The Southern Cross. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, April 15.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 3, 15 April 1893, Page 8

The Southern Cross. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, April 15.

The next general election is not due for a good while, but the mild excitement derivable from the selection of candidates for various seats is being* enjoyed to the full by those interested in the game of politics. This will do no harm, but may, bn the contraiy, prove beneficial. For one thing, it sets the arbiters of the fate of candidates—the electors talking* about the questions that will require attention at their hands. It is also grateful to the feelings of the gentlemen named as likely to come forward. To be even regarded as a “possible” is something* to be thankful for. So far as the majority of the electorates in Southland are concerned, it is clear that there will be no lack of men ready to serve their fellows in the Legislature of the colony. It has frequently been said that service on local public bodies is a capital preparation for a Parliamentary career, and this is evidently the opinion of some of our local public men. It is an open secret that in the case of one institution in Invercargill there are at least five members ready to give their services in a higher capacity, if “ sufficient inducement,” in the shape of promises of support, be forthcoming. The same state of things no doubt exists in other public bodies, and it can be taken for granted that whatever difficulties the electors may have to encounter, lack of choice will not be one of them. With regard to the Invercargill seat it is believed that Mr Kelly will have at least one opponent to reckon with, in the person of an ex-member, while that hero of many a hard-fought

contest, Mi' Janies Mackintosh, is tlueatened with a team of rivals, ineluding several “ dark horses.” With regard to Awarua, the quid mines are so far silent, and it is just possible that the Postmaster - General may repeat his walk-over of 1890. As to Mataura, it is pretty evident that Sir Robert Stout means to give the electors a chance of being* once more represented, as they were a good many years ago, by a knight. He has lately been engaged in the congenial task of criticising the utterances of the sitting member, Mr Gr. P. Richardson, who, nothing daunted, has, it is stated, determined to seek re-elec-tion. The Southland 'Times, .which has all along supported him right loyally, now appears inclined to “ wobble.” If not, it would be in-, teresting* to know what it means by stating* that while Mr Richardson can beat Sir Robert Stout, there is a likelihood of the advent of a third party—a local gentleman said to ha popular enough to carry almost any seat in Southland. This looks uncommonly like patting Mr Richardson on the back in one breath and knocking him down in the next. This, however, is by the way. What it behoves those entrusted with the responsibility of electing the representatives of the people' to see to is that none unworthy of their suffrages manage to creep in on one or other of the cries—social and political—that will be raised during the coming electoral campaign. It promises to afford a splendid field for the exercise of the peculiar gifts of the trimmer and the shuffler—for the men who will undertake to* support this or that cause or movement, less fgom conviction than from a belief that they will not be required to redeem their pledges. The “ platform ” of every aspirant for office will have to be carefully weighed, and his selection or rejection made to depend on his general fitness rather than on his readiness to bind himself to meet the demands of a section or class of the community.