Electioneering Incidents.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3044, 16 November 1878, Page 2

Electioneering Incidents.

The County Elections have occupied people's attention during the past week, but they are over now. Partisans are, or should be, engaged in the commendable occupation of interring the tomahawk and blowing the cloud of peace, until time and circumstance shall again necessitate the formation of opposing forces in battle array. Elections as a rule are very tame here now-a-days. The excitement is of a mild character. There is not much feeling evoked, and the little there seems to be is confined to talk, talk. No one ever returns from an election with a head on him so that his hat has to be carried jauntily on one side, and as for hair, no one has lost a lock for years. Some people sigh for the good old days, but it is best as it is. Moral suasion is better than brute force; and good generalship is superior to either. Given a good course, a jockey with a head on him, and fair play, the best horses will win.

Our Ohinemuri friends appear to have been considerably surprised at the turn of affairs there, when the gallant half hundred from Thames put in an appear* ance. The local men were greatly favored during the early part of the day, and it was looked upon as a safe thing that two residents would be returned. The Aroha steamer made the Puke soon after three o'clock, and the "free and independent" marched over thence to the polling place. The appearance of the phalanx completely discomfited the little colony of hotelkeepers who thought to have matters all their own way. Some of them, it is said, made the best of circumstances and "jumped Jim Crowe "—turned a political somersault, deserted their favorite candidates, and joined the army of invaders. The moral is plain. Paeroa people must not think they are the Thames County; residents here have a big stake—many big stakes in that fence, and they will not be slow to avail themselves of their undoubted privileges.

" The officials must go!" Paraphrasing the words of Denis Kearney, the Californian working men's advocate, one of the (defeated) candidates for County Council honors made this his watchword. He had an unmistakeable down on the County officials, and he thought to creep in on a sweeping ticket. (N .B.—lf he had been elected he would have become one of the most pliant supporters of the old regime.) He was hot content with the announcement that "the officials must go," but, according to report, he had promised one of the best billets in the gift of the Council to another. How shaky these same officials must have felt before the contest was decided! And what a relief when they found that the electors had rejected the agitator!. Ignorance and presumption generally go hand in hand. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

" Eh, mon, did ye e>er see the like o' that P Fancy a mon takiii'awa' a barrel o' beer frae an election ? " Thus queried a Nortii Briton the other night when the poll closed and a candidate was seen packing up his belongings and bundling them into a cart/ The same barrel of beer had been blistering in the sun all day long, and it is on record that one of the candidate and a supporter had actually reduced its contents to the extent of two pints, and rumour says that was all that was drawn from it throughout the day. The defeated one may have one consolation: if he did not get in, he can solace himself with the reflection that his beer is left to him.

You should have seen the " Colonel" run the other night. Nobody thought it was in him. Coming from the polling | booth jast when it became known that the favorites had been returned, and when enthusiastic supporters bad hoisted the successful men shoulder high, some one called out " Collar the cap'n." (" Colonel" hadn't become familiar.) No sooner said than——no, not done, but attempted. A dozen or so made a rush at the Colonel, all anxious to carry somebody. But the Colonel didn't see it. With his disengaged hand he gave one a " polthogue " (Greek) under the ear just *".* had fastened on to a leg, and the next as iio ,4. t h uai p i n the stomach with ?i?Tii g?V doubled him up; th* b*llo<L h? x .V V * bolt for it in a and the Colonel made - .._ fni . ».• style that, would have ft." I(*JJJJJ backers on a maiden course. A gi». * , of his coat tails was all the satisfaction the enthusiasts had for their pains as they gathered themselves together. .