MR ARMSTRONG ADDRESSES HIS LATE CONSTITUENTS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 284, 10 July 1873, Page 5

MR ARMSTRONG ADDRESSES HIS LATE CONSTITUENTS.

(To the Editor of tlie Mount Ida Chronicle.) Sir, — I shall esteem it a favor if you would kindly allow me to address a few words of thanks to my late constituents through the medium of your columns. Ido not wish to enter into politics in the present letter, but should certainly like to disabuse the minds ■ of certain of my former supporters as to my actions. The explanation as to the course I took in the matter of the dissolution can be given in a very few words. I supported Mr Macandrew until I found that he was travelling outside the bounds of "Englishmen's liberty," which actually means the realms of anarchy, when I immediately made a stand. Beyond this I have never gone. If the electors of Mount Ida had explained to me that they wished Macandrew to be Dictator of the Republic, I should have cried with the rabble, " Long live Mac." I was not, however, aware of the fact. I thought, in my innocence, that diggers were model republicans, and that they respected liberty. I shall change my tactics next time I meet you, though Mac may be in his grave. I may also state, Mr Editor, that it requires a man of somewhat strong understanding to become a steady adherent of any party in the Provincial Council. For instance, when I heard a member of the Government (Mr M'Dermid) state that he was dissatisfied with the Superintendent's action in the matter of appointing a Government without calling the Council together, I became confused, but soen recovered my senses when I found the Government benches were in no better state than myself. I will now, Mr Editor, with your permission, return my sincere thanks to those gentlemen who honored me with their confidence, and also to those gentlemen who took the same course as I did in the Provincial Council — viz., exercised their own judgment. I may assure them that I shall always have the welfare of the district at heart, and I hope, at no long date, to appear before them again as a candidate. Mr Macandrew may again dissolve his Parliament ; and then, again may Armstrong be in the ascendant. I trnst, Mr Editor, our new members may return as goo! an account of their stewardship to their constituents, at the end of their term, as the late greatly-abused members have done. Long live Mac ! — I am, &c, John P. Armstrong, Late M.P.C.

In 1872-3, 16,154 tons of goods and 4,405 more passengers were carried over the Southland railways than in the previous year. The total receipts give an increase of L 3,068 8s 6d, and the expenditure of L 2.363 10s sd, or a clear profit of LBOO. The engines ran 31,805 miles during that time, the average speed per hour, including stoppages, being 16.76 miles.