THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1881. MR. RICHARDSON AT LYTTELTON.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2344, 7 October 1881, Page 3

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1881. MR. RICHARDSON AT LYTTELTON.

As we have already suggested, it is quite in accordance with the fitness of things that Mr. Richardson should stand for Lyttelton, His long official connection with our port, his knowledge of harbor and railway works generally, and the interest he takes in all connected with our communications with the outer world, render his candidature most appropriate. Speaking at Lyttelton, he appears quite at home; the aims of himself and his audience all point in the same direction. His utterances have a partly briny, partly smoky flavor, as become those of a gentleman who seeks to represent a constituency connected almost entirely with the harbor and railway. He is the friend of the stoker and the sailor, and if, at times speaking with a caution bordering on timidity, when the honor of the harbor is concerned he sounds no uncertain note. There is, however, one drawback connected with the pictnre of this scene of primitive felicity, and that is that Mr. Richardson's candidature will not tend to improve Mr. Allwright's chance of success. Mr. Richardson will possibly be found to possess the confidence of the electors, and in that case his opponent will be left out in the cold. It is a fair case of embarras de richesse, for Mr. Allwright has undoubtedly acted during hie parliamentary life with a straightforwardness which has earned him general respect. In a very early part of his career, indeed, it was proved he possessed that rarest of qualities—moral courage. He was not afraid to act up to his convictions, in spite of all the evil constructions that he knew would he placed on his conduct. Ho was aware that what he was about to do would call down on him the most unmeasured invectives from certain quarters, but that did not deter Mm for an instant in pursuing the course which he considered the right one. Elected on the so-called Liberal platform, ho found on his arrival at Wellington that the party was a perfect wind-bag of empty promises and hollow pretences, and he found, besides, that the party which was working practically and earnestly in the direction of the passing of true liberal measures for the benefit of the masses, and was further endeavouring to make the colony once more financially sound, was not the (Jrey party. Like an honest man, Mr. Allwright took his measures accordingly. He was a supporter of measures, not men, and he properly considered that he was doing his duty to his constituents when he gave in his adhesion to the side which advocated the principles which his constituency held. If Mr. Allwright does not succeed in obtaining the Lyttelton seat he will retire into private life, with the full consciousness that he has done his duty at a trying crisis, and bis rest will, we feel confident, be but little disturbed by the barkings of those who do not choose to understand that it was not Mr. Allwright who changed his convictions, but the Grey party, which has shown that it never cared in the least for those pticiples in favor of which it was always so glib.

But, to return to Mr. Richardson In dealing with the conduct of affairs during the past session he, quite unfairly, we think, lays the onus of the waste of time that took place on the shoulders of the Government. He says that it all occurred through the House having nothing whatever to do, and that, if the Government had brought down important measures at once, no obstruction would have occurred. With this we can by no means agree. The House met on the 9th of June, and a number of measures were at once brought forward sufficient to fully occupy the time of the House until everything had got into full working swing. On the 6th of July Major Atkinson delivered the financial statement, and on the 19th of the same month Mr. Ormond put a stop to all real work by his amendment on the Crown and Native Lands Rating Bill. It was this senseless move on the part of the member for Clive which was the death knell of the business of the House. On Mr. Ormond's shoulders, and on those of the gentlemen who seized the occasion to address their constituencies through the pages of " Hansard," should be placed the onus of the lamentable way in which the remainder of the session passed. When one* a machine is placed out of gear through the foolish acts of persons who do not think and do not care about the consequences, it is a difficult matter to put it again into working order. What measures the Government subsequently sue ceeded in passing were considered in a House the working capacity of which had been partially destroyed. Nevertheless the Representation Bill was pushed through in face of great opposition, and other important measures have been placed on the Statute Book. Everybody will regret as much as Mr. Richardson the manner in which much important work was slurred over during the expiring days of Parliament, but we think few will agree with him in thinking that the waste of time was due to the fact that Government were behindhand with their work.

Taken as a wholo Mr. Richardson's speech does not call for any special comment. Tt is not suggestive, and his views on most subjects are soberly neutral. It is rather when referring to the past than when talking of the future that Mr. Richardson takes up strong ground. He can point with pride to a goodly array of services performed for Lyttelton, the province, and the colony at large. During the past session his voice was heard when anything about which he had special knowledge was brought to the

sur'ace, and on other occasions he maintained a judicious silence, for he is above everything a practical man. Men of this stamp are those most suited for public assemblies, and a record of services performed is the strongest possible claim to the confidence of a constituency.