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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5509, 22 November 1878, Page 2

A determination to block the free expression of public opinion is of bad augury for the person or the party to the success of whose game such a trick is thought to be essential. Mr. Hutchison has, we think, fallen into the error of showing his sense of the weakness of his prospects of municipal honors by allowing the meetings called by himself to be packed, and by endeavoring in the same way as far as possible to disturb the orderly proceeding and obstruct the free expression of opinion at meetings called by his opponent. This a very old and very transparent trick, and the performers are so well known that no one is deceived by it. It changes no votes in favor of the operator ; on the contrary as it alarms sensible men who prefer reason to clamor, and who know the danger of mob rule, they take care to give their votes against it. There ought to be no question of general politics mixed up with a municipal election. Whether Mr. Hutchison be Mayor of Wellington for a year, or whether Mr. Dransfield shall fill that olfice, affects the interests of the ratepayers closely, but hardly touches those of the whole human race and the countless millions of the future, for whose benefit Tapanui Jobs and Waggon Contracts, Special Wires and dual Maori votes are invented by “ men of the people.” The work of a municipality is practical and busi-ness-like, and the qualifications for the office of Chief Magistrate in a city like ours are good sense, business habits, and above ail conscientiousness. The ratepayers want to get the beat possible return for the money they pay into the municipal treasury ; that is their '■ rightthey want well made streets, a supply of good and pure water and provision for the drainage that is necessary to the preservation of health and life. In order to got all these good things they need economical, honest, prudent, and yet vigorous administration. Sewage water and sewar gas will kill the highest of the “ upper ten” as certainly as the poorest of the “ poor men,” Clara Yere do Vero just as readily as Matilda Jane. There is and can be no diversity of interest hero, and it is gross dishonesty to appeal to low sentiment and base passion in such a cause. Mr. Hutchison has been tried before in the office of Mayor of Wellington, and has been found wanting. As wo have said, such a testimonial as that furnished by the select committee on the Waterworks contract cannt be accepted as a passport to the confidence of sensible men, and wo have too high an opinion of the ratepayers as a body to believe tljat with such large works impending, and such a large expenditure of money as must necessarily bo made in carrying them out, they are going; with the warning experience of the past before their eyes, to run the risk of having the one and the other controlled by a “ ring.” _ ‘

An article in the Rangitikei Advocate, in referring to a visit lately paid by Mr. Ballance to the town of Bulls, says:—“ The hon. member for Rangitikei, doubtless having heard a whisper of the rumor that a requisition was about being got up calling upon him to resign,'took time by the forelock, and decided to pay Bulla a visit.” The general tenor of the article proves that Bulls is not content with Mr. Ballance as a representative, and is very jealous of the Greytown loop-line. The writer says that Mr. Ballance has neglected the interests of Bulls in the matter of railway extension. Mr. Ballance'a assurance that ho “had pushed the matter as far as he could consistently with delicacy to his colleague the Minister of Public Works,” is not considered satisfactory. Mr. Ballance explained that the alteration made in the fourth schedule of the Public Works Act “ was like a mine being sprung under his feet,” so great was his surprise. But the Advocate quotes an extract from the Wairarapa Standard of November 12, which says, in speaking of. the Greytown loop-line:—“ To Mr. Ballance, Mr. Sheehan, and Mr. Bunny the thanks of Greytown are due for their active, co-operation, and not mere tacit acquiescence, in obtaining the object desired.” The alteration referred to in the Public Works Act runs as follows ;—“ In the said (t.e., fourth) schedule in the eleventh line after the word Masterton there shall be added the words with branches.’” Who would have suspected that this simple little alteration authorised the construction of a branch line ? To Mr. Ballance we are indebted for the information that the loop-line will only coat £4OOO ; from our personal knowledge of the ground, with its liability to being flooded, we should have expected the cost to be much greater. The general conclusion to which our contemporary arrives is (hat “had Bulls been properly dealt with, or had it had a Mr. Bunny for its representative, it would shortly become one of the most thriving, busy, and progressive townships in the colony.”