THE ELECTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 299, 18 December 1868, Page 3

THE ELECTION.

'To the Editor oj 1 the Nelson Evening Mail.

Sib. — I hope you will pardon the liberty lam taking in addressing you, my apology being the importanceof the subject which I am anxious to impress upon your readers — the necessity of putting in the best man as our representative, for, however we may "wish to honor private and well deserved friendship, we ought to lay such considerations aside, if they run counter to the time and circumstances of the colony. For my own part I must say that I was much pleased with Mr Shephard's expositiou of his views in many respects. He appears to me to have thoroughly studied the Native difficulty, and I quite agree with him that the rebellion ought to be stamped out at once, regardless of cost, and in order to do this I think, with him, that a short session of the Assembly should be convened at once to take into consideration our policy as regards the war, and nothing but the •war, and regardless of party feeling, to arrange a !plan for its suppression. That there has been the grossest mismanagement all must allow, but perhaps the Government may have seen their error, and the repetition of Ipast blunders may be avoided. At any 'rate no good can come of change just now, at least not to any extent. In another thing I quite agree with Mr Shephard — the advisability of doing the thing for ourselves; as he says ,the pressing emergency of the case will not allow of any other treatment. Our past experience of British troops, both as regards expensejor efficiency, has. not been good, and were \ ■they to finish it in their way, the settlers would still have to a certain extent to contend with the same difficulties. Again I like his ideas on Provincial Counci's. Badly as we are circumstanced here in Nelson, I believe we should have been in a worse plight without them. However, I should be not content to part -with them until I could 6ee something better in their place, We have heard a good deal of a bill for local self- ; government. Let the friends of that movement •develop their scheme and lay it before us, giving 'us time to investigate the thing, and if it is better •than Provincialism I hope we shall liave the good sense to accept it. "There are many more things in Mr Shephard's speech that I should have liked to touch on, "but my letter is already a great deal longer than I intended, and I must conclude. •I am, sir, a well-wisher to the province, NORTH.