The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1880

Temuka Leader, Issue 283, 28 August 1880, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1880

By the time this Lsue o£ the Leader is in the hands of our readers another session of our New Zealand Parliament .will have come to an end. Fruitless as a whole, it has been in particular injurious 'to South Canterbury, particularly to this district. What has let! to this ? Only the want of a representative. When Mr Wakefield was returned in the ignominious manner which he vvas on the last occasion, by a closely bound together buudlo of electors from Christchurch, he made a parting fling at Temuka, as he left the township, (after the Returning Qfficer declared officially the state of the poll.) i’hat he was not going to be governed by a Temuka clique, he must there and then have made'a vbw that he would make his word good, bo far as regards ins constituents in this part of the distiict. Petition after petition has been forwarded to him, time after time, that not only have never been presented, but never even acknowledged. Our interior railway, which Vve assert but for him would by this time have been completed, at least as far as the Kakahu Gorge, our Court House and Post Office, but for him and a well-known Temuka citizen (who never yet has given any help to anything for the public good of the to wn or district until he has been dragged into it), we would have had a Court House that would have been fit for decent people meeting in, and a Post Office that would not be a bye-word. But what has our member done. Sat at the feet of bis Great Gamaliel which he and the Timaru Herald worship an 1 receive' instructions from ; not only so, but feeds at his table receiving the crumbs which the great prophet in ay chose to let fall to him. What Half br Rolleatoo says oiir member will swear to, and soothe district has been sacrificed in all its interests for want of « member to represent it. Mr Wakefield is not to be govern.-d by a clique, but he has been not only governed by a clique but led by the nose by a clique, the result being that the wealthiest and most prosperous part .of South Canterbury has been practically disfranchised 1 for the last two sessions A member who can thus show his revenge upon a people who rejected him, ought not (o be a member of our Legislature. By a cowardly and mean craft he managed to throw a bone to a small group of his constituents here and there throughout the district to keep them sweet, while he holds up the skirls of the tool of the monied class, waiting for some door to be opened when he cati be squeezed into some warin nestj at a good salary. Shame on such mean cowardly conduct. A young man who thus exhib its such want of uumanliness is no credit

to any country. We may be accused of writing too strong, and from ill-feeling-We declare it is not so, but as journalists we caxi see tbe - evils that occur moie 1 plainly than people in oommeivial business, who have just now enough to-do to mind their own affairs, and for this reason it is that we write so strong, as we cannot shut our eyes 1 to the way we have been wild. if anyone Ins' any doubt on the subject let him wait a few days and he will hear of another blow to Temuka as a further proof that our member keeps h’s Vow. Had tile GVraldine district been represented by a gentleman who took any interest in its welfare, we would have had our railway, onr Court House, a decent Post Office, and many other things besides. What has our member done for the district we ask his wannest friend to answer. His name rarely appears on the division list. When a question comes up sympathy with which ma}' displease a few of those who put him into Parliament, ho is not there. When any measure is discussed that effects a certain small class, who holds up the hands of the great prophet, he is not there. When ai} opportunity occurs for him to put in a spokein his friendswheel he is always ready atlas elbow. What then is to be done? Sometimes we Imped that this would be the last session of the present Parliament, ami that an opportunity would soon occur for getting rid of him. Such is not the case.

Mr H«l£, however much he has bungled, has managed to secure his seat, and that of his friends, for another year ; and so we are still to suffer, unless something is done. What then is to bo done? Isa libeml constituency to be thus despised by an individual who shakes his fists at them, and tells them lie is not to be dictated to ;we hope not. What then is to be done? Call upon i.irn at once to resign. South Canterbury is at present ruled from Christchurch, Mr Hall cares nothing apparently for anything south of a certain p«rt on the Oxford-Temuka railway, Mr Rolleston has never shown any sympathy for South Canterbury. Mr Siudliolme has only one object in view, and Mr Turnbull, unfortunately, has not the nerve or determination to force a battle, and consequently we are left like a broken ship for the northern pirates to plunder at their will. A few then are in our midst who have tried hard tq gain a respectable position, have shown themselves too x’eady to life their that to a sprinkling of respectables* whose smile would command the help of the other to the half of bis kingdom. This currying favor for the sake of a name or some honorable title has destroyed the unity which otherwise would prevail. Consequently a crafty politician has found out their weak points, and by administering to thi-i r vanity has secured their support. We say it advisedly that, until our public men act for the weal of the district, and not for their own personal vanity, Temuka will not again advance. Where is our Vigilant Committee ? Unity is strength ; if unity cannot be got, prosperity will not be got. Where is the place that has not got its wants attended to, when its inhabitants are united. Unfortunately s sprinkling of this class of weak-minded individuals exist in Temuka, hence the neglect it has experienced at the hands of its member.