THE EAST COAST ELECTION.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 167, 26 June 1884, Page 2

THE EAST COAST ELECTION.

True to our prediction in the first week in March last, Mr. Samuel Locke has carried everything before him in the contest for the East Coast seat; but nevertheless at an inopportune moment for the successful aspirant to Parliamentary honors, consequent upon the defeated Government having recommended a dissolution of the House. Mr. Locke will therefore, in common with all other members of the House of Representatives, have to make another appeal to the electors and to again win the seat before he can attach the letters M.H.B. to his name, and be champion in the House that governs this land the cause of the people of Poverty Bay, and also of the districts attached to this electorate. That Mr. Rees, with all his eloquence, would win the seat we never for a moment believed ; indeed, We rather favored the chances of Mr. Gannon, who, it will be seen by the returns totted up, has a higher total than the brilliant orator, whose friends made much out of Mr. Locke’s inability to speak good English or deliver a soul-stirring speech. The opponents of Mr. Locke have hurled against him the charge that he was a Ministerialist, and if returned, would favor, even against the welfare of the district, the policy of the late Government. This is not true. He is certainly not a Greyite, in the literal sense of the term, but he is a man possessing a large amount of common sense, and, like Ctesar’s wife, above suspicion. He is as ▼ Liberal a man as any member of the GreyiCfi following, and would be above recording his vote as a blind follower of either side of the House. As an independent member, Mr. Locke will, if again elected, do much to enhance the welfare of the district he has just been returned for. Viewing the result of the East Coast Election from an impartial standpoint, we are of opinion that the electorate has best studied its own interest in choosing Mr. Locke as its representative.— Auckland Observer. A correspondent in “ Labor ” writes :— “ The East Coast electorate have chose Mr. Locke as their representative. It is to be hoped they have chosen well; it is their own concern, and the choice rests, or should rest, entirely with them as to which of the three candidates they could best trust. Mr. Rees and Mr. Gannon ran neck and neck, metaphorically speaking, while Mr. Locke was almost half the length, of course, before them Mr. Locke was a very geod public servant, and there is no reason why he should not be a very good politician. A writer in our columns not long since stated that he was slow in speech, and it is possible that this hesitancy of utterance may have caused him * to be chosen over his two voluble compjtitorF. ' If half the people in Parliament were dumb the public would be great gaineis. What has been done is done, and not even the beaten candidates have any cause tor complaint. The majority of the electors held Mr. Locke to be the best man, and they have chosen him.