The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 451, 16 August 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1879.

The time for M.P.’s to be civil has come round. The elector, who is a suppliant for four years and eleven months, may for one month be a patron. He begins to feel that he is not the powerless political atom he has been accustomed to think himself. Usually he is only one, now he feels he can make a difference of two by leaving one side and joining the other. He is conscious of exalted virtue in standing by his first choice, and consenting to be a unit. He is proudly conscious that if he votes on the winning side he may remotely influence, the fate of a Ministry, or a five million loan. All this affords pleasurable excitement. For a moment he can hardly realise the situation, but, like Christopher Sly, cogitates:

“ Am I a lord ? and have I such a lady ? Or do I dream? or have I dream’d till now ? I do not sleep : I see, I hear, I speak ; I smell sweet savours, I feel soft things : Upon my life, I am a lord, indeed : And not a tinker, nor Christopher Sly.” But there is a crook even in the enviable lot of the elector. Perhaps he has neglected to register; perhaps his wife, or some other tyrant, makes him vote against his conscience; or perhaps the man of his choice may be a good way from the head of the poll. In any case, his dream of importance, like Christopher Sly’s, will be brief. The poll is declared, and the victor, be he friend or foe, shall know him no more till next^election. Daring this week, two very interesting meetings have been held in Carlyle, in connection with the forthcoming election. Two gentlemen have sought the suffrage of our citizens. The men, their speeches, and their meetings, differ widely. One man is a seasoned knight, whose spurs were won long ago, and who has broken many a lance with the mightiest in the land ; and herein be has a palpable advantage. The other is a man of undoubted prowess, but he has lacked opportunity, and as everybody cannot read the iutnro, and will not give credit for what might have been, he is at a clear disadvantage. One is Goliath, a man of war from his youth, and confident of adding another to his victories; the other, politically speaking, is David, a stripling, but not to be despised on that account. One points to the past, the other to the future. One says, “ I have been faithful in much, trust me still the other says, “ I have been faithful in that which is little, advance mo,” One speech was a bold dash for victory, the other a patient defence in squares of figures. One reminded ns of our greatness, our rights, and our wrongs; the other of our littleness, and of the favors we have received. Turning to the meetings, we have in the first the hearty, and perhaps ambitious, approval of many of our townsmen of a fellow citizen, a private friend, and a tried champion for our little public; in the second wo have exhibited on the part of other citizens, their less personal, perhaps more dispassionate approval of a man .who, with all honor to himself, held the highest office in the land. Speaking more particularly of the latter meeting, there are two views that may be taken of the result of it. It was favourable to Mr Sherwood, inasmuch as even at Lis opponent’s meeting his friends were apparently in the majority. It was favorable to Major Atkinson, inasmuch as even in his opponent’s stronghold he was well supported. It must be allowed that both candidates scored a few points in their addresses. The indictment framed by Mr Sherwood against the Major could not be wholly explained away, even by so great an adept as that gallant gentleman. Indeed, he freely admitted that in a long political career, he had, without doubt, often exemplified the truth of the maxim that it is human to err. Mr Sherwood's statement that the survey of the Plains was begun under the Atkinson Government, is a most damaging one if it can be sustained —which, by the wav, the Major denies, but Mr Sherwood confidently asserts. The charge also, of appropriating our reserves is one that, to a Patoa man, requires a good deal of explaining. If the district cannot lose by this action of the authorities, what

could New Plymouth gain ? If nothing, why was the thing done? These are surely pertinent questions. Turning to the Major’s address, it is beyond doubt that he cleared away a large amount of misunderstanding. Taking as a single example the charge ol crippling the Public Works' by reducing the last loan from £4,000,000 to £2,500,000. This, although it could not be said to be part of Mr Sherwood’s indictment, was generally regarded as a very serious charge against Major Atkinson and his party. If it could be shown clearly that he had been instrumental in stopping the Public Works, and in thus aggravating the prevailing distress, it would be hard to overlook the matter. He exculpated himself, however, as he had already done in the House, with complete uuccoss. He showed that in raising a loan U was necessary to tell the lender how it was to be expended. The Grey Government, in asking for a £4,000,000 loan, proposed to devote only £1,500,000 to Public Works, the rest was to be devoted to paying off existing liabilities, ihe House found that these liabilities could be better met under the Loan Act of 1876, and the Inscription of Stock Act of 1877. It was determined, therefore, to meet the liabilities in this way, and to add £700,000 to the amount for Public Works. Clearly then, the Government only asked for £1,500,000 lor works, while the Opposition gave them £2,200,000. Instead, then, of hastening the crisis from which the colony suffered, the Major fairly claims to have helped to postpone it several months. In their claims to having served the district, the two gentlemen seem to overlap one another considerably. Mr Sherwood claims to have originated several good things in which the Patea public is deeply interested. He has gone to Wellington with only an idea, and when he came back the thought has had a local habitation and a name. Ho claims to be the agent without whom the thought would have been a thought still. On the other hand, Major Atkinson says, “ Mr Sherwood was only a long and explicit telegram ; he consulted me, and I did the work. To my influence and to my position you owe all these things.” As we are anxious to avoid everything that is in the least degree invidious, we must leave the public to judge between the two claimants. We congratulate both parties on the good feeling that lias hitherto prevailed, and hope it will be sustained to the end.