The Southland Times. THURSDAY, OCT. 6, 1864.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 55, 6 October 1864, Page 2

The Southland Times. THURSDAY, OCT. 6, 1864.

Mb. Tablton's published address to the " electors and non-electors of Invercargill" is exactly the sort of production which might be expected from the present Provincial Treasurer. It is very certain that, whatever opinion Mr. Taklton has formed about the" affairs of the Province, his faith in his own ability is unshaken. He bases his claim to the confidence of the electors of Invercargill on his past political conduct, both before and since the separation from Otago. In the case-of a private member it might be sufficient for him to show how he had voted on the various important questions which have from time to time been brought the Provincial Legislature, and that ;he. should "give a statement of the general principles on which he was prepared to/- act for the future. ! Doing these two things, and possessing a \ fair moral character, and areputation for an L ordinary ampu^tof brains, might. .entitle r him to the (fonndenMpijth'e "elect'ors,"i}*iit ■ in our'.opiiuoßj something., more, is tptbe, ■ looked ifor.Jrom a:man:;ofc. Mr." Tahltost's : aspiratidna. Wnat is * -there : in.V Mr. \ Tablton's - " past .; career : which '.wbiild warrant the elector^! in' again placing an

important trust in his hands ? We know that he has a most inveterate deaire to be, heard talking. On all occasions he is ready, and has taken up a vast ,^ deal o£ time in the Council which- might have been more profitably: employed. If this fluency led, or was only the; accompaniment, to acts which gave evidence of genius or good common sense, we might pardon the orator on account of . his deeds. - If Mr. Tablto^ could say .with truth, "I spoke for^ two hours on "such a question, and the result you see " before you in such a useful measure," we_might-be_inclined to admit. that his.notorious predilection for talking was a recommendation in his favor, but, unfortunately, such is not the case. All we know is that this facility for stringing together a multitude of words, sometimes in defiance of Linduey Murk ay, and to the horror of every man having a regard for the Queen's English undefiled, was looked on-by the members of the old Council, and by the listening . and .reading public, as a " very grievous" infliction, and. one which it would be desirable to get rid of at any price which could conscientiously be paid. The principal point in Mr. Tablton's " political career,'-' as we suppose it must be called by courtesy, although the words are calculated to raise a smile, is that he consented to become one of an Executive to a Superintendent who asks advice from no one, and who very rarely attends to such advice when offered, no matter from what quarter it comes. The position of an Executive under such a chief is by no means an enviable one. The feelings of the members must day by day be wounded by the manner in which their pi'offered assistance and advice ia received. t uch we know was the case with Dr. Me^zies' Executive, and it was to be expected that all would resign. All did resign with the exception of Mr. Tarltox. To what cause are we to attribute his conduct ? The reason which the others assigned for leaving their posts, is said to be, and we have no doubt of the truth of the statement, that the Superintendent had evidently not the slightest intention of allowing them the smallest influence in the management of affairs, as, whenever their opinion clashed with the views entertained by him, he followed, without fail, his own devices, and therefore the position of an Executive was not only useless to the public service, but was, moreover, degrading to the members composing it. Now the same reason would tell with equal force in the case of Mr. Tarlton. Why then is it that that gentleman did not resign, so invidious a position, but has i continued m office over since ? Why is it that he has consented to occupy a post in which he is to all intents and purposes a cipher, so far as any good he is able to effect for the Province by his counsels. We cannot discover the reason by Mr. Tarlton' s address, but we do discover that Mr. Tarltox is, or pretends to be, a staunch advocate for an economical expenditure of public funds, and we are astonished to think that he is willing to be the Superintendent's "dummy" for the sake of the emoluments which attach to the Provincial Treasurership. Will Mr. Tarlton tell the electors of what sei'vice he is to the country by his continuance in the Treasury. Is his advice on any financial matter of the smallest possible weight with the present Superintendent ? Is he even qualified to fulfil the duties of a Treasury clerk ? Does he at the present time, or has he at any time, fairly earned the Government's money, or rather the people's money, as Treasurer for the Province ? If he were to turn his back on the Government buildings to-day and never visit the scene of his supposed labors for the good of the public, wouH that public be a loser ? We say most emphatically, No. Mr. Tarlton. however much he may talk and write about an economical expenditure of the public funds, is content to take Government money without giving a fair equivalent, without even being competent to discharge the duties of a Treasury clerk, and therefore all his fine professions must go for nothing. That is one point on which the electors must satisfy themselves, and Mr. Tarlton will find it rather difficult to appear before them with clean hands. It is possible that he may be able to say that he has actually received no money for his services up to the present time, but will he be able to show that it was his intention not to take payment for all hia " back time," when the Provincial coffers are in a more healthy state than at present. If he can do that we will acknowledge that we have wronged him. Mr. Tarlton makes no mention, in his address, of a time which has not so long gone by as to have escaped either his notice o*r that of the public — a time when it was proposed by a Government at its ■writ's ends to issue treasury notes. " Shin- " plasters" and " Green-backs" were the names by which they were known, both here and in the neighboring Provinces, and it would be well for the electors to inquire who first suggested their use, and whether Mr. Tarlton had anything to do with it. This gentleman, with a want of taste, and forgetting altogether that by so doing he was lowering the dignity of the office he held, wrote a long and most ridiculously pompous letter to a newspaper on the subject of the " ehinplasters," — a letter which gave rise to unlimited laughter and ridicule wherever it was read, and stamped the writer as unfit for the position he occupied. Though Mr. wrote this letter against every rule of taste .and common sense, it did not do the only thing which. could have, justified any such publication. It did not deny that Mr. Tarlton had anything ' to do with such a pitiful invention;' It denied ihat it was the definite -intention of the government to use the "shin-plasters," but suggested that.at some future period they might be required, and then, like the door-plate in the farce of "Tbodlbsp' ••'it would be so handy to have them in "the house*" No one believed for a moment

