The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1881.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 907, 24 October 1881, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1881.

If wo have deferred commenting on the views expressed l.y Mr Rkn'ivll at his late meeting it is not because we deemed them to be uninteresting or unworthy of notion. With very manv of them indeed, we quite concur, ami any objection we may have to them as a whole, is less to their reasonableness than to their practicability. If th> political constitution of this colony were obliterated, ami it became necessary to build it up from new fottnda cions, to begin " de novo," we would lie willing to adopt many of Jlr Reui.l's recommendations as it basis for its future development, but we have to take the colony as it is, and make such gradual changes in its constitution as -vill not materially distur its pastoral, agr'cultural, and industrial interests. Somethings are practicable others impracticable. Wo are (jiiitr prepared to go with Mr Rknall ii advocating any reform which is practi cable, but we object to wasting tiim over schemes which are utterly impracticable. Mr Renam, for exam pi", says "abolish the Upper House." Ilia l is impracticible 1 If, howev.-r, he saio abolish its honorarium, we would sup port him in that, recognising that to be something which might he accomplished. We concur in his sug gestion that the Wairarapa should be one County, but we should rather fear to trust ourselves to the guidance of one, who, in discussing a plai> of local self-government, absolutely omitted al; reference to Highway Hoards. Again we are quite in accordance will Mi Renall in his opinion of the Wash Lands Board, and would like to see their functions transferred to Counties. We cannot follow Mr Rekai.l, in his denunciation of the (Sheep and Rabbit Acts. It is true that they constitute a severe remedy, ljufc serious evils must be grappled with by strong measures. Mr Renall talks about and rabbits being left to local settlors, iim they have as a matter of fact been lefi very much to local bodies in the past years, and it is just, because the local authorities have proved im ffectnal to stamp out (he evil that the (Joverument have }jad to step in with measures which ordinarv pircumstances do not warrant, but which nxijjyu'dinary cases demand. The Government have undertaken to suppress both scab and rabbits in this district, and we would rather see the work done well, quickly, and thoroughly, than the question of ways and means opened up again, When Mr Rexam. attributed the late fall in wages to t|ip increase in direct taxation, he only meiitWnef) one cause of the diminution and omitted others which can be absolutely demonstrated to have had a more niatked effect in decreasing the rates paid for labor. Scab and rabbits have done five times as much harm to the labor market in New Zealand as direct taxation. When sheepowners have money to spend on improvements the labor market'is brisk in the Wairarapa. When sheepowners have no money to spend the labor market is dull and depressed. Mr Rknall referred to his own personal experiences, and it is therefore allowable for us tn poirt out that he is less the friend of the working man than the squatter, The income of the former is as large as that of the hitter, but it is well known that whereas, the one puts his revenue out to interest, the other expends the bulk of it in men's wages, The one is a moneylender, ai d as such exercises a very considerable personal influence, the other is the man who fills the pocket? of his fellow men. Nor can ■■l fhnt amiiP wlm

•population is a truo friend-'- of tha mim, in deeil, whatever he may be in words, We credit Mr Henall with ■holding fixed and well defined political principles, Wc do not regard his utterances as mere " bunkum" to catch' votes. Ho has for the past half century hold and advocated popular views. A man. however, who aspires to represent, a division ol the W airanipa in the New Zealand Parliament must be judged by deeds as well as words, and even his personal conduct as a settler, as well as his more public actions and utterances, are matters in which those ehctois who study the welfare of the colony and district must take into consideration. Mr I:f.nAt,i, complained that he could draw a line between those! who would vote against him, and those 1 who would vote for him, but he hardly gave the real reason for a statement, which was in a great measure true. Mr Renall gets his support in the quarters where he has sought it. He lias advanced himself by the use of such materials which have been malleable to his hands. It is he himself who has drawn the line between his friends and his opponents, All who will or must follow him blindly and unhesitatingly are among the former, those who will not bow the knee are among the latter, Jf aut Cwsar ant nvtius was ever true of any man it is of Mi'Rhnall, and we very much doubt whether the (!z;ir of Itussia is more autocratic.