AN OUTSIDER ON MR. J. D. ORMOND.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 183, 15 July 1884, Page 2

AN OUTSIDER ON MR. J. D. ORMOND.

We cull the following able letter from the Hawke’s Bay Herald on account of its bearing upon several most interesting features of the present contest: — Sir,—As an onlooker from an impartial standpoint upon the political platform, will you kindly allow me to remark upon the evident duties of the electors of the constituency during the present contest. In doing so I may ring the praises of one of the candidates in louder tones than I can do for the others. This, however, cannot very well be avoided, as the special claims of one of the candidates are too clearly evident as compared with those of the other. The onus of returning the right candidate is not a question affecting merely local interests, as is the case in many other parts of the colony where men of minor ability are contesting the several constituencies, but is one in which the whole country is deeply interested. All eyes are at present being turned upon Napier. It is expected that the candidate you will or should return is the steady ha.id to take the wheel of the State craft in its present course of erratic sailing, and that man is Mr. Ormond. “ The two candidates now seeking your suffrages are both tried men. Both have been Ministers, both have done good things for the colony, yet the divergent lines of their public acts are widely apart. Those of one are recorded upon the sands, those of the other upon the rocks.

“ In the present ill-defined state of political parlies throughout the colony it is attempted to set class against class, by alleging Liberalism and Conservatism. A more damaging state of things cannot well be imagined, and every man who duly and calmly weighs the question in his mind must admit that in New Zealand no such parties exist in fact. It is altogether a misnomer—a polilical canard. This is a free colony, the laws are liberal, and all men are liberal. “ If Dame Fortune in the turning of her wheel bestows the goodness of the world’s gifts upon one votary in greater proportions than upon another, is that a sufficient reason to assert that a man is not a Liberal ? Or if a man by steadiness and thrift has justly earned the increment due to his labor, is that to stamp him as a Conservative ? I say “ No,” and to mon of reason it is unreasonable to say otherwise. “ If a constitutency such as this has the good fortune to possess a politician of statesmanlike ability, ready to represent them, it is a duty they owe their fellow-colonists to return him, as in serving the colony he more truly serves and does honor to the constituency which he represents. Electors of all classes should bear in mind that the question of employment and labor arc in the remotest districts directly and equally affected by the good or bad administration of the public affairs generally. “ The printed records of the past teem with the services of Mr. Ormond rendered in the position of Superintendent of this Province, General Government agent of the East Coast in times of difficulty and trouble, and at no time were the public works of the colony more thoroughly and economically administered than when Mr. Ormond held the portfolio of Minister of Public Works, and Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast owe much to him. The pages of Hansard and Parliamentary papers

bear irrefutable evidence of the thoroughness of his administrative ab : .lity and im» partiality in the conduct of public affairs. The unrecorded acta of justice and kind* ness of Mr. Ormond by no means few in number or insignflwant in value—good ao’fl done without display or sl -Keek ng praire. That Mr. Ormoi d las the true interests of this constituency at heart I, with many others, well know, as on two occasions he has refused the East Coast seat, for which he could have been returned unopposed. In declining the offe.cd seat his reply was, ' I am strongly disinclined to re-enter political life, but if I do so it would only he on behalf of the district in which my interests lie, and as the representative of those among whom I reside.’

” I am, sir, perhaps rambling rather widely from the subject matter I intended remarking upon when sitting down to indite this letter, ‘ measures r.ot men ; ’ but as I have done so, and followed too closely the latter, to the exclusion of the first, I apologise, and will not fHither trespass upon your space at the present time, but may hereafter ask space to deal with the ‘ measures.’

“I can only in conclusion say that as one intimately acquainted for many years with this district, and although anon-resident and non-elector, I feel assured this constituency will be sadly wanting in its duty to itself and to the colony nt large if it fails in returning a candidate able to fight the political battle at a crisis in the country’s affairs, when a char head and a steady hand are so essentially needed.—l am, &c., T. W. Porter. “ Napier,,7th July, 1884.”