The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, November 5, 1864.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 159, 5 November 1864, Page 2

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, November 5, 1864.

Tiie official declaration of the poll for the election of a representative for the Goldfields was declared at Tuapeka, on Monday last, to be in favor of Mr Mouat, the local candidate of that place. The facilities given to the miners there, in the number and position of polling places in closj proximity to the centres of mining communities, enabled him to procure 203 votes. The want of polling booths on the upper diggings has made the present election a sham, and the studied indifference displayed by the Provincial Government of the rights and privileges of the miner's franchise unmistakeably shew its determination to treat the miners as aliens or interlopers in the Province. The miners resident in the Lake district may congratulate themselves, however, upon the return of Mr Mouat in preference to either Messrs Webb, Isaacs or llaughton. Mr Mouat is an untried man, and has yet to learn his political lessons; and if his presence in the Council be not of sufficient w eight to do us any good we have every reason to say, from his manner of conducting his election, that he will do us no harm. Of Mr Webb, we, in a previous article, erected over his political memory a tombstone with the inscription, " Here lies," and we again repeat that the miners have a decided objection to hand themselves over entirely to the •' Old Identity." It was currently reported that Mr Webb had retired in favor of Mr Mouat, but the same also had been said of Mr Isaacs. In the absence of any official information of his retirement, Mr Webb's name on the polling day, as well as the other candidates, was read out to each voter as he appeared before the returning officer, and his having received but one solitary vote throughout the entire goldfields sufficiently indicates that his future chances of success are extremely doubtful. Mr Webb must be, therefore, more than a bold man to come forward again to seek representation through the miners, and we sincerely advise him to go elsewhere. Of the fitness of Mr Isaacs to represent an enlightened community of the nineteenth century, we have only to make a few references to his published address and speeches. He is a most " independent" candidate, according to his own "blowing," and his views can be measured by the " most liberal scale." His political views, he says, " are similar to " those of the other candidates." Very accommodating, indeed; regardless of whether they are good or bad. His views are the creations of the other men, and he has none of his own. We would be inclined to think him simple did we not peruse his speech a little further, and find that he had given to the world a policy of his own. He says, ''l " am in favor of an export duty on wool. He would take the duty off gold because it is a tax on native produce, and vicious; and he would put a duty on wool, because it is not a native produce —it is the produce of sheep. Here is legislation with a vengeance. In his reasoning faculties he is a giant in comparison with Bacon. The Dunstan, he says, is not jealous of Queenstown, but that the latter has always looked upon the former with jealousy. The Dunstan "had given " credit to Queenstown for the advantages it " possessed, and had taken example of it in " many things." In illustration of this vague line of argument, Mr Isaacs gives a happy illustration of the mode by which the Dunstan follows the example of Queenstown. When they, the Dunstanites, had ascertained that a sum of money had been put c n the Estimates for a school at Queenstown the Dunstan people immediately demanded an equal amount from Government for their place, for a similar purpose, in order to shew that there should be no coolness or jealousy existing between the two towns. And now, for the edification of Mr Isaacs and his friends, we tell him that the reason which induced a Dunstanite to come forward as a candidate was not to benefit the Dunstan or the miners on the gold-

fields, but to deprive a resident of Queenstown from sitting as a representative. In accordance with their own narrow view of the question of representation, some would-be wise men say that so long as they can deprive Queenstown of a member there will be some hope of the Dunstan becoming, through artificial agencies, the great centre of the goldfields ; but let Queenstown once get a local man in the Provincial Council, and then good-bye to our cherished hopes; we shall have to play " second fiddle," for chaos shall have arrived on that day. All artificial means unsupported by nature, are sure to bring with them their own punishment in a manner that man, vain man, little thinks of. The Dunstan people can no more deprive the Lake district of its geographical position, its mineral and agricultural wealth, than Dunedin folks could draw the Lake Wakatip dry with farthing pipes. We shall still hold our own although we have no local member to represent our wants ; and we venture to assert that vox jjopuli here, as elsewhere, is vox Dei, and the residents will not fail to use it constitutionally. Of Mr Haughton we gave our opinion a short time ago in commenting upon his address ; and his public speeches made subsequently do not warrant us in arriving at a more favorable opinion of his ability as a politician for a new country than we expressed at that time. We should be inclined to let him alone were it not for the publication of a letter sent to the Superintendent in reference to the main line of road from Dunedin via the Dunstan to Queenstown. This letter is signed by Messrs Haughton, Richmond and Ings, of the Arrow; and as these three " great lights" of the present age have placed their names to this mass of verbiage and misrepresention, and have taken upon themselves the position of the three tailors of Tooley-street, we feel compelled, reluctantly, to place the whole matter before the public. With Messrs Richmond and Ings we have nothing more to do, and leave them to the public. Our duty is with Mr Haughton, who in this letter—more than in his address and political speeches—proves himself incapable of legislating even for a bantling Pedlington. The whole letter is a heap of absurdities and contradictions, the visions of a mind diseased or erratic. But minds of this kind frequently do mischief by misleading those at a distance. It is our place, therefore, as journalists to speak the truth, although it may be unpleasant to our neighbours. Mr Haughton states that the Arrow is the centre of a digging population, and is a thriving township, and that Queenstown is not. Now, we assert that Arrowtown is a mere diggings town and likely to be deserted for the first rush, whilst Queenstown is a more permanently settled one than any other outside of Dunedin, and has paid for its freeholds, £SOOO, whereas Arrowtown has not contributed a penny. Queenstown has therefore a demand upon the Government for a first consideration with regard to the construction of a direct main road. This town and its surroundings sends down by escort an average of 2,400 ounces of gold fortnightly, against the Arrow's 450 ounces. With regard to the transport of machinery for quartz-mining, it can easily be brought to the Arrow if the Arrowites are in a position to order the maohinery. Mr Haughton, as Secretary of the Quuitz Crushing Association had better quarry out a large quantity of auriferous rock first, and get machinery afterwards. It would be also advisable for him to sell a sufficient number of shares, and have the wherewith to purchase machinery. We would advise Mr Haughton to read some elementary work on plutology, and then perhaps he will find out that it is to the benefit of the Province of Otago that the Queenstown merchants procure articles o daily consumption required for the inhabi tants of the district from the cheapest market • By so doing, a large population will be per" manently settled in the Lake District, and consequently Otago will be the gainer in the end. Mr Bradshaw, in his address, has differed entirely with the other candidates. He has enunciated a distinct policy, regardless of any particular locality or town, and we regret that others did not do the same.