THE CANTERBURY ELECTORS, THE “PRESS,” AND THE SUPERINTENDENT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 14, 3 October 1861, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE CANTERBURY ELECTORS, THE “PRESS,” AND THE SUPERINTENDENT.

Mr. Moorhonse has been re-elected Superintendent of Canterbury without opposition. Mr. Crosbie Ward, the proprietor of the Lyttellon Times, and one of the members (fro. tem.) of the Fox Ministry, was one of the rejected candidates for a seat in the Provincial Council.

Ihe Press , a paper published at Christchurch, and reported to be edited by Mr. Fitzgerald, the former Superintendent of Canterbury, lias been recently showing up Mr. Moorhouse in such a manner as to cause the electors to require Mr. Moorhouse to give a public explanation of his conduct, dhis he did on Monday, August 2Gth, but in such a manner that his explanation recpiires explaining. In referring to an article in the Press, of the Saturday previous, in which it is stated, with reference the to “ 13ranch Railway Job,” A criminal act has been done. There is a very ugly word for such dealings. Now, who did it i Men don t do these dirty tricks for Who did it then ? What did he get for it ? That is a tooth which must be drawn in spite of wry faces and unmusical cries.” Mr. Moorhouse savs, “ these questionings and comments smack of the surgeon. My Iricud here will be perfectly successful in the operation he proposes as to all the ills arising out of the branch railway job. I did it, gentlemen. (Cheers) The Government secret was my secret, What did I get for it? I got what 1 conceive to be and which will be acknowledged to be a very valuable public property. Who is Mr. Charlesworth ? Mr. Charlesworth was the owner of a considerable portion of the estate 1 have recently acquired for Government for the purpose of making a siding to the railway at Ferrymead. I selected Mr. Cliarleworth as my instrument in these ‘ dirty tricks,’ not because Mr. Charlesworth and I, at the time of my proposal to him, were on le nark ably friendly terras. We had mutual reason to believe that there was but little ground for friendship between us ; but our intercourse had been of a character to convince me of that at any rate. Mr. Charlesworth was a ‘ shrewd man and this shrewdness was the exact quality 1 required to perfect my arrangements for the public interests. 1 confess that 1 was guilty of the criminal indiscretion of keeping mv own council in this matter. I did not tell Mr, Collins, Mr. Taylor, or Mr. Townsend. 1 did not go out of my way to impart to those gentlemen a knowledge that would have rendered all negotiations in respect to this property impossible. I feel conscious of no sin.” Cpon this the Press observes:—“Admitting Mr. Moorhouse’s statement to be strictly correct —what, does it amount to ? Simply this—that forgetting his duty to the Provincial Council, whose authority he was bound to obtain before he dared put his hand into the public purse, and treating with contempt his constitutional advisers, with whom it was also his duty on a matter of such importance to take counsel, he enlaces a person of whom the public knows little or notluug but witii whom Mr. Moorhouse appears to have had previous private transactions, to buy up land for that Government without that Government s sanction, or even as now asserted without its knowledge. The Lyttelton Times calls this a satisfactory explanation. U r e see no explanation whatever in it. But we do see that, driven to desperation, Mr. Moorhouse has the courage to declare himself as ready to usurp authorit; which is utterly at variance with all ideas of Constitutional Government. Wo venture to suggest to the electors at this particular moment that such a Superintendent needs looking after.” d he Press then proceeds to shew that the statement is untrue, and then continues:—“lf the transaction was an honest and advantageous one, why are the distinguished gentlemen who consth tide the Government so unceremoniously excluded from their share in it? If dishonest and of questionable utility to the province, why are they put out of sight to escape the reprobation which is their due? Three of the members of the Executive were present at the meeting on Monday, while their champion and leader was doing their battle. Which is the position they intend to take, that they were puppets and not consulted, or were advisers and participators in the criminal act and yet desire to be concealed ? If the latter is the alternative chosen, we say that Mr. Moorhouse is almost less to be blamed than they. His conduct, though lawless and defiant, is at* least bold and manly ; theirs it would be difficult to describe but by the use of language which we are unwilling to eppb’ them. But the ‘ explanation’ is deficient in many other particulars. ‘ I knew,’ said Mr. Moorhouse, ‘that Captain Charlesworth was a shrewd man, and therefore I used him as my agent to secure property for the Government at a price which the owners would not have sold it for had (hey known that the Government wore the buyers.’ Well then, has Captain Charlesworth given up the whole of the land which, according to this shewing, he was engaged by Mr. a 1 uuriioi.se to procure for the Government? We speak, without exact knowledge of the amount of land which the original proprietors parted with to Capt. Charlesworth. But whatever the quantity was, has lie passed it all on to Ihc Government whose secret agent he was ? 'lhe impression abroad is that he has not, and on this very important pi art of the case the grand ‘explanation’ is silent. If what Mr. Moorhouse said on Monday be true, it is time Captain Charlesworth made his ‘ explanation.’ ” “ His attempt,” says tire Standard, “ to justify his conduct with reference to this affair, is not even worthy of that honest audacity for which he obtains credit from our contemporary the Press. Fven the Lyttelton Times , the organ of the Superintendent, cannot justify his conduct. It observes :

“ Of the policy of the method pursued in this purchase we may be allowed to doubt. We believe that, the Superintendent lias committed a greatmistake in selecting a private individual to purchase these lands for the Government in a manner which has enabled him to make a large profit on the transaction. Even if Captain Charlesworth has effected a saving for the Government which appears doubtful, that saving has been dearly bought by the natural suspicion which has been attached , to all parties connected with the transaction. It would have been far better

for the Superintendent to have paid double money for the land than to have initiated a system of transacting public business with private individuals in a secret way, even though it may’ have been for the apparent benefit of the public. Nor do we believe that a different method would have more expensive. Had a respectable commision agent been employed, with instructions to purchase the property without revealing the name of his client, the purchase might have been made on as good terms as Captain Charlesworth obtained, tho agent would have been satisfied with his commission, and the surplus land, the proceeds of which will now go into the pocket of Capt. Charlesworth. would have been secured to the public, who have m reality paid it. We have no hesitation in savin'* that the Superintendent lias placed Ihmself in a lalse position by this act. The past career of Mr Moorhouse—the straightforward course he has pursued during the last four years—his freedom Irom party measures—the highly honorable disinterested way in winch he has exercised his patronage—all these forbid the idea of any suspicion that he has personally profited by this transaction, and dispose the public, to pub a favorable construction on his acts. There is however, a wide-spread feeling of dissatisfaction as to the mode adopted in this purchase, which lias not been altogether allayed by all that has been said, and which mar be embodied in a very few words—it has been a great mistake .”