The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1884 MR WAKEFIELD AT LEESTON.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1273, 4 December 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1884 MR WAKEFIELD AT LEESTON.

Of all the qualifications necessary for success as a politician in New Zealand that which is vulgarly known as "the gift of the Hdb " is the most essential. Mr Wake field's relations with hi 3 constituents is a capital illustration of this. When Mr Wakefield first sought election for delwyn he condemned Mai or Atkinson and his Ministry in unmeasured terms. No language was too strong to use towards

them. They wera corrupt ; they were incapable ; they were devoid of constitutive ability.' In'short, they were everything but what they ought to be, and he pledged himself to get them out of office at all hazards. He went to Wellington and offered Sir George Grey and Mr Montgomery —the rival leaders —to lead the onslaught for the political ' extinction of the Atkinson Ministry, but the offer was declined. He did many other things besides this, including the expressing of his thorough disgust _at the Governor granting a dissolution, because, he aaid, there were men in the House capable of forming a good Ministry. When he sought re-election he announced himself a follower of Sir Juliu3Vogel and in favor of the West Coast Railway, but Sir Julius Vogel formed a Ministry which did not include Mr Wakefield and he enlisted under the Atkinson banner, which ha had before represented as stained with corruption, negligence and incapacity. The disapproval of his constituents was manifested in various ways. They sent him a present of a rat ; they burned him in effigy, and paid him many similar marks of attention. His tergiversation was oreat; he had changed his coat with extraordinary rapidity, and consequently his constituents were extremely indignant. When, therefore, it was announced that on last Tuesday evening he would address his constituents everyone expected he would meet with a warm reception. There were not wanting indications of the public temper at the opening. At the entrance to the hall at Leeston a rat was suspended by one leg from a trap, and when Mr Wakefield appeared he was received with hisses and cries of "rat." Mr Wakefield, however, disregarded these trifling matters, and, according to the Christchurch papers, he "looked round quite undaunted." We may remark here that the Press gives him a splendid report, while the Lyttelton Times' report is extremely meagre. Not to give him a fair report because he happens to be opposed to the patty supported by the Times is certainly a mean action on the part of that' paper. But that has nothing to do with our present subject. Mr Wakefield spoke. He opened <he floodgates of his eloquence on them, and they sat, overawed, dazed, amazed, and listened to him patiently. Mr Wakefield was not even conciliatory. He " went" for them pretty freely ; told them when his anxiety for the public welfare was depriving him of his food he had received offensive telegram,s and ho said he had been badly treated. He wither3d the senders of these missives with scorn and contempt, told them he would refuse to be dictated to by any clique, and then passed on to the ratsenders and the effigy-burners, whom he characterised as a disgrace to the colony. Thus he came forward, notwithstanding all his sins, bold, dashing, and defiant, and carried all before him by the mere power of eloquence, and at the close of his speech a vote of thanks and confidence was accorded to him by a large majority of a crowded meeting. We lutve not had time to read Mr Wakefield's speech through yet, but we have noticed that he has tried to defend himself against the charge of office-seeking. lie denied ho Bought office, but stated that the cau&e of the crisis which took place at the opening of the session <vas that there were 50 officeseekers in the House. We believe the ! latter part of the statement but not the ! first. Mr Wakefield aimed at the Premier- ! ship at one time, and without doubt he | was one of the 50 who sought office, aud what is more he ruined himself by his anxiety to secure it. However, we can forgive him because he fought undoubtedly on the right side in the end. He was, like Goldmith's, frieud j " His conduct right and his argument v wrong." But no one will thank him for it because he did not go right owing to the depth of his feeling for the well-being oF the Colony, but because the other side did not give him a portfolio. We have no desire to be hard on Mr Wakefield, lie has many estimable qualities, hut he lacks ong quality, aud that is tact. If he had tact, which would enable him to manage things better, and with it patience to abide his opportunity, ho might very well aspire to the Premiership but as it is he has not, and we we are afraid it will take him sometime to reach the pinnacle of his ambition. His power of speech appears to have gained him a good hearing at Leeston, but he will have to be very careful in the meantime or he will not be so successful next election.