THE CITY ELECTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 2, 28 January 1879, Page 4

THE CITY ELECTION.

To thk Editor of^teb 'Evening Mail.' Sir, — I have invariably observed that when on election occasions either party -is compelled to adopt, to any Violent extent, the distasteful resort of blowing its own trumpet, one may fairly conclude that the trumpet blower's prospect of gaining a victory is decidedly remote. It is a noteworthy fact that immediately the candidate on the losing side 'finds he cannot succeed by abasing his opponent's principles, political and otherwise, then, as a ' sort of- final trick, he begins the trumpet business in earnest. In this direcJio'n one of the candidates is now work- - ing vigorously under the able management of his wind-bag promoters William Chaffcutter, Nelsontin Trumpeter, Thenotorious Smith, Eollickinjoe, and Jim Woodbemare. It appears that from' the time of the entry of the " popular" Pitt upon the political arena Mr Acton Adams' chance of success has been rapidly declining ; so much so, that at the present time Mr Pitt's chance as against him stands at two to one. Mr Acton Adams, in the early stage of the contest, gained a slight advantage from the circumstance that he was the first in the field, and had already made an active canvass for votes before his opponent put in an appear- •— ftoce. Indeed? so long as he remained r £rihe only candidate in the fi|l4i'Ut onust &£^9&tailtb& hi? chance io6k^j : exceed||^giy promisipg ; and thus jt'Ws that, *;" »4 "an iangnarded niomenl* Tring-bag politicians, deceived in their erring ,,, judgment by the direction iihe current of events seemed to :<';"bfesftking, took jip the oause of Adams. psjjs£bft& J*& the winning aide id a^yiconuion. In W case apf^outhrul and aspiring politicians; who gPlras^iViiig'.tc attain distinction in the with no better rccom|||i|P^^ %^distinction than that iWiwMck affords, it is preeminently desirable that they should never be on the losing side. Of the reality of ihis proposition, William : Chaffcutter and company have in former i elections ever displayed a keen appreciation; and bitterly do they now, no doubt, repent their precipitation on that , unlucky day, when they pledged their votes to Adams. The announcementthat Mr Pitt intended to contest the election caused, I understand, a great commotion in Mr. Acton Adams' camp. All the satellites there and then ex'.t pressed a strong desire to retire and be relieved from the prominent duties they ,'.. had previously undertaken to perform in the interest of his 1 election. The however, naturally and very properly determined to keep these-fickle- ; mipded gentlemen to their former professions,, and in. thatf determination re- "; maitied unmoved, notwithstanding their , persistent protestations to the effect '-. that they had been surprised, and would " neyer have pledged themselves to him bad they imagined that the popular Pitt would become a candidate. Finally, these worthies, seeing no way out of the difficulty into which they had un- -.'. -wittingly drifted, consented to continue in office, and make the best of a poor ■; case. It was then agreed that the first move mast be a very clever one. As previously remarked, Mr Acton Adams bad, with commendable prudence, made an active personel canvass of the electors, and, as far as he was able, had ■ secured their pledges in 1 his favor before it became generally known that Mr^ Pitt would contest the election. This being the 'case, it was proposed, with the view, I suppose, of preventing any of the electors pledging themselves to Mr Pitt, that an address should be ' issned to the electors, and, by a thrilling and pathetic appeal to the ballot box, they should be earnestly implored not to pledge their votes. This propositition was received with favor, the issue of the address directed forthwith, and, although symptoms of uneasiness * were -still apparent at head quarters, yet considerable satisfaction was expressed at the loftiness and disinterestedness of spirit exhibited by the chief when he declared that in issuing this address he was actuated solely by the purest motives of justice towards his rival, deep love of fair play, and a ?. reverend regard for voting by ballot. "■ It was on this occasion that the oratori- , cal gentleman, who at the public meet- - ing assumed the role of a modest questioner of 'outspoken proclivities, first 1 discovered in his chief the dawning of that genius which will one day enable ' its possessor to" eclipse as a political tactician even Sir George Grey. The address, however, has not produced „ the desired effect, as everybody knows. In fact, the result has been most disastrous to the Adams' interest, for many of those who had pledged them- . selves to Mr Acton Adams under the peculiar circumstances before narrated, now consider that his appeal to the ballot box quite exonerates them from any such pledge, and those who had not pledged themselves to Mr Acton Adams refuse to inform the Adam's canvassers for whom they mean to vote on the authority of Mr Acton Adams' dictum that electors should not pledge their votes, but remember "that voting by ballot is the greatest reform ever won by the liberal party," Matters haying taken this unpromising torn the Adamites have been forced into ■ the trumpet business. Lnckily, they are not altogether inexperienced in that line, whatever may be their other deficiencies, and it is possible they may eontrire to keep in something like tune - until Tuesday night, when it is to be feared the harmony" will be /dreadfully j ; •diattti'bMi' AU who were present at #}« public meeting will have become

