STONEWALLING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 281, 25 November 1881, Page 3

STONEWALLING.

To the Editor op th. " Evening Mail. Sir,—la war whon a general takes the field it is expee'ed of him that before he gives battle be will duly estimate the strength and resources of the opposing army. If, either from ignorance, over-confidence, or conceit, he under-rate9 the enemy's strength, attacks and is roused, however bravely he may have fought he may look in vain «o a disappninted country for the rewards of victory. Yet, that beaten men do look for rewards is apparent from the present attitude of some of the stonewallers. After wasting the public time, briDgiDg all useful legislation for a long while to a dead leek, covering themselves with ridicule and filling the whole colony with disgust at the humi.'iitiug Bpectacle. they cow ask to be crowned for their b.d generalship by re-election ! i Nothing but the most complete assurance of j success, nothing bin success itself, could i possibly have justified the course they adopted, and this they failed to attain. When one tbioki of so m-.ny gr.ve, portly, middleaged gentlemen taikiog for days together the most unmitigated nonsense, staggering into the Hou>e under lo ids of blue books, aud conducting themselves generally like mischievou? sehoolbovs in pursuit of an object Ihey should have known from the first was utterly unattainable, I shonld be completely overcome with the bumor of it, were I not rather ashamed of tbe folly which could bring respectable men to such a pass. One (if not two) of them I have some reason to believe repents io sackcloth and ashes the position he be tock up. Electors cannot ask themselves the question too often, What has Nelson gained by the action of the stonewallers ? Absolutely nothing —worse than nothing if only that their defeat haa fixed in the minis of some cf those gentlemen a determined hostility to the Government as foolish as it may be injurious to the interests of tbe Province. It seems to be assumed that Ministers wilfally, of mMice prepense, went out of tbeir way to inflic: injury on their friend. I wiil uot wasta time in showing the absurdity of 6uch an assumption. Tbe faulr lay in their fathering a crude measure of Sir George Grey's —one of a bushel of Bueh that he pours oufc before u5--acd applying it with rigid impartiality to the whole colony. For this one fault are all the merits of the Government to be passed over and onr representatives to bring themselves to a Etite of imnotency by always being in tbe minority? I would ask the electors to reflect on the consequences of returning persistent opponents of the Government, and if I cannot appeal to any higher principle in them let me appeal to that wnicli touch*.- 8 the mind even of tie moqf. ignorant— his own personal advantage The present Government cau claim the credit of passing many useful measures, but their two greatest achievement., those for which the colony owes them ths deepes* debt of gratitude, ara the placing of the j finances on a soand footing and the bloodless settlement of the Maori difficulty. In view of these eminent services .nyone competent to read the signs of the timea would predict tbat the coming election will result in the return of a triumphant majority for tbe Government, to be probably followed by a long lease of power. Yet many of the electors, with almost incredible infatuation, are preparng to gi?e their votes to men pledged to the most ur.con-.prcmising opposition to tbe Government! Do they actuary desire that Nelson shall be left out iv the cold for an indefinite time lorger? Let me remind them that tne best of Ministries is but human, and that it is not in human r.ature for any Ministry to go out of its way to bestow favors upon its enemies. It ha 3 never been difficult to find very good arguments for withholding even bare justice to the Nelson Province, and, if declared enemies of the Government are returned, these arguments will be again reBorted to in the matter of all Nelson desires to iift it out of the Slough of Despond. One of the Nelson constituencies has now the opportunity of beiog represented by an old poli'ici.n, a man of bigh attainments and unblemished character, who will bave both tbe power and the will to assist the province in all legitimate ways in its onward progress. WiU the electors rf j et such a man? I am, &•;., Oxe more Waimea Elecxoe.