The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2500, 20 February 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1871.

Before this article is published, the election of a Superintendent will have been made. It is in many respects a relief even to the candidates themselves. A few days of suspense, and we shall know the result. It becomes us now, as a community, to accept it, whatever it may be ; to allow the feelings which have been brought into play to calm down, and not to allow defeat on either side to rankle and fester until transient antagonism ripens into chronic animosity. It may be difficult with many to reconcile themselves to defeat after an earnest and hard-fought battle ; but we do not know that there is any disgrace in being on the losing side in an election. It only proves that the majority form a different estimate of political good from ourselves, Neither is it easy at once to transfer allegiance from one who has enjoyed it long to another who has been chosen in his stead : yet this is just what must be done in all representative governments. The officer may be changed, but the office remains. It sounds harsh, for a herald to proclaim with one breath, “ The King is dead ! ” and with the next, “ Long live the King i ” but so it must be in the course of nature, and so it often is in the course of election. We hold it to be every man’s duty by fair means to secure the return of one whom he esteems equal to the duties to which he aspires ; and when, in spite of his efforts, he is defeated, to aid and assist the successful candidate whenever he can do so conscientiously. It must be plain from the history of the past four years that the Superintendent of a Province is not supreme. In our Constitution he is open to be checked, either for good or evil, by his Council. Even the acts of the Executive are liable to be called in question, as in the case of the Clutha petition, which led to the Hundreds liegulation Act. Were it not so, representative government would be a farce. But we have no wish to see either Mr Macandkew or Mr Heid hampered by an ignorant majority, such as was a reproach to the Province in the last Council. We believe, were such to be the result of the next election, Mr Macaxduew, if successful, would rather be relieved of the unthankful duties he would have to endure, and Mr Heid would, by personal experience, learn what it is to have his best efforts thwarted by an unreasoning and prejudiced faction. We sincerely trust, whichever is Superintendent, he will be spared that infliction, and that such men will be chosen to aid him as will support him in all right measures, and be able to advise him intelligently that wrong may be avoided. It is no use to disguise it : the danger of these Colonies is want of knowledge on subjects that socially affect each other’s, and even a man’s own, well-being. It is not that there are not numbers of men fully equal to the task of legislation, The misfortune is they arrive at conclusions adverse very often to popular prejudices, and people -will not give educated men the credit of being disinterested. This, in Otago, is the strangest contradiction. The benefit of education is acknowledged by the attention given to it; by our excellent school system ; by our efforts to place the means of the highest culture within the reach of all. Wc spend thousands every year under the well-founded idea that superior mental training is essential to individual and social success—and we are right, Singularly we make politics, the most difficult science, an exception. When men come forward who have had the advantage of that training, they are almost sure to lose their election, and a Mr BroWn or Mr Thomson, or some equally gifted individual—Mr Shepherd or Mr Mervvn, to wit—is preferred. This is not very creditable to our judgment, It is discouraging in the extreme to every one who wishes the welfare of New .Zealand ; and it is poor consolation to know that our children will prove wiser, because better taught, than their fathers. It may even now be dawning upon some that it is contrary to common sense to suppose men ignorant of law, history, physical, social, and moral science and political economy, are capable ef dealing with questions involving inferences from each or all of them. Yet such tu*e a few of the requirements for sound politicians of the present day, and their knowledge clc-

pends much upon education and opportunity. We trust that our Superintendent elect may have the advantage of the counsel and guidance 6f such men. To choose them carefully must be our next care.