GLADSTONE ELECTION.
[TO THE EdITOB. Sir, —As an elector I may perhaps be allowed to advance the opinion that although there are four nominations, yet it would be difficult to find an elector who is fairly satisfied with the choice which he has to make. We have now, I think, heard quite enough from the candidates, and may proceed to sum up the respective claims on which Dr Fisher, Mr Sutter, Mr Anderson, and Mr Newton, propose that they should be entrusted with the representation of this great agricultural district. I shall not attempt to speak of their political professions, which display a convenient elasticity, calculated to advance the most opposed interests. Dr Fisher is an old colonist, who, having made money by his profession in Christchurch and Timaru, took up a sheep run in the McKenzie country, and subsequently bought some 3000 acres of land on it. He then returned to England and lived for many years on the profits of his New Zealand run, an absentee owner, drawing his income from the colony. We have heard from him how actively he worked for the colony, whilst away from it —how he got 100 men, their wives and families, all ready to come here ; how they all came to him one morning, and said :—“ Sir, is it true that a land tax has been put on in New Zealand ?” and how, when the Doctor, with real tears of distress, admitted the horrid truth, “all those 100 men, their wives and families, went to Manitoba.” It is difficult to avoid the thought that 100 is the Doctor’s favorite or fatal number, since on Thursday evening he was telling us that 100 men who had been working for him were all so satisfied with his treatment of them that they were going to give him a block vote ; the actual fact being that Messrs Corkery did some contract ploughing for him on his run, and the Messrs Corkery having now a railway contract are at present employing 100 men, for whom the worthy Doctor takes credit. • Dr Fisher, speaking of his experience as a public man, tells us that he is an old friend of Mr John Hall’s, and that he was so active when a member of the Board of Works, in promoting the Timaru Breakwater and the railway to Temuka, that he was accused of having “ Harbor Board on the brain,” although what the Board of Works ever had to do with either the Breakwater or the railway nobody knows except Dr Fisher.
Dr Fisher returns from England, and his party select him as a pleasant, popular, and harmless gentleman, and therefore it is an easier task to thrust him down the throats of the electors than if a more able and prominent person had been selected. Dr Fisher is an amiable gentleman, whom, personally, we all like, but it is absurd, it is a positive fraud, to call him a farmer, or to say that he is capable of representing this district. His value in the House would be that of a safe and perfectly obedient vote on the run-holding interest.
Mr Sutter has been engaged in busi-
ness in this district during almost its earliest years, and is very well known. He does not venture to call himself a farmer, he simply says that he knows what the country interest is, that he is capable of attending to it, and that he has been in constant contact with the country electors for many years. Mr Sutter, as Mayor of Timaru, has certainly acquired reputation as an active, shrewd, and straightforward man, and the interest which he holds in rural property seems to debar us from the supposition that he could betray the trust for which ho asks.
But he is naturally met with the objection of being a town man, and there is much reason in the objection ; but yet it would appear to be quite as bad to elect a gentleman whoso dwelling, if he has any, must be on the extreme limit of the McKenzie country. Mr Sutter is also accused of being “ crusty” in his manners, and inconsiderate of other people’s opinions ; but these considerations should not deter electors if they consider him a capable-and experienced man, who has a right to claim that ho may be trusted to work for those whom ho represents. Mr Anderson appears to be a man of whom it may be said that if the circumstances of early life had been more favorable he might perhaps have been head and shoulders in advance of the other candidates, as a popular people’s representative. It is, however, quite certain that the true metal of ability has become so tarnished and obscured as to be useless in the House of Representatives, even supposing that it was remotely possible for him to find a majority out of the 1260 electors, which cannot for a moment be admitted.
Mr Newton is no doubt very well-in-tentioned, but that is hardly sufficient. His very youthful style of thought and manner, and his uncalled-for vehemence, want to be tempered by ago—no doubt he is very good wine, but the fact is he v- ants to be corked up for a few years and come ouc mellow.
Let me hope that the electors will remember that only one man can be elected, and that it is absurd to waste their strength in voting for any man who, although ho may be a local favorite, yet has no chance of winning. To do so is not merely to throw their vote into the gutter, obstinately striving to do that which a little thought would show them was an impossibility, but it means leading a helping hand towards the return perhaps of the very man whom they may not wish to see elected. Those electors who have some pet local candidate in hand, ought to recollect that only by united strength can they hope to secure representation for the true interests of the district. Yours, &c., GLADSTONE ELECTOR.
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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2720, 7 December 1881, Page 2
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1,009GLADSTONE ELECTION. South Canterbury Times, Issue 2720, 7 December 1881, Page 2
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