The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 245, 7 March 1855, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Wednesday, March 7, 1855. The public are inclined to take the approaching elections very apathetically. There was a great outcry not long ago for the enlargement of the Council, and now that it is enlarged, none but the candidates themselves ' seem to care who is to be elected. And yet we are called upon by these elections to express our opinion upon the important subject which was directly submitted to us by the act of the General Assembly. The question of the management of the Waste Lands might indeed be debated at public meetings; the majority of one district'might pass resolutions in favour of one scheme, and another district might favor another scheme; but all the weary hours spent in talk will be utterly wasted if the new members are not chosen for their opinions on the subject of the Waste lands. This is the time to speak. Even now it is not too late to question the candidates for seats in the Council upon the subject. Future agitation will be comparatively useless. We want a Waste Lands' law permanent enough to inspire some confidence in the purchaser, not an everlasting agra-rian-law dispute, fomented by demagogues without fear of a Tarpeian rock before their eyes. We want, therefore, men who have studied, and know something about the subject we are most interested in ; and if they • have not yet come forward in any district, let them be urged to appear on the hustings as candidates even on the day of nomination. .Enough of the electors have wisely refrained from pledging their votes to return a really good man if he presents himself at the llth hour. Again and again, we urge the electors to remember that in the ensuing elections the battle should be fought on the Waste Lands' question, and that, in the event of their opinions not being duly represented in the Council, they will have nobody to thank but themselves.