The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1880.

Kumara Times, Issue 1076, 12 March 1880, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1880.

The action of Mr Sedclon in resigning his seat as a member of the Westland County Council, and, shortly after, appearing on the scene as a candidate for the very vac mey he by his. own resignation created, can but be pronounced as an action of the most inconsistent and undignified character. That Mr Seddon had good and sufficient reason for returning to his constituents the trust they had reposed in him as one of their representatives in the County Council, we do not for one moment attempt to deny. But, unfo,r-

Innately for Mr Section, lie is imbued with that spirit of se'f appreciation that goes fir to mar the very effect he himself is laboring zealously to produce. Had he been satisfied after the j thoroughly explicit explanation he gave his c mstituents at Dillman’s Town a<. to the causes that led to his resignation as a member of the Council, and which action llis CmstitoCnts strongly endorsed* all would have been well, and there was some probability that due of the various Courses he suggested as a means of ridding the shoulders of this district of “ the old nlah bf the sea ” would not only have been entertained, but action taken itt regat'd thereto. No sooner, however, was Mr Seddon convinced that he had the ear of the people, that they were disgusted with the actions of the Council relative to this district, that they considered that he* as their representative, had been slighted by that body, than he immediately* by a side wind, seeks to re-eitter the very Council against which he has so persistently and emphatically declaimed. What was the natural effect of silch a misjudged manoeuvre 1 Those who had supported Mr Seddon in his action in regard to the Council, and who, further, Would have been mainly instrumental in carrying out one of the suggestions he propounded to obtain redress for the grievances under which they were laboring no sooner heard that it Was Mr Seddon’s intention to offer himself for reflection than, to uSo a vulgarism, they “ smelt a rat,” and declined to identify themselves further with the movement. That Mr Seddon as one of the representatives of this district for many years in the County Council has strenusly advocated its interests and fought its battles even his most bitter opponents must, in justice to him admit; but a time having arrived in the annals of his political life when he found that as a matter of. self-respCCt hd was compelled to sever his connection with that body, we say, and say in all sincerity, he should be the very last—Unless under very extreme circumstances—to again solicit the votes of the electors to replace him in his relinquished position. Of his opponent in the contest to-morrow;, Mr Lumell, we know but little or of his aptitude to fill tVe vacancy to which he aspires; but we do know and contend that Mr Seddou, even at the eleventh hour, would act more in accordance with the wishes of his constituents, more in the interests of the district, and more on his owndignity in not contesting an election for which if lie had given the matter a moment’s serious consideration, he never would have been nominated.