THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1879.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1725, 30 August 1879, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1879.

As electoral matters in Christchurch stand just now—that is to say, with three vacant seats for the city, and five candidates io contest them we may safely say that two of the three " Liberal" men will find themselves out in the cold when the returning officer's voico is officially heard at the close of the polling day. Of the return of Messrs. Stevens and Richardson there can be no possible doubt. Those who have opportunities of feeling the public pulse are quite aware that " it's all Lombard street to a China orange " that they will head the poll; and should no other candidate come forward we have left that pleasantly-united trio Sir George Grey, Mr. Treadwell, and Mr. Andrews. Opinions materially differ as to the chances which each of this Reform triumvirate will have when running for third place. Mr. Reeves' "Liberal Reform Association" swear by Mr. Andrews, and so does a small independent section of the working classes. Mr. Treadwell, indefatigable as ever in the cause of Liberalism—which, with him, includes numberless other isms and a distinct variety of ologies —asserts by all the mythological gods "of the classics" that " Grey and I will head the poll, Sir ! and of course we'll let Andrews in, as he runs on our ticket." Whether Mr. Treadwell boldly intends heading the poll, or courteously insists that the electorate ought to remember that precedence should be given to his leader, forms a much debated point, and is not yet within the ken of those not in the secret of the mighty convulsions now agitating the body politic of the Reformists. This is, indeed, a happy period in our friend Mr. Tread well's life. Hitherto his soaring political aspirations have scarcely received that attention which they deserved. Never flagging, always stirring, his mind is surcharged with political electricity, requiring but a negative pole of suitable calibre to call forth that electric spark which should, by all rights, fructify all things mundane and renovate the effete universe. Mr. Treadwell has at last found a congenial spirit, a mind soaring above the vulgar prejudices of a bloated colonial oligarchy. This man, picked from the • many thousands upon whose dull and incomprehensive understanding Mr. Treadwell has been up to this time wasting time, breath, and especially logic, is, of course, Sir George Grey. And when we lately remarked that Mr. Andrews and Mr Treadwell would, for a few days, be nursed in the same cradle, we were slightly in error, although, certainly, we simply bracketted those two representatives of the Liberal Reform element of Christchurch as the "Tribunes of the People" supporting the great Proconsul, their leader, Sir George Grey. We find, however, that the cradle must be enlarged, so as to give room for the Premier also. Mr. Treadwell who, naturally enough, pooh-poohs, his second coadjutor, Mr Andrews, as scarcely up to the mark in political economy, insight into the origin of the fifty-eight rights of men, and the later developments of modern statemanship, is quite in accord with Sir George Grey in these various intricate and classical subjects. Or, more correctly, to quote Mr Treadwell's very words, " Sir George Grey is entirely at one with him." For some considerable time past, and, we believe, without the knowledge of Mr Andrews, or of the founder of the Liberal Association, Mr Treadwell and Sir George Grey have corresponded with each other. Quires of foolscap were used in that interesting exchange of ideas on subjects in which the future of mankind in general, and the welfare of the Christchurch electorate in particular, were most deeply concerned. Sir George Grey's visit to Christchurch brought matters to a climax, and we are free to admit that much of the good things which fell from the Premier when so eloquently and fervently addressing the mass meeting at the Oddfellows' Hall, were inspired by Mr Treadwell. No wonder, indeed, that so large a section of the Christahurch constituency should have had serisi>a3 misgivings as to the judiciousness of running any risk by supporting Mr Andrews' candidature, and that many of the electors intend to pin their faith upon the electoral merits of Mr. Treadwell. Mr. Reeves' "Liberal Association" is still bracketing the names of "Grey and Andrews " as their ticket. But we have abundant reasons to believe the class of people to whom Greyism has so warmly appealed will, in defiance of an organisation which they ridicule as fostered by peculiar people for peculiar purposes, believe in what they see, i.e., the GreyTreadwell correspondence, and simply plump for Treadwell, the " Tribune of the People," npon whose stalwart arm and cast-iron brain Sir George Grey is leaning. The happiest man in Canterbury at the present moment is, without the shadow of a doubt, Mr. J. W. Treadwell. And no one will won<" v r at it. «. The window of the committee room of the Reform Association is enlivened by a drawing representing, among other items, Sir George Grey, in a very bloated condition, seated on the shoulders of Justice, like another Old Man of the Mountains, and holding a pair of scales. Poor Justice appears to bo in a very bad way, indeed, and to have no show at all in the battle. A more truthful representation of facts was never drawn. It is exactly what Sir George is always doing. He has no idea of allowing justice—or, for the matter of that, parliamentary or political institutions at large—to carry out their own proper functions untrammelled. It is aut Cossar aut melius with him. Ho will be either an autocrat or nothing. It is a pity the artist did not write " Self " on one balance and " Now Zealand" on tho other, the latter being hopelessly outweighed. As a satire on tho career of the Premier it would then not have been possible to improve on the caricature in question.