The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1887. MR PYKE’S CONSTITUENTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1602, 2 July 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1887. MR PYKE’S CONSTITUENTS.

Mk Vincent Pvkr is ; n trouble. He represents the Duustan, and in that district are a large number of fruit growers who are thoroughly dissatisfied with him because of his freetrade proclivities. On last Saturday night they met, and out of the report published in the Tuapeka Times we take the following : “ It was thought that the members of the Opposition, however wrong the Government: may have been, had but little interest in the welfare of the country when they would not even allow the Government proposals to go into Committee and see What could be done. Instead of adopting this course they had preferred to plunge'the country into a useless expenditure of some £50,000. The meeting thought it would have been more to their credit had they endeavored to modify things* so that a repetition of the occurrence which disgrace! Parliament three years ago might have been avoided.. It was considered that the future outlook was becoming serious,-do- fur as the employment of the rising generation is concerned. If wa do not protect our industries after the manner of Victoria, where prosperity is now rampant, we will go to the wall ; for without factories aud workshops to afford employment, our youth will be forced to emigrate, and seek a home in more favorable c'imea.” After having talked the matter oyer the following resolution was carried unanimously “That this meeting pledge itself to support a candidate who will pledge him?, self to support a protective tariff.” A Committee was formed, and it was decided to hold another meeting as soon as the boundaries of the electoral districts were proclaimed, with a vn-w of taking further steps in the matter. This deputes that a healthy pub ic opinion exists in Ihjs rural district. There wa find » numh-r of farmers fu ly alive to the reckless disregard which a self seeking contemptible crew of officeseeking politicians haye shown regarding the public good. They haye come screaming retrenchment to (he country, and they have not hesitated to put the country to the expense of £50,000. Mr Pyk.e is one of the antiquated humbugs pf Parliament, and it ,; would be

n very good thing for iha colony i( he were kept out of it. He is one of those who believe they have a right (o office owing to the length of time they have been in Parliament, and no Ministry which Will not include them will get their support. He is just as mischievous as Sir George Grey, without being a quarter so clever. Then is in Parliament a nest of old identities. Half of them believe they have a right to the Premiership, and the other half are confident that they came into the world by the will of an allwise Providence ready-mode Cabinet Ministers. No Ministry can satisfy all these, and consequently no Ministry can have their support long. They know the ropes ; they have experience ; they are good at “ lobbying ” ; they work on the feeling and prejudices of junior members, and when their little plans are all arranged they turn the Government out of office in the hope that in the next shuffle ol the cards their day will come. What Government has been in office that Sir George Grey, Mr Montgomery, Mr Pyke, and others of the same ilk have not voted for turning out. Not one, and the sooner the people realise that to send these people, back to Parliament to make mischief and disorganise politics is the surest way to ruin the colony, the better. The farmers of Otago are apparently opening their eyes to this fact; they see their fruit rotting on the ground, while the people of Dunedin are consuming fruit grown in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, and ocher colonies. The same thing occurs in this district.. Formers find it useless to cultivate fruit when there is no market for them, and thus an industry which might add greatly to .the wealth of the district is undeveloped. The few who have put before themselves the task of growing fruit find it an unprofitable business, as year after year they have to look on their season’s yield lying rotting on the ground. Two things are necessary to enable this industry to prosper : The railway freights must be lower, and the duty on our imported fruit increased, At present it would cost the best pan of the price of the fruit to send it by railway to either Dunedin or Christchurch, and so long as that is the case we cannot hope for the success of the fruit growing industry, Mr Pyke has made a great noise about the lowering of the freight on fruit. He has like Sir Julius Vogel made use of the scheme to this effect which we published some two years ago, and now he gives his constituents the excuse that he was ready to gi re protection to the fruit industry, “ but the tariff proposed by the Government was -so framed that they had to swallow the whole or none,*' How any one could say such a thing without a feeling of shame is incomprehensible. Was there ever a measure brought into Parliament that was not amended ? Did not the Government actually reduce the duties on some articles in deference to representations made to them, and yet in the face of these facts Mr Pyke did not blush to tell his constituents that a part of the proposals of the Government could not have been altered without altering the whole. His constituents, however, evidently did not believe him, (or they said in effect that be could feel but little interest in the wellbeing of the colony when be did not allow the Government proposals to go into Committee, and then try lo alter them. They have seen through him at last it was not before it was time, and we trust they will succeed in defeating him at the coming election, and that many other constituences will follow their example.