OTAGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 323, 5 December 1855, Page 8

OTAGO.

WM.ave Otago papers to the 24th ult. by the Esther. J

Captain Cargill was re-elecled Superintendent on the 17th ult. ..itboul opposition We extr.,et a p.-riimi of the comments of the Otago Witness on Hts Honor's speech at rhe election Ot ail places in the world at an elec.ion time, we relieve Otago i.s the slowest. The election of the Superintendent passed off i„ the quietest manner p.,ssihle. A strao-er would scarcely have known that an election was to t : ,ke phee, and the meeting for nomin-i----tion was as dull an affair as vve have ever witnessed: u_. M question was asked, nor a remark made Thi, rnigiu have arisen from the method of proceeding. Captain Car»ii! having m ,i, id, remarks after he had been decired duly elected, when of course it wis useless to a,k questions. A rnmo.u h.ul ,r ltl afloat that a second candidate wa, lo he proi.o«ed. W.IICJI tnn-d ,„n („, rurn.M.r generally doe.; to be uuirue. We are giad thai uo second

candidate was proposed, us we believe there would have been no real contest, and it is unreasonable to put the electors to ihe trouble of coining to ihe poll to perform a ceremony which was as effectively performed on the day of nomination. There could be little doubt of Captain Cargill's reelection; the reasons given by his proposer of by-gone services would have more than counterbalanced any advantage which might have been on the side of a younger candidate : and after all that may he said of Captain Cargill's adherence to exploded notions, perhaps be rerepresents the people of Otago as fully as any one man can do. It is impossible, or next to impossible, to find a man who will represent the community on every point;-and Captain Curgill'ssupposing that he does so is just the great mistake he makes, which, bowevei, will be of little consequence if he rigidly adheres to his promise of governing according to the views of the majority of the Council. We said the meeting was a dull one: il would have been dull indeed, but for the delivery of one of His Honor's 'time-honoured speeches, (we almost believe they are stereotyp ;d) in which he rates his opponents as usual, and on the old score. This, and his expression of an " unscrupulous press," might be passed unheeded on the ground that an elderly gentleman in a state of irritation is not to be held too strictly accountable for bis expressi his ; but the speech contains statements calculated to give an entirely erroneous impression of facts. We sluill therefore comment upon il ti little, even at the risk of an accusation of want of principle. In the first place, H.s Honor has some mysterious veneration for the Otago Settlers' Association, to the proceedings of which body he constantly refets with the solemnity with which Mahomet may have been supposed to appeal to the Koran ; and His Honor's notions of those proceedings are so abstract and airy that there is no getting him out of the seventh heaven. 'Cannot His Honor state in plain words upon what principles he considers the late Council was elected. The Settlers' Association advocated a variety, of principles and matters. If we remember rightly, there was one about publishing accounts regularly, another about a regular attendance at die survey office, and a third something about men dying from broken legs—all involving principles; but surely His Honor does not mean to say that the Superintendent and Council were elected on the broken leg principle. Tlie truth is, thai the Settlers' Association was a political club, which advocated local self-government, ?>,nd attempted, in certain matters, to remedy the evils arising from the want of such government. Local self-government was obtained, and the Association died a natural death. But His Honor still adheres to the "moribund" Association, saying the Association was every thing pure and right, and its spirit meets every cn^e. I represent the Association, and all who differ from me are unprincipled." Amongst ihe late arrivals we have to notice the Southern Cross, the yacht of the Bishop of New Zealand. The' passengers by her are Dr and Mrs. Selwyn, and Mr. Paitison. chaplain. Ihe bishop has visited Moeraki. and will, we understand, peform divine service in the English Church, Dunedin. to-morrow, and on Monday, he will, we believe, leave for the south.— Otago Witness.