checkmated. We can come to no other conclusion; for it is impossible to imagine that any man out of a lunatic asylum would risk his reputation by involving the Province in a debt of £IOO,OOO, and interest to the amount of £16,000 annually, without the possibility of any valuable return being received for it. Y et this is precisely what Mr Reid was apparently on the eve of agreeing to do, had he not been saved by the prudence of MiGillies. Had there been no other plan before the Government, notwithstanding the offer by Mr De Carle was more costly than that which Mr Reid had refused two years ago before by the amount of commission of £15,000, Mr Reid might have been justified iu entertaining the proposal; but he knew that the General Government had undertaken to construct the line, and was empowered to do it by Act of the Assembly ; that they had actually invited tenders for a portion of it, and authorised the purchase of the whole of the necessary land : that instead of £400,000, which Mr Reid was about to agree to, it was intended to expend only £300,000 ; and instead of £32,000 annual interest, with a bonus of £15,000, the annual interest would only be £16,500. Two questions naturally arise out of these facts, involving precisely the -same answer : —First, was Mr Reid sincere in seeking to close such a contract 1 If he was not, he has deceived his supporters, and in self-defence they are bound to withdraw from him before it is too late. They are clearly and conscientiously absolved from supporting him. Secondly : If Mr Reid was sincere in his negotiations, is it wise to place a man so manifestly unfit for practical business in the position of Superintendent 1 Apart from personal prejudice, which ought not to enter into so momentous a question, there can be but one answer:—Most emphatically A r o. On Monday this question must be decided. To the working and industrial classes it is of vital importance. If £400,000 had been spent instead of £300,000, the extra £IOO,OOO would not have benefitted them but the few gentlemen who formed the company. With £300,000 only spent on the Clutha line, the extra £IOO,OOO will be available for the formation of twenty miles more railway, and with the saving of interest of three additional miles annually. Taking into consideration the £15,000 commission in three years —the time occupied before the Clutha line will be finished—the saving in interest and commission alone would pay for making fifteen miles of railway. So that Mr Reid was prepared, apparently for party purposes alone, to throw away Provincial funds sufficient to construct thirty-five miles of railway in three years. Those thirty-five miles of railway would have opened up on each side fifteen square miles of country for settlement: equal in area to 1100 square miles, or 704,000 acres, which would have been eagerly bought up at £1 per acre, thus adding value to the Provincial propex-ty of tlxiee times the cost of the line, and affording profitable occupation for a large population. We cannot avoid drawing attention to a further inconsistency on the part of Mr Reid, that his warmest friends cannot defend. In 1869 he threw over a Company of gentlemen, who offered to make the railway on more liberal terms than those he was prepared to agree to a week ago, and has since termed them, in contempt, “ a “ dummy Company.” Yet he was quite willing, in 1870-71, to enter into arrangements with any Company, “ dummy ” or otherwise, that would give him the opportunity of telling the electors he was prepared to make the line. The consequences of his action would have involved the Province in a most unjustifiable quarrel with the General Government—would have cost an enormous amount of money, and retarded its progress and prosperity for an indefinite period. It must bo plain to every one that of the

two candidates, by education, and habits of life Mr Macandrew is clearly the abler man. No unprejudiced person can doubt that. The revelation of this correspondence has come so suddenly and late, that it is too late to influence the up-country electors, and therefore a deeper responsibility rests upon the City electors, by their votes to secure the Province from the inevitable evils of Superintendontal incapacity by voting for Mr Macandrew on Monday, on the sound principle of “ Measures, not men.” Whatever apathy there may have been before, the necessity for decided action is so plain, that lie who does not vote must condemn himself for non-fulfilment of a pressing social duty.