The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1550, 12 March 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 1872.

Now that Mr W. H. Caldee has had an opportunity for reviewing the reply to his constituent requisitionists, he must feel that for once at least he has been unfortunate enough to allow his wellknown diplomatic abilities to run to seed. The fact that he is countenanced in the course he has seen fit to pursue by the contemporary print, must be to hi<n a source of anxious solicitude. He cannot be ignorant of the fact that ever since the memorable reunion escapade in which it was implicated, that journal has been running tilt against everything that can claim to be of good report. He must be cogDisant of the fact that its late achievements have been those of the gutter stamp, and we have to warn him that if he accepts unconditionally the bid it has made for his distinguished patronage, moral obloquy, as well as political condemnation, must follow as a natural result. We are not, however, going to act moral preceptor to Mr Caldee ; we simply intend to state a few plain facts in view of the awkward dilemma into which he has brought himself with his constituents. Presuming, for argument's sake, the electors of Invercargill, through apathy or some other cause equally objectionable, allow the matter to rest as it is, there still remains a branch of the argument to be considered. In political representation, certain well-defined observances, or rather obligations, have come to be recognised — amongst others, the right on the part of the constituency to bring the representative member to task on account of the acts and proceedings of the parliamentary session. It is an indefeasible right, and one which is not dependent on a mere hustings' pledge, being purely of the nature of an implied obligation. Mr Caldeb's refusal, for in reality it can be termed nothing else, amounts to a violation of this obligation, and as such the requisitioniats, and indeed the electors as a body, are justified in treating it. Put in this way, the transaction obtains much wider signi ficance than that of mere local application. Amounting as it palpably doe 3to a breach of the observance noted above, every district, and in fact every member of the community enjoying the privileges of representative government, is interested in protesting against this act — an act manifestly calculated to establish a precedent for defeating the observance. Our duty to the district compels us to intimate that if Mr Calder persists iv his refusal, the matter will be represented to the colony at large in that light, in which case the force of public opinion from without will doubtless be brought to bear upon the subject. We have just one other presentment to make before dismissing this view of the question For some time back paragraphs have been going the round of the colonial press announcing that Messrs T. L. Shepiiebd, D. Mebvtn", and J. C. Bkow^ have incurred public derision on account of their failure or neglect to comply with a similar request. These paragraphs have taken the form of a political scandal, and our contemporaries have not been slow to record their opinion of these three gentlemen as " make-shift representatives." Wo do not require to inform Mr Caldee that it would not improve his standing as a representative man to have his name added to that list. If, however, he persists in maintaining the attitude he has assumed, the odium is bound to fall upon him. A political conclave, consisting of Messrs Shepheed, Mebtyn and Beown, with the name of W. H. Caldeb added thereto, would be a disgrace which we trust Mr Calder will, upon reflection, see it to be his duty to avert. The reply as recorded has just one single merit. It enables us to form an opinion as to the side in politics on which | the writer ranges. His gratuitous assertion anent the reckless financial career of the Government proves that his sympathies do not lie in that direction, so that Invercargill is now advised that, although it never bargained for it, in the late session of Assembly, it was represented by a rank oppositionist. When Mr Caldeb reflects on the part Southland took in the late elections, and the unmistakeable evidence since afforded of a determination to uphold that part, he must feel persuaded that his position is a most extraordinary one. How he can reconcile his mind to a representation founded upon principles so utterly at variance with his own preconceived opinion, we are at a loss to understand. The circumstance proves more than ever the urgent necessity that exists for getting the difficulty cleared up, and every hour's delay simply renders the situation more and more embarrassing. It is very evident that he has dedicated himself to the sacred cause of fiscal reform, and a constituency whose financial perceptions are so very blunt as those of the electoral district of Invercargill, can only hang like a deadweight upon his energies. We refrain from dealing with Mr Caldee's representation further upon its merits, in the hope that hia own good sense will show him the urgent necessity that exists for advising us more fully on the point. Meantime no possible reason can be adduced why we should shirk I the duty of canvassing what little is really explicit, or, if we may be pardoned for adapting the phrase, quasi-ex-plicit, in Mr Caldee's communication. [ We allude of course to the implied charge I of reckless extravagance on the part of the Government. Our readers are no doubt aware that this is a sort of stock grievance — a ready-made charge in which the malcontents of New Zealand have of late been doing a considerable amount of business. Mr T. B. Gillies, of Auckland City West, who has been not inaptly dubbed " the discontented man of the ! session," was first to invest his stock of political capital in the trade. Following <

