The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3218, 13 June 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1873.

It is difficult to imagine on what ground Mr Gillies puts forward his claim for support in his contest for the Superintendency. Neither socially nor politically can he hare the sympathy of the Province. We do not undervalue the services a man endeavors to render to society by devoting himself to its interests, and Mr Gillies is not without merit on that score. He has been useful in the Council, and he was useful in office; for we believe that some years ago, prior to Mr Vogel's Treasurership, be was the means of extricating the Provincial accounts from the muddle into which they had become involved through incompetent accountantship. This was, however, a matter of detail which any competent accountant would have accomplished for twenty guineas, and, beyond that, we do not know that he has distinguished himself publicly for anything, excepting participating in the one-sided policy of Mr Reid. The two have stuck together like the Siamese twins; they have worked together, scratched each other’s back, participated in the same prejudices, shared in the same obstructiveness, evinced the same partisanship, joined in the same professions of condemning the sale of land in large blocks, and been equally instrumental in sacrificing every other interest to that of the largo capitalist and the farmer. If Mr Reid’s policy brought the Province into such straits that the Moa Flat sale was rendered necessary to relieve it from its financial difficulties, Mr Gillies was connected with the not less reprehensible parting with the Island Block, respecting which the Commissioners reported : “ The Commissioners consider that the Island Block should have been leased to the applicants instead of sold,” There was not even the semblance of excuse for parting with that fine property to one man, when there were so many applying to occupy it on the agricultural lease system. Yet this is the gentleman who comes forward with professions of a desire to promote settlement on the land. His next conspicuous exhibition was allowing himself to be nominated by Mr Donald Reid as his Treasurer, without even the consent of the Superintendent being asked. This little affair, it will be recollected, took place immediately before the prorogation of the Council some three sessions ago, and, as might naturally have been expected, the dodge did not succeed. Taking into consideration the Constitutionalism which these gentlemen profess to be sticklers for, this is rather an important point to be borne in remembrance. Mr Reid, on that occasion, assumed to dictate to the Superintendent the name of a Minister, and to force his acceptance upon him. Mr Reid has thrown his mantle upon the shoulders of Mr Gillies, and put him forward as the champion of his views of responsible government. To listen to them and to their fine fiery orations, they are the John Hampdens of this fine Province of Otago. In fact, their partisans, in their poetic dreams, do see some analogy between the resistance to the encroachments of Charles the First, and their opposition to the justifiable objection of the Superintendent to be the tool of the Council. The misfortune of these men is, they see the likeness, but not the difference: they can see that there is likeness in resistance, but they do not see that in that word all analogy ends, Hampden resisted tyranny, but the Reid and Gillies party are the tyrants in this case. Hampden asserted popular rights against the King, but it is the Superintendent, the elected by the people, who is now asserting the rights of the people invested in him, against the dictation of a faction in the Provincial Council. The ingenuity and pertinacity of this faction are worthy of a good cause, and we should be glad if it could be employed for the advantage of the Province, instead of for the purpose of fettering its progress and impeding the movements of the ablest men in it. They determined that Mr Reid should be Superintendent: in that they were foiled. They then determined he should be Superintendent in power, although in name he was Provincial Secretary. So long as it suited the interests of the Province, the large-hearted man at its head threw no obstacle in the way, but sacrificed his own feelings to the public good. He accepted any plan likely to work well, and overlooked many little nasty tricks intended to parade the power of the faction before him, and to prove to him that Reid, Gillies, and Co. were not to be put down. The limit to endurance was the public welfare. So long as he had the reins, so long had he the power to check the restive team; but when one bolted and allied himself with a strong team pulling in the opposite direction, it was time to cut the traces and let him go. Mr Reid has wisely let somebody else fight the battle. We have no objection to the exhibition of that u laudable ambition ” which impels a man to seek distinction, so long as it is based on a proper motive ; but the closing scene of the late session shows that personal feeling has quite as much influence in this contest as “laudable ambition.” The favoritism displayed by Mr Gillies as Speaker, which no glossing-over can excuse, ought of itself, as showing men what he is capable of, to sufficiently prove that he is not a tit and proper person for Superintendent. It shows that lie can allow his feelings to override his sense of justice, and that he is incapable of giving that impartial consideration to questions of every class that the dignity pf the ppeitipft demands, Although the

supposition is absurd, yet we may state the hypothesis: If Mr Gillies is elected (Superintendent, the people of Otago are pronouncing in favor of onesidedness and faction: he may be Superintendent in name, and take the salary, but he will have to quarrel with Mr Reid, or that gentleman will rule him. Considering that the twins are equally arbitrary in temper, the latter would most likely be the result.