South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2722, 9 December 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1881.

By tbe time this sheet is placed in the hands of our readers the General election will have been practically decided, and “ for better for worse ” the body of men to whom the management of our public affairs is to be entrusted for the next three years or so, will have been chosen, —the Election decided and the body of men chosen, if the conduct of the operation in Tiraaru can be taken as a criterion, more calmly than is usually the case. It has been frequently remarked during the day, “the election is very quiet.” It is right that the elections should be conducted quietly ; that there should be an absence of the excitement that betrays men into blunders. The electors, the people at large, should set the example to their representatives of looking upon public matters calmly, not of getting excited, and delivering “ brawling judgments” upon the questions to be decided. The political man has not yet arrived at a stage of development to be compared with that of the man of business. The latter takes measures, makes decisions, concludes bargains, with an approach

to philosophic calmness, leaving out personal considerations altogether, with a more or less full appreciation of their misleading tendency. There is nothing in his manner of transacting business that can be likened to the politician’s vehemence. He never even thinks of saying that his principle is “ Business, not friendship,” as the politician says his is “ Measures, not men.” With him that goes without saying, and the day will no doubt come when man as a politician will take as cool and unbiassed a view of public affairs, as the merchant or banker does of his private business. But that day has not come yet. We have blamed our Parliaments for wasting time in idle talking, for rash legislation, and for many other things ; but the blame should be thrown back upon the whole people, who set the example by losing their heads about politics. Of course they cannot help it. Neither —they are but representatives of the people—can the members help losing theirs very often, when they meet to deal with the political business entrusted to them. The time will come, but it seems yet a long, long way off, when the excitement attendant on elections will have almost disappeared. It is a diminishing quantity, as a comparison of election scenes of a very few years ago with those of the present day will strikingly show, and it may be safely prognosticated that a few years hence the elections will be still more quietly conducted, and quieter hustings imply quieter Parliaments.