OUR REPRESENTATIVES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 151, 19 January 1872, Page 5

OUR REPRESENTATIVES.

What, we should like to know, has become of our representatives ? and how comes it that, after the promises made and repeated time after time, that at the termination of every session they would present themselves before their constituents to give an account of their stewardship, they have neither the one or the other put in an appearance ? Six months have elapsed since the prorogation of the Provincial Council, and yet we are still without the promised explanation Surely, if these gentlemen value the honor and the honorarium ot being our-members, they should take some little interest in the district which they represent, and pay some regard to the wishes of those by whose votes they were elected to their present high and honorable position. Conduct such as that of the gentlemen to whom we refer is not only disrespectful to the constituency, but reflects anything but credit upon themselves as mien of honor and men o.f their word. There was also another promise made by our tvvo honorable members, and one of which we take the liberty of reminding them, as it is more than probable that if they persist in their present course of retU cence and neglect they may be called upon for its fulfilment earlier than they anticipate. The promise to which we allude, and which was uttered on several occasions during the late elec-

tion. contest, was to the effect that they would resign, when called upon to do so by a majority of the constituency. To that promise they are pledged beyond the power of retieat or escape. At a time-like the present, when the Water Supply question will have to be settled, and the Loan, so far as it goea, be allocated to different Goldfields dis-tricts-^-when money is being scattered iu each and every portion of the Province upon works, sOtne, no doubt, of utility-, others of absolute useleasuess »vhen a general scramble is going on for the loaves and fishes—why are our members not with us to hear our opinions and express their own. There are many matters of the utmost importance affecting the future well being and progress of this district, which will, in all probability occupy the attention of the Council during the next session. With these subjects our members should make themselves acquainted before that time arrives,, and ascertain the wishes of their constituents upon them. We call upon these gentlemen, therefore,-if they value the good opinion of the electors of the district—if they intend to seek their suffrages at any future period—to come forward and give not only an account, of their stewardship for the past, but an explanation of their views and opinions for the future. One ot the great evils of non-local represen ; tatives is that, so soon as thev are elected, they are at liberty (as has been done in the present case) to treat their constituents with neglect, if not contempt. Such a course would- be impossible for a local man. He would reside among his constituents when not engaged in Parliamentary duties, and would make himself ; acquainted with their wants and requirements in a manner which it would be impossible for any other person to do. This he would do from the fact that what would be their interest and the interest of the district would, of necessity, be his interest also. There are, no doubt, exceptional cases in which a constituency might be -justified in electing a nonlocal man, when he is known to be a prian of great ability, and a man J: whose interest would be used for the benefit of, and reflect honor upon, a district. We tail, however, to see that any such plea can be set up in justification for having sent our present members to Parliament. .