THE ELECTIONS.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4842, 16 July 1884, Page 4

THE ELECTIONS.

tTo the - Editor'of ;.thej Evening ;Btar.)~ " Sib, —Having'listened with great in-" terest to Mr .Speight's eloquent address 6n "Monday night, I ask the privilege of a small space in your columns to express a few thoughts concerning the opinions therein advocated. Mr Speight's sympathies are enlisted in the cause of " posterity "—a very desirable qualification in one who desires to assist in the government of a-new country. He earnestly advocates the present system of education, at the same time desiring to remedy any defects which may exist in it. Here he appeals strongly to the paternal interest, add should obtain the support of every right-thinking parent. True enough is the assertion that "an educated people cannot fall such easy- dupes (o scheming adventurers," Ac, as a weak-minded and - uncultured community. This is the true secret of a people's strength,—the ability . and strength of character to think and act for themselves; let us' see to it, therefore, that in the interest of our children and our country, we return such a man, who . will support all true educational reform, and thus advance the progress and pros* perity of New Zealand, and render her an example to the nations. Frond indeed was I pf my fellow*townsman as I listened to his expressed views upon that allimportant question—the lands of New Zealand. Right nobly was it spoken ! and sorely the sentiments .then expressed found an echo in the hearts of those who heardjiim. Herein lies the hope of the future, —the freedom of land, to ""be followed by the freedom' of" the* laboring producer from the present, system of .unjust taxation, which deprives him of his honest earnings, and'enthralls .him in a grevious bondage, most-demoralising in its influence, and -. detrimental to all national and social "*■ progress. Led by such* a noble; spirit as Grey, supported by such firm adherence and staunch principles as those expressed by Speight, we have hope for the future, and can look with expectant anticipations upon the youug colonials clustering round our hearthstones. Let us not be blinded then by the fallacious hopes and disinterested (?) promises of those whom we shall only repent of having trusted, but give our full support and earnest sympathy to the man who so nobly stands before us, fearlessly denouncing the existing evils and abuses of the present Governmental policy, ;and ' giving his hand to pur tried and trusted r leader, the advocate' of that stepping stone to all social reform—the nationalisation of the land, Sir George Grey. Hoping to continue these remarks in a future letter, and trusting your readers will accord their full and earnest sympathy to the cause at issue.—l am, Ac, Matebfahilias.

" r - (Jo ike Editor of the Evening, Star)* "\ \\ ■' Siil,-rMrSpejgbtinhißrejnark«onMoßi« _ day riigbt 'alluded to his candidature being opposedViri-official quarters. If anyope can. judge the fitness or otherwise of a man for any office it is those who are most intimately acquainted with him, and who, on the Thames, are sointimately acquainted with him as tho officials P whether they be of the^ newspapers or of the local bodies, and if they, after intimate knowledge of - him for years, judge him to be unfitted for ? ■„ the office he ricks, I think that is-good ./"proof if his., unfitnesa.—Jam,'&c, *■'.« -' rt-'-. /';""\' c ;' 5 Eiectob.-.,