NELSON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 432, 24 December 1856, Page 4

NELSON.

We have received the missing numbers of the■' Examiner.' completing our files to December 6'th. We find in the ' New Zealand Spectator' ?ome extracts from a later number, the tOth. Election of SuPEßrxTEN'DEXT.—Yesterday, about one o'oclock, the Returning Officer declared, in front of the Court House, the numbers which were polled in the several districts during the late election to be as follows : — I

We gather from the ' Nelson Kxs miner' an account of a public dinner held at Upper

Wakenelcl, to which 60 or 70 persons sate down. As they seem to have been supporters of the new Superintendent,we have made the following abridgment of the proceedings, which afford a knowledge, not only of the principles advocated by the victorious party, but also of the qualifications which they claim for their champion : Mr. Baiobxt, M.P.C., was in the chair. In giving the health of the Queen, he con* tradict'id an ' absurd report in Nelson that the electors of Wuimea-south were coming down to Nelson with arms in their hands to demand the return of Mr. Robinson. Of course, this was what the people of Waimea-south would not do, but they would seek justice in a proper and constitutional manner by applying to the Governor. In proposing " Prince Albert and the Royal Family," he " drew a contrast between his conduct and that of those styling themselves the aristocracy of this colony, some of whom, by the indifference with which they treated the industrious classes, were proving that they were not worth}' of their support." After the Governor's health had been duly honored, Mr. Jacksox, in proposing the " health of our Superintendent elect, Mr. Robinson," said, — " I have known Sir. Robinson for many years. I know him in England, and came out with him in the same ship. I have had to do with him ever since, and have always found him a ' real'gentleman —he is far too liberal both in pocket and politics. He has been always ready to do any thing for the good of the colony, and h;is served his country at the expence of his private business. Some gentlemen in Nelson have got rich, but I am sure I don't know how. I But Mr. Robinson's conscience is clear. I have | often been very sorry that Mr. Robinson was brought forward, for his own sake. I know [ liirn to be a man of very acute feelings, and he does not make any fuss about them. I never saw any man so shamefully abused and bullied as he (Mr. Robinson) was at Richmond. I saw him there bullied as I never saw a man bullied." *#* * # «He is fairly elected, and they cannot and will not turn him out; and even if the}' could, we would return him next election by a larger majority than ever. But we must be united, and wo must procure another newspaper, for our views are not represented at all, or else misrepresented by the " Examiner." Mr. Humphreys confirmed this account, he said, — He h;d the honor and pleasure of Knowing; Mr. Robinson many years ; in fact, from the commencement of the settlement; but intended to support Mr. Travers in the election; but when Mr. Travels said he would retire if Mr. Robinson came forward upon a numerously signed requisition, he considered, himself at liberty to vote for Mr. Robinson, who was a man of intelligence and knowledge, zeal and judgment; not a "thing" that has escaped from no one knew where. Some tu*«e ago, Mr. Robinson, himself (Mr. Humphreys), and some others, were deputed to wait on Governor FitzRoy on a subject in which the interests of the people were at stake; and he never heard a man deliver hitiiHclf of his task with more coolness, determination and clearness than Mr. Robinson did on that occasion ; and he (Mr. Humphreys) did not believe that there was in the Province a man better qualified for the office of Superintendent. If ever there was a man of sound principle and integrity, ho believed that man to be Mr. Robinson. Mr. Sausdbus, M.P.C., in returning thanks for his own health, said : — " If anything was necessary to open the eyes of evurv elector in this province as to the absolute necessity of breaking up the snug, little comfortable party that now managed all our Government affairs just as they liked, it was the audacity with which tlioy had now shown how they all work into one another's hands to swamp the free votes of the free electors of this province by Hit) host of electors whom the late Government have employed at our expense; the cool indolence with winch they have, at least,

temporarily, set aside the result of our late victory, and insulted both us and the man of our choice. He need not tell them that if our officials had wanted it they could have obtained the official stato of the Amuri poll in less than a month. They would think with him that it

was extremely negligent of Mr. Jollie if he did ndfcr- enclose tho five names of the persons who had, voted in thcAmuri,in anoto to Mr. Poynter, byl "tho rich Mr. Kobinson," who at least brought a very correct statement of it a few days after the election. He had understood that Mr. Poyntev had, before referring to tho Attor-ney-General, taken tho opinion of two Nelson lawyers, who had advised him to this course. Mr, Travers was evidently not one of them, so that wo might fairly infer that he had taken tho opinions of Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Adams (great laughter). The Attorney-General's opinion would very possibly be influenced by the opinion of his master Mr. Stafford, and Mr. - Stafford's by the account he received from his late colleague iv our Government, Mr. Elliott ; • sOi}.Wiat after all, it would be little else than the opi^on of the 'Nelson Examiner,' and the opinion of the ' Nelson Examiner' would de- ' pond upon the chances that its very shrewd •' editor saw for another contest, He had heard ; a person, even as he was on the road to that