that these notes were"' not going to be ;, used. Neither private .individuals, nor i Provincial Governments, are in the habit of ordering from the lithographers .expen- ; sive plates, and haying a large number of iinpressionsstruckoff, unless with a view to putting the purchase to some use. Wehave^ ■■ no doubt that these notes would have been i used, had not the' Tress taken the matter ■- up, -and showed plainly the absurd 1 folly and; illegality of tho attempt. Of course; many could not have been palmed off on !- the public before- the worthlessness of the ! contrivance ,- was ; discovered.} but much : injury-to the credit of the Province would ? have resulted; nay; the very rumor that they were about to be issued did affect the credit, of . fjhe JPrpvince. If Mr. Tarlton did- not suggest the idea, he must be considered as having given his sanction to the prouosal to issue the " shin-plasters." "He' evidently did not set his face against any such dodge, or, if he did, he had not the manliness, to leave his post as Provincial Treasurer when such a scheme was mooted and per- ' sisted in without his concurrence. It is plain that it was the intention of the Superintendent to issue these notes, and, as was said at the time, they were so printed that without careful scrutiny they' would be mistaken for genuine bank notes. We do not go so far as some of our contemporaries who suggested that such was the intention of the Southland Government. "We say that Mr. Tarlton's action in this matter should be sufficient to damn him as a public man, unless he can convince the electors that the facts can bear a very different construction than has been universally put on them. At present we must either believe that Mr. Tarlton was in favor of the "greenbacks," or that he was base enough to continue to be a member of the Government and to take pay when his advice on so important a matter was disregarded. Either supposition renders his conduct bad enough. If Mr. Tarlton cannot clear up this matter when he comes before the electors, he should never again be permitted to sit in the Provincial Council of Southland. Judging of Mr. Tarlton's merits by the address we have before us, it is impossible not to feel that he is very deficient in what is known as " common sense." The man who, in the nineteenth century, sets his face against public loans generally, without reference to the objects to which it is proposed to apply them, shows himself to be grossly ignorant of principles universally admitted to be sound— principles of which fairly educated boys of fourteen have a more or less clear conception. It is useless to combat such prejudices ; they are worthy only of contempt ; but the electors Should *Vbinlv thrice before ther give the promulgator of such views their support. Further down in the address there is a choice paragraph about immigration. We are told that the Province does not want assisted immigration because there should be no need for such assistance. If Mr. Tarlton had said that he disapproved of assisted immigration because the present position of the Province was such as to preclude the advance of the necessary funds, we could have understood him, but when he demurs to it because the superior attractions of Southland are such as to do away with the necessity of such assistance we must altogether disagree with him, and would recall to his memory that a very valuable class of would-be emigi'ants are without the funds to enable them to leave their homes. " Cheap land, and fa- " cilities for settlement, isagrandadvertise- " ment to the world that there is a home to " be made here," but unfortunately we have not the cheap land and, if we had, that would not pay a man's passage to New Zealand. Mr. Tarlton's address, translated into good English, and curtailed of its fair proportions by the erasure of about one-half of its more objectionable contents, might lead to the belief that the writer of it would make a harmless and inoffensive member of the Provincial Council.