THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1881. MR. SHEPHARD AT WAKEFIELD.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2256, 21 May 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1881. MR. SHEPHARD AT WAKEFIELD.

The Member for Waimea is a gentleman . who holds peculiar views on a variety of i subjects. Some of them are indeterminate, others very much the contrary. To ' the latter class belong his ideas on the 1 value of the Nelson provincial district and its inhabitants in the New Zealand - political cosmos. Acsording to Mr. ' Shephard, Nelson is the garden of New ' Zealand—politically, socially and physii cally. Mr. Shephard, with the ardour of ) his imagination, galvanises the somnolent , residents of Sleepy Hollow into images of i individuals carrying on the '' heroic work • of colonisation " with a fire and success , worthy of all imitation. When left to themselves the Nelsonians are like the ; puppets in a puppet show. They lean limply against the side of the stage, or repose placidly, sandwich-fashion, in the ' recesses of the puppet-box. But, when Mr. Shephard pulls the strings, they j dance wildly over the scene, and the ordinary observer wonders that their claims J to general attention have not previously come more prominently before the public. I But it requires an energetic genius to work the transformation. Only a man devoured by one fixed idea could work , such a transformation. But Mr. Shephard is quite such a one. He is altoge- . ther prepared to sacrifice all things mundane in favour of his particular district. Let us see what he says on one burning question of the day. We allude to the adjustment of our representation. , The want of a new arrangement is acknow- « lodged, the various electoral districts ' having altogether altered in their relative values since the subject was last legislated on. The most reasonable basis on which to found redistribution is of course that of population, modulated to a certain extent by a regard to the peculiar circum- ' stances of certain localities, it being manifestly impossible to take a hard-and-fast population basis as long as the English system of members representing certain districts is adhered to. But, speaking broadly, tho basis alluded to is the most reasonable one that can be thought of. The principle is a general one, and against that principle few have been bold enough to utter an objection. But Mr. Shephard ranks, in this instance, with the minority. And why? Simply because, as he says, " Nelson would be the only district which would lose members, and that would be tantamount to punishing it for not having enjoyed expenditure of public monr-y equally with other districts." As a statement of facte, this is manifestly incorrect. The Nelson members have taken very good care that their district should be attended to, and Nelson evidently is not tho only district which will lose influence in the counsels of the country by a Redistribution Act. But what we wish to note more particularly is Mr. Shephard's perfect readiness to sacrifice the general good to the particular interests of his constituency. He offers no alternative scheme, he does not for an instant attempt to uphold the present arrangement, but the good of the colony is as nothing in his eyes to the supposed advantage of Nelson. Ho is parochial to the backbone. It is from such politicians as this gentleman that the colony should pray to be preserved. We suppose they are an unavoidable evil under the present system, but their existence makes the thinking man cease to wonder that certain nations are endeavouring to rid tho State of tho services of such narrow minded politicians. In France, for instance, a now Reform Bill that is under consideration proposes to re-establish tho scruHn do lisfe for tho ncrulin d'arrondissement. Under tho latter system, which gives one deputy for every arrondissement and anothorfor every additional 100,000 inhabitants, nono but local candidates have much chance of success. Under the former system, which gives j deputies to each department in proportion to its population, and each elector as i many votes as there are seats to be filled, 1 it is argued by M. Gambotta that local J candidates would bo nowhere. The inhabitants of one district would know f nothing of tho wants of another one, and t consequently tho choice would turn on ' largo questions of national importance, and the Chamber of Doputics would be ] something more than an agglomeration t of parochial units. Whether such a } scheme is practicable remains to be ' proved, but it shows, at all events, that l politicians such as Mr. Shephard aro f

•videly distributed over the face of the ?lobe, and that the evil effects that they produce are universally recognised. A MAN OF DETAIL. The "Lyttelton Times" i n its article this morning on Mr Macandrew'a speech at Port Chalmers draws a comparison between that gentleman and Sir Julius Vogel, in which the astonishing statement is made that tho worthy knight is a man who, besides possessing the boldest ideas of policy, has a marvellous grasp of petty detail. History, we are afraid, will hardly bear the writer ont in this general assertion. Sir Julius' schemes were, usually, well ahead of sound financial possibilities, which he might have proved to hia own satisfaction had he taken the trouble to master the details. Sir Julius was a failure. One of tho many reasons was because he was weak on this very point. "With the remainder of the article we are quite disposed to agree. Neither Sir Georgo Grey nor Mr Macandrow has set forth any possible programme for the Opposition for the coming session. Their addresses, as leaders, are terribly disappointing, and may indeed be said to absolutely mean nothing. This is much to be regretted. A strong Opposition is almost one of the necessities of proper Parliamentary Government. But nowhere in the ranks of the opponents to the present holders of power does there appear to bo any man strong enough to consolidate and lead a party with any chance of success.