■ meeting, say that lie was going to set the work--1 ing men against the gentlemen, the uneducated classes against the educated ; but the working men there knew that lie had never stooped to -, anything of the kind. He would be as un--1 willing to countenance the slightestinjusticotothe J educated, as lie was to the uneducated classes. |He had a natural esteom for any gentleman who I was a gentleman, but mere money did not cont stitute a gentleman in his opinion ; he had seen i' lots of gentlemen with little or no money, and ! lots of blackguards with a great deal. If by any'accident forty or fifty working men were to acquire any^ undue influence over this province, as forty or fifty so-called gentlemen nowpossess, they would find him just as unwilling to sub- [ mit to their tyranny, as he was to the tyranny of any other class. The present triumph 1 was not the " triumph of ignorance over intelligence;" in that respect the author of that es- . pression will ,be proved as far wrong this time as ,he was upon the last occasion on which he said it. It is the first great result of the political education we have now received, and about which we have read so much; it was the first I great triumph of the body of the people of this • province over an increasingly-oppressive system of class legislation; it was the triumph jjof native worth, unassisted by station or influfjenee; it was the triumph of a sterling character ..over the grossest calumnies that malice could -invent, that rage could utter, that influence ' could publish, or that wealth could protect; it ;,was the iirst great triumph of the good sense of (.the people over an unopposed and a one-sided press ; but what he had looked upon as by far .the brightest feature in the present triumph, it was "the triumph of an honestly-conducted over every attempt at legal bribery; it "Was tho triumph of a party in which no one rexeived even one pennyworth of ribbon over one Hipon which hundreds of pounds must, have been *pent; it was the triumph of the moral sense of the people over every pot-house in the country. It had given to those who wish to be considered /the higher orders of society a lesson which he 'trusted they would never forget; it had shown ithem that, although there are amongst them what they call the lower orders, as well as lamongst their own, a few sots who would sell :\their votes, their children, or their country, for la pot of beer, you, the great.bulk of the people, idre not to be bought either with beer or with sjbrcahfasls, with dinners, or with suppers (loud ■||cheers). He would be vevy sorry to insinuate jfethat all working men who voted for Dr. Monro jpvoted for any of these considerations ; he had Ralways said that there was quite enough'in Dr. IsHonro'rt abilities and character to justify any ipnan in voting for him. All that he now wished ito bo;ist of was that that gentleman's friends jfiiad now found out that neither their beer nor ®heir beef, their premises nor their throats, the gwozzle of their station, the influence of their l&yealth, the rc;;l power of (heir knowledge, or sftven the coercion of every elector in Government ■pay, have been snllieiont to prevent the people Kf this province from electing a Superintendent K'ho was not nominated by them. No efforts Htouid bo spared by the party who have now ■pen defeated to deprive the- people of this proPfnce of their rc;il power by gelling up a split

in the camp. Already they arc trying to persuade other persons in our own party to become candidates for the Superintenueney; but he hoped their party would prove themselves not quite shallow enough to be walked over in that way. Another eflbii was being made to brand the majority of the electors of this province as " red republicans,' as advocates of physical force. He had been greatly amused with the report that he had heard in town, that the " chartists " of Waimca South were going to march into town and instal Mr. Robinson in his office by main force; and he really thought that a few timid noodles believed that there was some danger of it. But if these persons knew a little more of what are called the working men, they would know that they were neither such fools to themselves nor traitors to their country, as to attempt to accomplish, by brutal confusion and disorder, what they could always do by the exercise of the legitimate means that in this country are happily placed at their command. They had sense enough to know that the amount of real liberty that can safely be bestowed upon any community depended principally upon the universal respect which that community pays to the law. The reason why France never enjoj'ed the same liberty as England, is because her population have so often and so easily been seduced to deeds of riot, disorder, and bloodshed —deeds which an Engglishman naturally abhorred, and which, whereever perpetrated, have never failed to destroy everything but the empty name of liberty. As to the bundle of sticks, it would be of little use for him to recommend them never to quarrel, although that would be far the wisest system if they could only adopt it; but in political affairs he would advise them to imitate their more sagacious opponents, who, although they sometimes quarrelled over their runs, and other pi-i----vate affairs like cats and dogs, were always as united as one man upon any important political movement. To vote against a political ally because he happened to be a personal enemy, was only cutting off their nose to spite their face, and to vote for a political opponent because he happened to be a personal -friend, was an act not of kindness, but of cruelty to that friend, who might thus be placed in a false and most unenviable position."

It appears from some of these observations that the return' of Mr. Robinson is likely to be petitioned against. Several speakers alluded to the absence of an impartial press, and recommended the establishment of a second newspaper, which should rightly represent their views.

Rol.inson. Monro. Town of Nelson 113 155 Suburban Xortb 7 45 Suburban South 1.7 10 Waimea East Go 33 Waimea Went 10 18 Wairnea South fM ?,(•> M/Aueka 71 H8 Massacre 1% 30 — V/aimu " — 53 Amuri ... — 5 •125 409 Majority for Mr. Itobhison—10.