The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1875.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 327, 8 December 1875, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1875.

Another, and for anytliiWg we know to the contrary, the last of the candidates for the City has addressed the electors of Nelson. Mr Sharp is not an orator, but he has shown that he can make a good, practical, businesslike speech. The little fine touches that the practised public speaker knows so well how to administer, the light and shade that are necessary to make a statement of political views realty interesting and pleasant to listen to were wanting ou Monday night, but what the electors really wished to know, namely, the opinions upon all important matters held by him who seeks their votes, was told in a plain, and, to all appearances, thoroughly honest manner. Mr Suarp did wisely in refraining from dragging Hansard and extracts from Blue Books before the meeting. Those who had already studied these interesting documents did not go to the Hall for the purpose of hearing what they had previously read ; those who had not 3 taken the trouble to make themselves acquainted with their contents , before most certainly did not care to be Boj^d with them then. All who attended: ttife meeting did, so with a view to obtaining an insight into the candidate's own views, and not to have those oosf s other 'persons served"up~T;o them wiih the chill off. The little sketch of what Mr Sharp called the rise and fall of Provincialism was exceedingly well put, and although all who have devoted any attention to the study of the politics of the colony were aware of the facts to which reference was made, it is probable that the mauner in which they were strung together and the conclusions that were drawn from them were new to many of the audience. The same may be said of the allusions little later on to the famous compact of 1856, aud its breach by the General Assembly in 1870, although, as it appeared to us, the arrangement of the speaker's notes would have been better and the result more telling had this portion of the speech been included in thot .which preferred to the growth and decline of Provincial Governments. So important is the bearing of the question of how the lands of Otago and Canterbury are to be dealt with upon the abolition measure and the new constitution which it necessitates, that the sketch to which we have alluded wa,s imperfect to the extent that while it showed the origin of the " compact," it failed to make mention of the breaking of that compact in 1870, when the Assembly decided to take into its own hands the promotion of immigration and public works, although, that the southern provinces should undertake these had been the consideration for which they had been allowed to retain their land fund. However, Mr Sharp put this matter with sufficient clearness when speaking upon the administration of the waste lands. That this land question will prove a bone of contention over which there will be more wrangling than on any other subject at the next session there can be little doubt, and it is just a3 well - that the electors should clearly understand their representatives' views upon it. Like many of those who have preceded him in addressing the electors in various parts of the colony, Mr Sharp was a little hazy in his proposals with regard to the constitution of the Upper House. He thought that the members should be > elected, but whether the electors or elected or both should possess a qualification other than that required for the Lower House he did not tell us. He had some idea that the Upper House should be elected for a longer period than the Lovter, as it was undesirable that at a time when the public mind might Jw-eici ted over some party question. of:more tb.au ordinary interest

and importance both Houses should be elected at once. He was, however, re- i minded by some one of a mathematical turn of mind— one of those awkward customers who always will turn up at political meetings -that even then the elections must occasionally clash, and perhaps the very time at which this would happen might be one when party strife was running more than ordinarily high. Another objection that occurred to our minds was that if both Houses were elective, both, in the event of a dissolution, would be sent to the country simultaneously, but perhaps the idea in Mr Sharp's mind was that the members of the Upper House should under any circumstances retain their seats for the term for which they were elected, and not be affected by a dissolution. The replies given by Mr Sharp to the numerous questions put to him were straightforward, and appeared to be the expression of his convictions, and not framed merely to suit the occasion. The general opinion seemed to be that in him the City would have a hardworking and useful member, and that opinion we are quite prepared to endorse.