THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1891. IRELAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2263, 6 October 1891, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1891. IRELAND.

Sir John Gohst says the best off of the Irish peasantry are poorer than the worst off' of the English peasantry. We have known this for a long time, but the question is Why is it so? It is admitted on all sides that not only is Ireland beautiful, but fruitful in everything necessary for man's comfort. It is not the fault of the soil, and neither can it be the fault of the people themselves. They have their faults, and they are many and serious, but laziness is not amongst them, and where men are willing to work and have a good soil, something must be wrong that keeps them in everlasting misery. It is no use to tell us they are laz)', as many would like to make us believe they are. We have lived amongst them, we have worked with them, and we know them thoroughly, and we can honestly say that laziness is not the cause of their poverty. It is only people who have never been in Ireland, and never saw the Irishman in his native home, who will undertake to prove that the cause of their poverty is laziness. There is another class of philosophers who attribute their poverty to political agitators. This, too, is nonsense. The result of the political agitation of recent times is that they have gained,, immense concessions, and that they are now better off than ever they were before. Political agitation does not interfere with their work. So as to avoid wasting time, they hold almost all their political meetings on Sundays, and they work hard the remainder of the week. They, do not contribute a great deal of their money to politics either, for the most of it comes from America and the colonies, so that is not the explanation of it. The Irish people make more noise about politics than any of the sister islands, and consequently outsiders think that tlie country is always in an unsettled state. This also is erroneous. The Irish people must make a great deal of noise before any notice is taken of them by the Imperial Parliament; they. must agitate and reagitate, and keep on agitating until they make their grievances understood, and hence a great deal of the noise. The Irish know this very well; they are very well used to agitation in every form, from abortive rebellion to legitimote political tactics, and it all comes to them as a matter of course.' The difference between England and Ireland is this : In England the question is left to the electors, and the majority legislates accordingly; Ireland may elect a majority in favor of any question, but . what can that majority do ? They are a mere handful in the British Parliament, and consequently powerless, At one time ; 100 Irish members out of the 103 elected, voted for closing the publichouses on Sundays, but the English members would not have it, and so the Irish members could do nothing. In consequence of this it becomes necessary for Ireland to make a great deal of political noise, so that her voice may be heard across the Channel and the public feeling of Imgland aroused on her behalf.

There jg another class who attribute Ireland's miseripg tq p ; vej>pQpulation, and the great remedy in tfyejr .opinion js emigration. At one tjme Ireland snppOf!t§d. a, population pf pyer 8,000,000, but oqw her- population is only about 4,500,000. While the population of England and Scotland is increasing at a rapid rate that of Ireland is decreasing with equal rapidity, yet the position of her people has not l?ee» improved by it.

The honest truth i$ that Iceland } 6 ruined by bad Government. At one tjme Ireland svas very prosperous, but the English Government destroyed her industries, so that they migfft nqt cpinpe,te with the English manufacturers,

and consequently there are no factories in the country that would give employment to the people. Then almost all the landowners are absentees, and they are taking all the wealth of the, country away. This is the whole explanation of the condition of the country. There are no industries in the country, and consequently no means of employment except that of farming, and all the produce of the land goes to pay the absentees. The trade of the United Kingdom is divided as follows: 90£ per cent, of it goes to England and Wales, 8 per cent, to Scotland, and per cent, to Ireland. This, we think, explains it fully. The English Government destroyed the trade of Ireland, so as to centre it all in England, and hence Irish poverty. It is not the fault of the country, nor the fault of the people, but the fault of bad Government that Ireland is in a chronic state of misery, and in that position she will remain unless she can work up her industries again.

THE CHRISTCHURCH SEAT. An interesting and extraordinary incident has taken place in connection with the election of a member to fill the vacancy caused in the representation of Christchurch by the resignation of Mr Percival. There are three candidates for the seat, viz., Mr Sanford, a Labor candidate, Mr Eden George, who has made himself ridiculous at previous elections, and Mr J. T. Tmith the most useless of the whole crowd. With all the noise of the Press gang about the country being disgusted with the present Government they have not had the courage to bring out a candidate. But the fun is that Mr Eden George claims the seat as the only candidate nominated at the proper time. The returning officer advertised that nominations should be lodged with him on Friday, the 2nd October, and that the polling would take place on the 9th of October. Mr George lodged his nomination paper with the returning officer on the Ist of October, and claimed the seat on the ground that as the Act required that y seven clear days should elapse between the nomination and the polling day, and that consequently persons nominated on the second would be too late. Mr George Harper and other lawyers declare in favor of Mr George's contention, and say he was the only candidate duly nominated. Both Mr Smith and Mr Sandford were nominated on Friday, and the election is going on just the same as if nothing had happened, but Mr George says if he is defeated he will take the case" to the Supreme Court. It will be very hard on the candidate who will be elected, if through the laches of the returning officer he should be unseated. The fault of course lies with the returning officer in not advertising the proper date, and as the Governor-in-Council has power to correct such errors, he ought to do so at once. A Wellington telegram, however, says that *the Government will do nothing in the matter, but allow the lawyers to settle it between them. This we think very wrong. No candidate should be put to expense and trouble through the negligence of the returning officer. As for the candidates there cannot be much doubt as to who will be elected. Mr Sandford will ,in all probability poll as many •as the other two put together. Mr Sandford is a printer employed on the Lyttelton Times, and has for many years been well-known in connection with politics. He is a very able man and will be a great acquisition to the Labor party if elected.