THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1870.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 761, 3 December 1870, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1870.

The County Council elections have afforded the opportunity for the exercise of a little political strategy at Hokitika, Waimea, and Ross. Iv the former place no fewer than six candidates were nominated, and from the speeches made on the occasion there was nothing to lead to the conjecture that any of the nominees intended to back out of the contest. Rumor had been rife for some time prior to the nomination day that a coup cV etat was on the cards, having for its objects the securing a seat and the Chairmanship for the Hon. J. A. Bonar, and damaging the chances of Mv Hoos's election. That rumor ha 9 been verified by the retirement of Messrs John White and W. Evans, and no secret is made of the reasons for the course taken by these gentlemen. Mr White, in a letter to the local journal, explicity states that his object in withdrawing from the field is to prevent Mr Hoos obtaining a seat, and to assist in securing a place for Mi- Bonar. Mr Evans is doubtless actuated by the ,_^ :^» Ai_.- . r P.Kn.+liin<j_.-tlint. af.rik-Aa no as most peculiar . about this arrangement is the cool manner in which the constituency of Hokitika is handled by this cabal. The private meeting of the friends of those candidates who entered into the arrangement savors to our mind as being somewhat of an insult to the electors as a body. In the absence, so far as we can iearn, of any expression of public opinion at the nomination proceedings, two genmen are induced to retire, from the field in order to make more certain the return of two others — in short, the electors appear to have been dealt with as goods and chattels, the property of the clique that assembled to bargain for them. The one redeeming point about the transaction is the frank manner in which Mr ,Johu White confesses the aims of the .plot. The result can hardly be doubtful, for whichever one of the three candidates besides Mr. Hoos is left out of the running, the present County Chairman is .pretty sure to bo defeated, in spite of the nn in erou sly-signed and ostentatiously exhibited requisition he has received. Such a termination of the political career of Mr Hoos in Westland may be a harsh, but can scarcely be considered an unnatural conclusion. No greater mistake can be made than in supposing that defects of administration can be atoned for by good intentions. No one doubts that Mr Hoos has the interests of Westland at heart, and in another sphere he has done and could do much towards their furtherance. But his career as County Chairman has been an unfortunate mistake from beginning to end. His faults have been precisely those which have precipitated hundreds of well-intentioned but incapable rulers. He is singularly deficient in the chief qualities that combine to form a successful administrator. He has shown little comprehensive mental power, a lamentable want of tact, and an utter inability to impress or guide, and with him firmness meaus stubbornness. These defects of character have been brought plainly to the surface during the two years ho has been in power. He has in no sense ever " led " the Council, and individually he has exercised little influence upon it, or been able to control it. His want of tact has made him many political enemies, and stood in the way of every delicate negotiation that has had to be conducted, and his dogged persistence in his own ways of thinking and acting has on many occasions alienated both the Council and the public. Many a less experienced man might at any rate have secured for himself a larger Amount of regret than will follow Mr Hoos's retirement from the chief political post in the County. At the Waimea, the dodge played at Hokitika is being to a certain degree repeated. Mr Clarke, the sitting member, allowed himself to be regarded up to the last moment aa a candidate for re-ekefcion, and then retired "in favor of Mr Barff." In his small way Mr Clarke parts with the votes of his friends as if they were so much sugar or soap in his own shop. But unfortunately for the entire success of this political trafficing, there are other candidates in the same interest, and two others on another ticket, so that the . constituency moy choose to exercise a little freedom in their choice, Mr Clarke's powerful interest notwithstanding. Ross appears to be regarded by the admirers of Mr Hoos as a sort of warming-pan for

that gentleman, he having been nominated there as well as at Hokitika. Why did he not try the districts all round ? The result of the poll under such an arrangement would have been as definite an expression of public opinion throughout Westland as a plebiscitum. In the other electoral districts fair stand-up contests have been initiated, and there has been none of that tampering with the electors to which we have referred in the cases mentioned. Next Thursday the voting tal es place simultaneously throughout the County, and the next business will be the election by the new Conncil of its Chairman and the chief executive officers of the County. On this subject we shall have to say a few words when the time comes.