The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, MAY 5.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 123, 5 May 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, MAY 5.

The most interesting question on the tapis at the present time is, without doubt, whether we are to have a local election at once, or whether we shall have to wait either until the seat is declared vacant, or until the next general election. We cannot but viewthe great interest shown about this question on all hands in any other light than that of a most healthy sign, at the same time we can only hope that the experience of the past will not be lost sight of in directing us to the choice of a future member. According to the present signs the political aspirants who are likely to enter the arena with a view of contesting for the coveted honor are limited to three in number. Of these three we must select the one which we conscientiously believe will be-t serve the interests of the whole district. "With our eyes wide open, and while we are still smarting under the treatment which we have experienced at the hands of a certain cotrie who mask their proceedings, and work their shady transactions under the cover of a great name, we think there is very little fear of our electors placing themselves in the power of another member of that clique which is solely responsible for the late discreditable actions which have been worked upon us. Under these circumstances there is little chance of us again becoming the toy of a class of political mountebanks whose passports to public notoriety consists mainly of a long array of dishonored bills and worthless cheques, and whose names have become a household word through the length and breadth of not alone these, but also the sister colonies, through the celebrity which has attached to actions which are far better deserving of recognition at the hands of the Executive than at those of their fellow citizens If we cannot get a brilliantly gifted man with a small salting of that honor and honesty of purpose which is so necessary even in the political jobbery of the present day,

rather let us prefer a representative with a very limited share of the former providing he possesses a fair and ordinary quantity of the latter more substantial and reliable essential. This district has long suffered the greatest neglect through placing itself in the hands of aparty which must, no matter what political changes take place in the present constitution of Government, still remain in the cold shade of Opposition ; and

common sense no less than our necessities point to the advisability of returning a member who will take his place as a Government supporter at the present time, and who would in the event of a re-construction of the governing powers still be sure to remain in the warm and genial rays of the political planet around which all the lesser lights revolve. It is the very certainty which points to this result eventuating which has, beyond a shadow of doubt, prompted the holders of the strings which have worked the miserable puppet who has just been compelledto leavethe stage on which he has figured to such great disadvantage, to withhold that resignation which they plainly saw- would put a speedy termination to their vagaries so far as our representation was concerned. In spite of all neglect our splendid district continues to make good headway, and it will, we trust, shortly be in the electors’ power to show- that they have the w-ell-being of the whole community more at heart than to allow- any enemy to its dearest interests and progress to creep, even “ by mistake,” into a position where we should only be used in the same manner and to the same end as a gambler uses the dice with which he seeks to effect his purpose. Both our duty and our inclination is in complete unison in this mailer, and our readers can rest confidently assured that no wolf shall approach the fold without timely warning being given, and although evident and unmistakeable signs of characteristic duplicity and treacheryarc becoming too plainly- observable in other quarters, wo shall remain true and faithful to the public interest which is so deeply concerned in this question. Wo shall hear a great deal of talk and braggadocia as to future intentions, and advantages to be derived from certain associations, but we have little anxiety as to the result, feeling satisfied that no one amongst

those who exercise the power of a vote can possibly be so dense as to be deceived by the cunning tactics which have been adopted, and though carried out in, the name of a clown, are to all intents and purposes solely attributable to the clique who hope to derive advantage, and attain their ends by such fitting means.