his example, the lesser lights of the Op position invested their little all in the concern, and in due course they launched forth upon the troubled waters of New Zealand legislation a joint stock company of grievanre-mongers. It is in this venture that Mr Caldeb has embarked, but' he has not added one single iota to tho stock-in-trade of the concern. He talks about a reckless, extravagant Government, but he does not adduce one word of evidence in support of the statement. Surely the honorable member for Invercargill does not expect to be admitted a member of the firm upon such easy terms. That, however, is a matter in which we have no right to interfere. The shareholders in the concern are, no doubt, competent to look after their own affairs, and this is, strictly speaking, an affair of their own. As Mr Caldee has • given us nothing of his own to deal with, j we presume he will not deny us the privilege of reviewing the programme Jof the copartnery, as it has been submitted to the public. Uader the sensational headings of " More Corruption," " More Squandering of the Public Money," a heartrending wail was raised a few weeks ago by the Nelson Examiner, a journal which ■ is notoriously the mouthpiece of the Hon. Mr Staffoed. The substantive part of the lament was, that three old colonists had been rewarded for their support of the Government by appointments as subimmigration agents. In denouncing the alleged appointments, our contemporary goes on to say. — "But what matters it to Ministers ? The services rendered to the Government must be rewarded, and a pleasant trip to England at the expense of the colony, and a liberal allowance while there, is not a bad way of rewarding a parliamentary partizan." The truth of the statement was promptly challenged, and a few days subsequently the following version of the affair was given by the Wellington Independent — a version, we may add, which the detractors of the Government have not to the present day dared to gainsay : — " It appears," says the Independent, " that Messrs Bi^CH, Seatox, and Faestall, who hwe recently gone to the United Kingdom, proceeded thither on private business. They offered to spend some of their time in assisting to obtain emigrants, should the Government think that their services were likely to have a beneficial effect. Their offer was provisionally accepted by the Government, who recognised the assistance which old colonists could render amongst the people of their respective counties. The gentlemen named were supplied w ith letters of introduction to the Agent General in London, who would exercise his own discretion as to engaging their temporary services. In none of the cases mentioned has any 'appointment,' in the strict senae of the term, been made, nor do Messrs Bibch, Seaton, and Farnall receive any ' salary.' Should Dr Feathebstoist think fit to ■employ fchem in the work of emigration, they will receive such ' compensation ' as he may consider reasonable." Later still, the contemporary journal picked up one of those " extraordinary revelations " which have had the effect of unhinging its mind for some months past, in which the Beogde^ contract was represented to be a gigantic swindle, made and executed to the detriment of the colony. Mendacious as these statements were, our readers will recollect the summary mode of procedure by which they were put to the blush. In fact, the malignant misrepresentations by which the whole Buogden contract, or rather, we should say, the entire scheme of the public works policy, was assailed, must be fresh in the memory of the public, and yet no administration in New Zealand has been more deservedly popular, and more fully appreciated than the present 'Government. These are a sample of the mild delusions out; of which visions of financial abuse by the colonial authorities have been conjured. They have been refuted time after time. Indeed many of them carry their refutation along with them. Against declamations of this character, we have the fact staring us in the face that New Zealand securities are gradually gaining ground in public estimation, and at the present moment they stand much higher in the English money market than ever they did on any previous occasion. Westgarth's monetary circular, of date Ist December last, to hand by a recent mail, reports that the chief business of the preceding month, so far as colonial stocks were concerned, had been in New Zealand consolidated five per cents., which had advanced aa much as two per cent., and I were then quoted at 102 1 to 103. There had also been an advance of one percent, on the six per cents., and of one and ahalf on what are called the old five per cents., due in 19 L4. The former are now quoted at 114, which is within three per ! cent, of the most favored Australian stocks, those of Victoria and South Australia. Commenting on thesa facts, the Nelson Colonist remarks — The pressure of our war debt, an equivalent to which the Australian colonies have never i had to cope against, necessarily places us in an inferior position ; but the trifling difference in value is an evidence of the steady growth of confidence, and should form the best answer to those who are always predicting ruin. We have still another, and in some respects more „ gratifying, proof that the credit of the colony stands well with capitalists. A. late Australian telegram stated that New Zealand debentures amounting to £66,000 had been successfully negotiated in Sydney. Tiiey were negotiated by the Colonial Treasurer, and the terms are much more favorable than could have been generally anticipated. The maximum rate of interest allowed by the Act is , six per cent., but Mr Yogel was able to float the debentures at a rate not cxi ceeding five per cent., without any accrued interest or allowance whatever. The price obtained was 102, which the i Wellington Independent rightly considers

! quite equal to the quotations, in London, of the colonial five per cents. "With these facts before us, does Mr Caldeb imagine that we are going to swallow bis hap-hazard dictum about recklessness and improvidence on the part of the Government without some verystrong evidence is adduced to support the statement ? Is it at all likely that the calm calculating money-lender of Great Britain would be deceived into parting with bis money freely if such an assertion was in accordance with the facts of the c ise ? If Mr Caldeb can make good his statement, how does he hesitate to meet his constituents face to face ? If he is the political prophet who is to lift up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, why does he not do so at once? His determination to maintain an eloquent silence is inexplicable, unless on the assumption that " conscience makes cowards of us all." Mr Caldeb says that, having the power, the Government may possibly possess the will to visit the short- corn ings in this respect of representatives upon their constituents, and, as we take it, it is considerations of that kind that induce him to decline the honor of meeting the electors. To say nothing of the morality' of such an insinuation, the conduct ofthe Government throughout betrays an inclination the very opposite. When in the year 1870 Otago did its very best to thwart the application of the Public Works Scheme, did the Government show any desire to visit the sins of the representatives upon the constituency ? Is it not rather a fact that in the face of provincial jealousy and opposition, the Government steadily persevered in pushiug on the public works, about the progress of which Dunedin has now come to betray so much solicitude. Again, we all know the part Tuapeka took in the late elections. Its member was bound hand and foot to oppose the Government ou every conceivable point. Yet Tuapeka met with no opposition from the Government in the matter of its branch railway line. Instead of showing a disposition to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, the Government has all along shown a disposition to act the paternal part of saving the children, or rather the constituencies, from the foolhardiness and stupidity of their representatives. Altogether the state of the case is most unsatisfactory, and Mr Caldeb makes a great mistake if he imagines that he can both maintain his dignity as a representative and his silence as a member.