The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 291, 21 July 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1875.

* We ahull sell te no man justice or right: W <■ ahull deny to no num justice or right: V\ e shall defer to no man justice or right.”

Little need now be said in reference to Mr. Woodbine Johnson’s resignation of his seat in the Provincial Council. The past is past beyond recall; and as Mr. Johnson is on his way to England, after having placed his resignation at the disposal of his constituents, it would be in bad taste to say anything calculated to raise an unfavorable impression, or, indeed, in anv way to sit in judgment on his acts and deeds in our behalf, during his absence ; and the more especially do we think this view a correct one, inasmuch as Mr. Randall Johnson has stated his intention oi placing his

brother’s resignation in the hands of the proper authorities at once. Had this not been done, we should have consider! d it our duty to indicate ■ h ■ inconvenience, and undesirableness of our member’s resignation being subject to an expression of the wish of his constituents ; but, as the only course open to the dignity and independence of an elected representative has been fittingly chosen, by making an unconditional surrender of the trust confided to his keeping, we cannot but endorse it as the correct one in the circumstances. Mr. Woodbine Johnson says he has done his best. He has “exercised his utmost endeavors “to get the wants of the district “supplied, and its grievances repressed;” and he believes that, in addition to the efforts of the local press, his own exertions have contributed somewhat in obtaining a fair share of public expenditure. All this we readily confirm ; and in bidding a temporary farewell to Mr. Woodbine Johnson, we wish him “ God speed ” to his Old Home, and a safe return in the fulness of time. But we must now turn to his successor. Practically the seat for Turanganui is vacant, and it behoves the settlers to cast about for a new man to fill the place. Although some months may elapse before the election takes place, no opportunity should be lost in discussing the merits of those who are likely to be our best men, willing and able to undertake the task of political representation. We stop not now to enquire as to whether the necessity for another election will not be dispensed with by the Colonial Legislature in the abolition of Provincial Institutions altogether. We must be prepared, and preparedness for an emergency gives strength in the conflict to which it may give rise. But even supposing that we are at the fag end of Provincial representation, another Session of our own Council will be unavoidable, and an election for a member to represent this electorate in the winding up of affairs, will be inevitable, unless in the final account we would be entirely disfranchised. We commend the consideration of this subject to the attention of the electors.

Messes. Perigbinus Pickle and Co. of Napier have inserted what they consider to be the thin end of the wedge in the matter of the ensuing election of a member for the East Coast in the General Assembly. In a recent number of the Hawke's Bay Herald we find the following modest little feeler put forth:—-

“On the principle of ‘taking time by the forelock,’ Colonel Harrington has issued an address to the electors of the East Coast, and Captain Morris seems to have been spurred on by this display of eagerness on the part of the gallant Colonel, to issue an address on his own behalf. Neither of them, in our opinion, has the ghost of a chance of being elected. The sitting member, Mr. Kelly, believing evidently in the good old saying that “a still tongue makes a wise bead,” has for the present withheld any announcement of an intention on his part to stand for the district. We have no doubt, however, that when the time arrives we shall find the old horse quite equal to the occasion, and certainly not second to either of the candidates who have precipitated themselves before the electors. It is quite on the cards, however, that Poverty Bay may have a trump in the pack, and can produce it at the right opportunity, so as to astonish the players at Tauranga and surrounding districts who are, perhaps, too fond of whistling before they are out of the wood, evidently forgetting that there are more than two Richmonds who may be brought into the field on this occasion. The election is not likely to take place for the next six months at the earliest, and Colonel Harrington might, we think, have spared himself the trouble of announcing his candidature prior to his arrival in the colony. In reference to this election, we believe, a dark horse may yet take the leading position, and show' some of the old stagers that the race is over for them on the East Coast.”

At present we have nothing to say for or against either Colonel Hakrington or Captain Morris, but we firmly believe that both those gentlemen will stand something more than the “ghost of a chance” as against a phantom of Mr Carlile’s stamp, in whose interest the above paragraph is put forth. Poverty Bay will, doubtless, have a “ trump card ” to play on the odd trick of that gentleman’s little game of finesse, which, if it does not “ astonish the players at Tauranga” may somewhat cool the presumption of the “three men and x a boy” representative for Mohaka ; and, instead of taking a “ leading position as a dark horse” in the election, he may find himself relegated to his proper position as a “ black sheep” reporter in the gallery, but not on the floor of the House of Representatives. Alas! Poor Peregrine Pickle!