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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4603, 21 December 1875, Page 2

Me. Peaece and Mr. Hunter said in effect at the hustings yesterday, all that was required to show that, on the principle which secured their election in 1871, they deserved the renewed confidence of the Wellington electors. They were distinctly returned as supporters of the immigration and public works policy, a policy which all now admit has been of incalculable benefit to the colony at large, and from which already Wellington has derived a great share of benefit, and will in sliort time derive even more. Of course, one of the points endeavored to he made against Messrs. Peaece and Hunter is that for some time at least Wellington will not reap its full benefits from the construction of public works. In other words, that for some time the Rimutaka mountains will not be pierced, and the great plain of the Wairarapa, with the vast country lying beyond, become the natural property of Port Nicholson. It is pointed out that in other provinces country of richness and resources has been already tapped by means of railway construction, and that in this respect Wellington is behindhand. But those who are so ready to point this out forget that the construction of the Mastertou railway presents in parts difficulties of construction quite gigantic in comparison with those presented in the provinces held up as examples. It may be therefore said in all fairness, that the longer time which must elapse before Wellington, as a port, is put in close and easy communication with the splendid land of which she will be the outlet, cannot be complained of; and that when in due time the wished for consummation has been readied, Wellington will, 'by the public works policy, be placed in a position above the ordinary fluctuations to which she has been hitherto subject, and will be the seaport of a great land—the capital of a naturally formed district unsurpassed in the colony. Now the plain questions before the electors are these. Is it not due to the return of Messrs. Pearce and Hunter and others, as the suporters of the public works policy, that Wellington is in the position we have described, and had men like Mr. Travers, who opposed the policy, been returned, would not Wellington and the colony be now in the state of stagnation from which it has happily emerged 1 These, as we have said, are absolutely the plain questions which the points on which the last elections turned now present to the electors, and on these questions Messrs. Pearce and Hunter can with confidence rely on the support of their constituencies. But above and beyond this comes the point that in all respects Messrs. Pearce and HuKTEEareof themselves representative men of Wellington. As we pointed out yesterday, they are of the place and from the place. Their interests are identical with its interests, and as colonists they have done as much as any, and more than most, to forward the prosperity of the city with which they are jiart and parcel. They may not have the glibness of lawyers nor the nice acumen of special pleaders, but they are gentlemen capable of taking the most sensible and business-like view of all questions submitted to a deliberative and legislative assembly, and capable, therefore, of deciding ou those questions in the manner best calculated to do good to the colony. The electors are well aware of this, and will on the polling day fully prove that they are so.