The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1878.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 42, 18 February 1878, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1878.

An election possessing more than ordinary interest for those not immediately concerned in the result takes place in Wellington today, Messrs Pearce, Barton, and Hutchison being candidates for the seat in the House of Representatives rendered Vacant by the resignation of Mr Travers. Were the issue dependent merely upon the amount of personal popularity enjoyed by each of the respective candidates, it would not be long in doubt, as there are very few men in Wellington who would stand a chance against Mr Pearce, and amongst those few it is certain that neither of his present opponents would find a place. But the reason of the opposition is tbat Mr Pearce is not a thorough believer in the present Premier. " Yesterday afternoon," he told the electors in a speech delivered to them on Friday night, "I was interviewed by two gentlemen who represented themselves as a deputation. They presented to me a written question to the effect, ' Will you pledge yourself to give to Sir George Grey, and to his Government, a hearty and unqualified support?' I gave those gentlemen, I hope, a courteous answer, but a distinct refusal to make any such pledge." Hence the determination to keep him out if possible. Mr Pearce, who has recently returned from a twelvemonths' visit to England, expresses himself as being a little puzzled at the present state of political parties. He was a supporter of the Yogel and Atkinson Ministry, and after recounting the services they had rendered to the country, he says:— "However, I was not surprised that the Ministry fell. They had a long innings; they had done good work; their time had come, and others took their places; but with the change parties have got tolerably well mixed. That I have been able to gather, but I have not yet been able to see what is to be the outcome. It is perfectly clear that Parliamentary government cannot be carried out without two great parties — one supporting the Government, and the other in opposition. At present the line that divides the two is not sufficiently marked. I find supporting the Government, and, indeed, I find members of the present Government, those with whom I voted on all occasions; and I find that others with whom I was never in the same lobby are now supporting the present administration. Such is the present position of parties, and if I judge rightly, the feeling of the country at the present time is this: That we should give the new men a fair trial— that we should listen to their proposals, and if they are reasonable we should not offer them any vexatious opposition. For myself, lam not one of those who look upon one set of men as patriots of the highest order, and regard those in opposition to them as something but little short of fiends. ■ There are good men on both sides of the House, and however good a Ministry may be, it is just as well that it should be watched, and watched very closely by a strong, vigorous' and at the same time generous Opposition." Mr Pearce then proceeded to state to the electors his opinion of the Premier, which he gave in a very few words :—" My view of Sir George Grey," he says, f« is this • That he is a thorough autocrat. You might as well try to move a mountain as to change Sir George Grey iv this respect. The word autocrat exactly describes him — Autos, self; and i^-«t«,,,, P o,,. cir . — ivu uc Numb is self-power power centred in himself. That exactly describes Sir George Grey. Do you want an illustration? I will give you one which occurred lately. I refer to a matter in connection with the Laud Bill. You know that last session both Houses passed the Land BUI and at the last moment, just before larhament was to be prorogued, "Sir George Grey advised the Governor to disallow that bill, Some of you may have read Sir George Grey s defence, made in a speech delivered in the Wairarapa ; and what was that defence ? Forsooth, that some of the clauses in the Bill were such that he could not approve of them. Who is Sir George Grey that he should set at defiance tha House of Representatives and the Legislative Council? lortunately for the country we had a Governor who knew his duty, and refused to be a party to any such unconstitutional— I might almost say treacherous— proceeding This is what I mean by calling the Premier an autocrat." Mr Pearce considers that a new Representation Act is necessary and believes that the Government and those in opposition will join heartily in passing one. With' regard to the extension of the franchise, he says :— « I am not prepared to go with the Premier. It seems to me that our franchise is sufficientlywide aud liberal at present. Every householder, every ratepayer, every man who holds in any way ths smallest piece of landed property is entitled to be on the roll. What more do you want ? Do you want to give the franchise to men with merely carpetbags, men having no direct tangible interest in the country? No, I think a man can get a vote so easily, if he wants one, that he has only himself to blame if he is not on a roll I have plainly expressed my opinion that there is no necessity to give men rotes who have no house, no bit of land, aud no property whatever." Further, he is quite prepared to support the imposition of au income tax if the Colonial Treasurer tells the House that it is necessary. Popular though Mr Pearce is personally, the supporters of Sir George Grey have determined that it would never do to return him to the House, so they are putting forth all their strength to return a gentleman who is more of their own way of thinking, and, as the representative of their views, they have selected Mr Hutcheson.the late mayor. Owing to the extraordinary haste with which this election has been pushed on, this gentleman has not had an opportunity of meeting the electors personally, but he has published an address in which he states that he had hoped Mr Pearce would l,a,ve beep prepared to support the present Government in which case a contest would have been unnecessar Of himself he says:— "l am a supporter of the policy of Sir George, whose disinterested efforts in the popular cause entitle him to the support of the entire public." Mr Hutchison, however, is a suspiciously sudden convert. Up to very lately he was a bitter opponent of the present Premier, and probably none arc more surprised than himself and Sir George Grey to find that their views are in accord. The Times somewhat sarcastically sums him up as follows- — "Mr Hutchison says he had hoped Mr Pc irce would have been prepared to support Sir George Grey, in which case there would have been no contest, but as Mr Pearce distinctly declined to do so it became imperative to get somebody else. We will do Mr Hutchison the justice to say that had he been iv Mr learce's position there would have been no contest. The electors would not have been put to auy trouble through Mr Hutchison's obstinacy in adhering to his convictions." Ibe third candidate, Mr George Elliott Barton, labors under the trifling disadvantage of bexng i n gfloij !llld is therefore cut off from that sweet communion with the electors which is so doßirablo immediately before a

contest. He is, however, ably represented by his son, Mr Elliott L'Estrange Barton, who has published one or two addresses, in one of which he says:— "My father's views are entirely in accordance with those of the Liberal party in Parliament, and therefore, if elected, he will giro his hearty support and co-operation to Sir George Grey's Ministry.' In another he touches upon the peculiar circumstances under which his father announces his candidature, and thus strives to obtain the sympathies of those to whom he appeals: — "Electors! This is a battle of principle, not of persons. It is your own battle as much as it is my father's. I ask~ you not to allow your rotes to be affected by the fact that ray father's imprisonment has prevented him from making a personal canvass, and has deprived him of the advantage of addressing you in a public meeting. Do nofc be misled by the assertion that he has only to apologise to the Judges and be released at once. Apology would mean slavery. It would nullify all my father had done and suffered. It would mean that he could never again plead in these Courts, and succeed for his client. It would mean ruin to them, and dishonor to himself. Finally, it would mean tbat those who have so long and so earnestly striven to drive him from the country should at last succeed. The land rings, the contractors' rings,, the judical rings, and all the other rings would triumph in such an apology. They have all met him in the Courts, and they dread to meet him in the Parliament." Such are the three gentlemen who to-day present themselves for election iv Wellington, and we shall look for the result with no little curiosity. It certainly tells against the Grey party that two candidates should offer themselves in the same interest, but that they will spare no possible endeavour to return Mr Hutchison may be safely predicted, indeed there can he little reasonable doubt that it was with a view to this election, and to securing the return of a supporter that Sir George Grey addressed the electors on Thursday night last. With what success we shall learn toTtnorrow.