The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1040, 20 August 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1879.

Mr. Georoe M'Levn' is not going to have a comfortable walk-over for the Waikouaiti seat after all, and we are glad to be able to state that a Liberal candidate has been found willing to dispute with the late member the right of representing the district. Mr. Jame3 Arkle is a gentleman who has for many years taken an active interest in matters affecting the district, and has filled the position of Mayor of Palmerston with a very great amount of credit to himself and profit to the borough. He is a man with a clean head, and he has a broader vision than Sir. 31' Lean, who does not seem capable of seeing anything beyond a seat on the Treasury benches, which he deems his own. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Arkle created a number of very- strong opponents during his active career as a public man, and thi3 may have a damaging effect upon his chance of election, which otherwise would be a very good one. We trust that, for the good of the district, any petty local jealousies will be allowed to drop out of sight during the coming struggle, and that every admirer of true Liberalism will vote for the Liberal candidate, for tho sake of Liberalism. What has Mr. 31' Lean ever done for the district that he should be raised to the dignity of an idol ? Nothing that we can remember. We cannot call to mind a single useful measure that he has ever brought before the House. True, he has occupied the dignified position of a Minister of tha Crown, but he was almost a cypher in the ffabinet, of which ho only succeeded in becoming & member because no other Otngo member coul,d be obtained. Had it not been for this fact, Mr. M'Lean would have been politically unknown. Fortune, and not ability, has brought him lothe front, and having once been looked upon as one of the leaders of a party by virtue of his position as a small panel in a very clumsy and inelegant cabinet, he ha3—ever since retirement fromofiice was rendered necessary—sought to maintain his false position by means of pursuing what may be termed a " nagging policy." He has proved a general growler and fault finder, and has never missed an opportunity of flying out at all who disagreed from him; but, like the little dog who yelps at the heels of a horsa, ho has never performed his task in ouch a manner as to call for any particular notice. His bark has been a very sickly one, not even entitling him to a decent kick from those at whose heels he has yelped. His sole aim has apparently been to make himself heard if not felt, and he has consequently been ever foremost to obstructing those

measures brought forward by the Ministry and approved by the country. Now, we do not want a Parliament of obstructionists—men who will use every effort they can call forth to prevent any measure pa 3- j ing the Assembly nr>h calculated to promote their immediate personal advancement. We want men who will honestly strive to effect necessary reforms —men who will work as well as talk, men pledged to support a Liberal and comprehensive policy, men who will vote for measures and not for office and its emoluments, men who are honestly desirous of seeing the reforms promised by the Government carried into effect, and not men who, like Mr. M'Lean and •>ther3, assume to themselves the attributes of Liberals and adopt the cry of Liberalism as the talisman to gain their point. We want men who will fairly represent their constituents, and not themselves—men who will, work honestly for the advancement of the Colony as a whole, and not for that of their own little clique. Mr. M'Lean has not proved himself such a man, and we therefore hail with satisfaction the announcement that a second candidate is in the field for Waikouaiti. We have every confidence that Mr. Arkle would prove a practical and ! not a noise-creating member of the stamp of the late member for the district, and we therefore hope that every Liberal in the district will vote for him who would be a representative in something more than name. Great public questions are to be decided, and on these the decision of the country should be given, and not merelj* upon personal feeling or local jealousies.