j aware how manfully Mr Acton Adams j can blow. As a member of the Inland Communication Committee he proved himself to be a wonderfully clever man of figures from the fact that he then devised a financial scheme, which, fortunately for his reputation, has never yet in any way been tested. On the railway question he produced a longer pamphlet than that written by the Bishop of Nelson, the only difference in the degree of intelligence displayed I in the authorship of the two pamphlets ' being that while the Bishop of Nelson's ] pamphlet was an original composition, Mr Acton Adams' pamphlet consisted, in a great measure, of extracts from other writers. So sensibly is Mr Acton Adams impressed with the wisdom he displayed in the production of this pamphlet, that he would have the electors believe it was the means of getting a portion of the Nelson railway placed on the schedule of the Bill passed in the last session of Parliament, ignoring the effect which the Bishop's really abi -i letter may have produced, aud the sti.l more significant fact that, after all, tbo portion of the railway referred, to wp.?. not placed on the schedule in recognition of Nelsoji's right, but was obtained by the sheer force of the indomitable pluck and perseverance of the Nelson members and their friends in Parliament, who when they found that argument was unavailing, impeded by thtir | united action the progress of the bill until Nelson's claim was recognised. Glory be .to them to whom glory is due; and had Mr Acton Adams gracefully given to our Nelson members the measure of praise due to them in this matter, instead of trying to appropriate unearned praise tohimself, his audience would have greeted him with hearty applause in the place of " cheers *' (from the wind bags) "hisses and ironical cheers" (from everybody else). So charmed with his pamphlet is Mr Acton Adams that at one period of the meeting it seemed as if he would never cease talking about it. He did, however, at last conclude by informing the electors if they returned him that when he rose in the House the members would say "he is the author of that pamphlet." Aa a matter of fact the cause which the pamphlet advocated was a good one, (but this was not the fault of Mr Acton Adams); following the Bishop's letter the mode of advocacy was at the best bat second hand; and the real value of the contents was in a great measure ' attributable to the extracts which it contained and which were the product of another man's brain. The mode of treatment for which alone Mr Acton Adams should . take credit i 3 really' objectionable and open to ridicule, and it is positively questionable, if Mr Acton Adams should be returned and rise in the House, whether the gentleman to whom the pamphlet was addressed wiil not make a handle of it to raise a laugh", at the writer's expense. The capacity of the Adamites in the blow hard line is further exemplified by a rich specimen of bunkum which in the form of a letter signed "An Elector "appeared in Saturday's issue of the Mail, and which . for the purposes of argument may be assumed to be the joint production of the chief and his conductor of the band of trumpeters. Mr Acton Adams' meeting was, as all who were present know full well, on the whole rathertame. The speech was far from brilliant, the delivery fluent but insipid, the attitude of the deliverer for a *• bolc lmau '* ludicrous, and the applause, exclusive of that contributed by the wind . bags, very mild; and judging from the , fact that no questions were put to the j candidate — excepting one which had been pre-arranged — it may seriously be said that, at the most, only moderate interest was evinced in the proceedings as if in '* public opinion the election was a foregone conclusion and the electors were reserving their enthusiasm for

Tuesday night. Nevertheless this is the strain in which "An Elector " holds forth in the letter referred to: — " Seldom, if ever, has so liberal an address been presented to the people of Nelson, and certainly never has one been better received." Like the pre-arranged question there is a sound about this letter which induces one to the opinion that it too was composed before the meeting. The appropriateness of the exaggerated compliments it contains | will be enjoyed by all who can call j to mind the marked men of undoubted ability who have from time to time addressed appreciative Nelson audiences. — I am, &c, Anti-Bunkum. Nelson, January 27, 1879.