The Tuapeka Times. THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1871. "Measures, not Men."

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 152, 5 January 1871, Page 5

The Tuapeka Times. THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1871. "Measures, not Men."

We have been twitted by some of our readers for making repeated onslaughts upon his Honour, James Macandrew, without giving reason for such attacks. We may have imagined the unscrupulous conduct of that gentleman during his four years of office was better known than it really is ; but the careful reader cannot accuse us of making any charges against his Honour which have not time after time been substantiated by facts which, have transpired, and which are too well known to the province at large — sufficiently well known, we feel condent at all events, for the electors not to give his Honour the opportunity of committing further damage. For the information of Mr. Macandrew's apologists, we shall in this article reiterate a few of his projnises, and show how he has at-

tempted to fulfil them — show the plan he has adopted to promote the settlement of the country and make its hills team with an industrious population instead of sheep. Our readers are aware that we have consistently and persistently opposed the policy of Mr. Macandrew ever since the Tuapeka Times came into existence. We have done so in the conscious belief that he is not the right man in the right place, and in the hope that we might have some influence on public opinion. The almost universal feeling of distrust in the man which now exists throughout the province, leads us to suppose that our influence has not been without its good results. An extract here from an article in the Dunedin " Echo " will not be inappropriate. " Let us," says the writer, " cast our eyes back to February, 1867. The day before the poll for the Superintendency, a vast concourse of people have met in the North Dunedin Recreation Ground, Mr. Macandrew mounts ' the stump/ but previous to his oration, the ' Times ' and ' Star ' are burned, in derision. The writer and clique, who now can see nothing but good in Mr. Macandrew, were denounced by him as ' whited pharisees ' — High street and he did not then ' understand one another.' One of his attacks was on Mr. Fulton, who that morning had written against him, a letter in the ' Times.' In reply to Mr. Fulton's letter, Mr. Macandrew said, that Mr. Fulton knew the moment that he was elected Superintendent, that moment Mr. Fulton's run would be declared a Hundred. Did he keep his promise % The Provincial Council passed a resolution recommending a Hundred to be declared at the West Taieri, following out the hint given them by Mr. Macandrew on the hustings, but what did he do. When he came to prorogue the Council, notwithstanding that the Council had, by an overwhelming majorit3 r , asserted that a Hundred was absolutely necessary on Mr. Fulton's run, Mr. Macandrew said that he would not recommend the Governor to proclaim a Hundred there ! Thus did he fulfil his pledges. The ' pastoral lessees ' were to be driven by him into the Pacific Ocean, but one of his first acts, was to cordially come to an understanding with Mr. Driver and the Squatters generally." We well remember being present at that great gathering in the Caledonian Society's ground, when the most ardent enthusiasm was exhibited in Mr. Macandrew's favour, and his opponent denounced in the most virulent and acrimonious manner conceivable. Public indignation was aroused against a few of the more prominent squatters' agents to such an alarming extent, that even repudiation of the previous Government's acts was not too bold a stand for Mr. Macandrew to take. A greater ovation could not have been given to him had he returned from the accomplishment of all the many things he was only promising to perform. What has been the upshot of that great demonstration ? Everybody knows how little, as Superintendent, Mr. Macandrew has done towards driving the pastoral tenants into the Pacific Ocean. Has his every act not been to raise a fence round about them to prevent the possibility of such a consummation ? Did he not, a few months after his election, grant a ten years lease for one of the runs adjoining the township of Lawrence, although the people of the district were clamouring for more land for settlement ? Did he not, in the face of some thirty applications to lease sections in the Island Block, put that land up for sale, and thus not only establish a most dangerous precedent on the goldtields, but deprived that number of people of the chance of making for themselves and families homes on one of the fiue&t agricultural patches of land in the Mount Benger District % Did he not introduce the notorious Hundreds Act of 1869 in the face of the protest of his Executive ; and did not every clause of that Act teem with concessions totherunholders? When the Amended Bill was before the Assembly, did he not support the larger compensation and the 640 acre pre-emptive right ? In the Assembly too, the action he took with regard to the Waitahuna, Tuapeka, and Mount Benger petitions was most reprehensible, although quite in keeping with all his other actions. The Waitahuna petition, which was entrusted to Mr. Macandrew", was .referred by that gentleman to the Waste Lands Committee — a committee representing almost nothing but the runholding element. .. When certain of these petitions were referred to the Goldfields Committee, which committee was supposed to understand the question at issue, Mr. Macan-

drew was the first to throw a stumbling block in the way of the prayer of the petitioners being granted, and this he did by moving that the petitions ought to be submitted to the Provincial Council, and that the petitioners be advised accordingly. But we cannot afford space in this article to enumerate one tithe of the evil committed by him during his four years reign. Never under the light of God's sun did a man say one thing and do another more than Macandrew has said and done. Never was the confidence of a people more misplaced and abused than it has been in and by Macandrew ; and instead of having the brazen-facedness to come forward and ask to be again elected, he ought rather to hide his diminished head in the dust, retire to his cabbage garden, and by a life of penitence endeavour to atone for the ruin he has brought upon the province.