A NELSON MEMBER.

Evening Star, Issue 2840, 26 March 1872, Page 2

A NELSON MEMBER.

Mr Ralph Richardson, M.H.R. for Nelson Suburbs, met his constituents the other day, and his speech, as reported in the Colonist , is certainly the queerest we ever remember to have read. Commenting on a portion of it, the Colonist says _ No one can imagine what could have been passing in Mr Richardson’s mind when he spoke of “the Wellington Debts Bill for LBS 000 n-f/mr,” and “ a Deficiency Bill for L90,1)00 a-year”; as if Wellington were to borrow that sum annually, and as if an Act had been passed to create an annual deficiency of LOO, 000 iu.all.time coming I Passing from figures, and also a mass of “ other things” alluded to by that gentleman, things far transcending our Camprehensiop,!> we come to two direct statements in the speech which in themselves are diametrically opposed'Wl each Other. Mr Richardsdn, in reply to one question, said he voted fOr-thS tax on cereals not as a protectionist, but for purposes of revenue, “ because the principle of- the Opposition was that if the revenue did not meet the expenditure, v:c mast raise'more revenue.'’ In reply to another question, put two minutes later, he said he voted against the stamp duty, on the ground that he would cons nt to no further taxation being laid on the country. ’ It is as impassible to reconcile those two statements as it is to comprehend the other parts of the speech, bT which, in the experience of speakers, high and low, during a quarter of a century, wc have read or listened to no parallel. ” His audience consisted of seven persons, including three representatives of the press from Nelson, the local policeman, and the keeper of the hotel. 'lt is satisfactory to learn that according to the report Mr Richardson “ Sat down amidst cheers.”- The above is a fair specimen of th.; ignorance which has lately got into the House, and Mr Ralph Richardson is an Opposition member.