THE SUPERINTENDENCY.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 562, 2 October 1869, Page 2

THE SUPERINTENDENCY.

A BOUQUET OF CANDIDATES.. (From the Colonist.) On Saturday a numerously signed requisition, only an instalment of the whole, was received from Westport by Mr N. Edwards, who was strongly urged by letters and telegrams from the West Coast, as well as by applications from the town and from various country districts, to consent to become a candidate for the Superintendency. After mature consideration, Mr Edwards finally declined to accede to the request. Since then, quite a bouquetof candidates have offered themselves to an anxious and admiring public. His Honor, the present holder of the office, still desires to retain his seat. Mr Gibbs, of Tota'ranui; Mr Wm. Akersten, of Nelson; Mr Thomas Dwan, of Charleston; and, last, and least, Mr J. Poppelton Horn, of Appelby, have severally announced their intention to come forward and appeal to the people for their suffrages. Mr Horn's notification is supposed to be a joke. It is said that Mr Gibbs has had large promises of support over the bay. and Mr Akersten's friends affirm that in both town and country he has had similar extensive inducements. Mr Dwan's requisition shows eighty names. It is further stated that Mr Dunne is to receive a requisition, and the cry is, "still they come," the feeling on the West Coast for a change being pretty largely shared by various parts of the settled districts. If one might quote the sentiment of the renowned Mrs Gamp, as she tossed off her glass of rum in the back parlor of the undertaker's dwelling, we might be inclined to say, " The best of lucks for all!"

(From the Examiner.) Mr Curtis, in his address, states explicitly the grounds on which he rests his claim for re-election. These may be carped at by political opponents, but. they will bo admitted by the unprejudiced and thinking portion of the eommurity. Mr Curtis will meet the electors of the City on Monday evening next, and will afterwards, we presume, meet the electors in the various country districts, and thus give every voter an opportunity of acquiring the fullest information concerning his past conduct and future intentions. Mr Dwan. the candidate from Charleston, has no views concerning the province, except that portion of it in which he resides. If elected Superintendent, he will devote himself to West Coast interests, and that is all he appears to think will be required of him.

Mr Akersten, the third candidate, puts forth a more attractive programme, but in his earnest desire to promise what shall be acceptable in the way of public expenditure to all branches of the community, he has apparently forgotten there is such a body as a Provincial Council, whose sanction for votes must bo obtained before money can beexpended, and that Superintendents are often made sensible of _ another hard necessity their desire of expending money must be limited by the revenue available. Mr Gibbs, of Totaranui, simply announces his intention, at the suggestion of hi* friends, of becoming a candidate for the office of Superintendent, and promises shortly to meet the electors in Nelson and other convenient places, where "he hopes to be able to give such explanations of the manner in which he would propose to fulfil the duties of a Superintendent, and to satisfy the electors that, in the event of his '>ein? elected, his conduct during oili.o would bear comparison with any promises he had made." Mr James Poppleton Horn is the last aspirant for the Superintendency at present in the field. This gentleman is also shortly to convene a meeting in Nelson, to " give a full expression of his views and sentiments required of anyone aspiring to fill the oiltee of Superintendent."

New Method of Pile drivts-g.— At a r.'cent meeting of the Franklin Institute, a new method of driving piles was described. It substitutes gun-powder, says the Scientific Review, for steam in working the drop-weight. A charge of powder is used to elevate the weight, and another charge throws it down again with greater force than it would acquire by falling alone. Ordinary musket charges are said to be sufficient to work a 4001b. hammer in this way, and the strokes are made with creator rapidity than in the old method. Y-LLOdPEnES. Josh Billings says, on the subject of velocipedes: —lt don't take much stuff to build a filosipede. I am bold tew say that a man could make one ov'em out of a cingle old plank, and then have enough stuff left over to splinter broken limbs, or make, perhapps, a coffin. A filosipede can't stand alone, and that single fact iz enuff to condemn the thing in mi eye. I don't want to have anything to do with any hopeless criture that can't staud alone unless, I might add, it is a purty woman going for to faint. I don't think it will ever get intew gineral use among farmers, az it haz no conveniences for a hay rigging, not even a place to strap a trunk; and as tew going tew church on it, the family would have tew go one at a time, and the rest walk. So of course the thing is killed in that direction.

It was the remark of Sir Robert Peel that he never knew a man to escape failure in either body or mind, who worked seven days in the week.