The Westport Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 574, 30 October 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1869.

Monday we mean the day, not the man—will decide an eminently unsatisfactory election contest. If it only decide it satisfactorily we shall all have the satisfaction of remembering Monday as a red letter day in the West Coast calendar. If otherwise, the West Coast will have its " Black Monday" as well as its " Black Bess." We mean by " otherwise " the return of Mr Oswald Curtis, and we crave pardon lor exhibiting, in connection with such a serious matter, what may be considered unseemly levity. Our sense of the heinousness of the offence is reduced by the consideration that, except locally, we shall not be understood, and, except by those who have a large appetite for very small jokes, we are not likely to be appreciated. Upon the decision of Monday depends the return of one of four candidates for the Nelson Superintendency. Two of these are on an equal footing as regards the "West Coast of the Province. These two are Mr Poppleton Horn and Mr Oswald Curtis. Neither of them has visited the West Coast electors. If anything, it must suggest itself to an unbiassed mind that, even in that particular, Mr Poppleton Horn has the advantage. Mr Poppleton Horn has promised that, if returned (and, of course,in a position to pay his steamer fare, as he would be) he would visit the Coast twice a year, and live among its people for three months during that period. Mr Curtis has not gone so far, nor is there a promise of any kind that he will at any time, or for any time, come so far as the Coast. With his estimate r of their habits he, no doubt, estimates the promise of Mr Poppleton Horn to live among them for three months at about the same estimate as he estimates the people themselves. He must have thought that Mr Poppleton Horn w r as " wandering " when he contemplated such a thing, and when he even divided his promised stay into two sections of six weeks each ; for what might not happen on the West Coast in six weeks? "Without home or property," the " people " might in that time be occupying that indefinite point in space—-no-where ; and Mr Poppleton Horn might find himself, as the Superintendent, somewhere thereabouts also. As Mr Reuben Waite was the Alpha of the Coast, so might Mr Poppletou Horn find himself its Omega—the " last of its race," all in six weeks ! But the advantage which Mr Poppleton Horn has in the particular of promises, he loses in the particular of performance. It is improbable that he can ever emulate Mr Oswald Curtis in that particular. It is doubtful—very doubtful—if he will ever have the opportunity of doing what Mr Curtis did in his first Superintendency—to come, and cut, and never come again. There is reason to fear that, even in this contest, Mr Poppleton Horn will be the last in the race. Whatever he may be in means, in point of support ho is not a " horn of plenty." Familiarly speaking, he is " blown." He has already achieved Mr Curtis's probable fear as to his future—even at present he is " nowhere." Therefore it is Mr Curtis alone, out of the two absentees, who has to be considered, " saving his presence/' Considering him fairly, the constituency question themselves Can he be considered favorably? As a Superintendent in situ, or as a candidate, can he candidly consider he has fairty treated the Coast? Theyrefernot to the discharge of his official duties — in bed or out of it, but to the simple item of courtesy. True it is, he once, as Superintendent, came, and saw, and —" slid." Mokihinui was honored by seeing the last of him, and seems never to have recovered the loss; stricken with grief and striking no gold, it pined away and died—Mokihinui no more. Once again his figure—it might be, politically, his " wraith " was seen in the streets of Westport, and came to the usual end of such extraordinary visitors—it disappeared amidst flames. Seen again he has not been ; seen again he may never be. At least a thankless constituency—thankful for nothiug—hope so. And this arises, not so mucli from the mere sins of omission on the part of Mr Curtis, as on account of his actual sins of commission, without saying anything as to the sins of his Commissioner. We do not find fault with him for " dissembling his love ;" but " why should he kick us downstairs ?" And this is what Mr Curtis has figuratively done—it may not be to his cost, but it certainly can never be to his credit as a politician or as a tactician at elections. Always urging the necessity of the union of the Proviuce, no man has done more to irritate its inhabitants into a division of interests and feeling. This he did during the agitation for Separation. This he has done more especially during his present canvass. Sneering at the "West Coast—not once but always—has been the sprat he has thrown to catch the mackerel (let hhn

take care it is not dead) of popular favor in Nelson. Doing nothing to deserve support on the Coast, and doing much to deserve opposition, he deserves what he has deserved, though he may not get it. If wishes could be the fathers of facts, as they are of thoughts, the fact at four o'clock on Monday would be that Mr Curtis would be where he may not be, but where he should be. And where is that but with Mr Poppleton Horn—nowhere ! The two other candidates are, as are the first two, on an equal footing, in one respect, as regards their claims upon the Coast. Both have visited the Coast, and have assumed the virtue of interest in its affairs, if they have it not—a different order of assumption from that of Mr Curtis. They are in other respects on an equal footing. They are by their candidature naturally obstructive, or likely to be so to a realisation of the feeling on the Coast, by diffusing and dissipating the opposition to Mr Curtis, which would be otherwise concentrated and " hot." It is this feature which renders the contest eminently unsatisfactory ; and, in view of its doubtful ending, the ordinary exclamation is:— " How happy we could be with either, Were t'other dear charmer away." It is rather a fetch of the imagination to elevate either Mr Gribbs or Mr Akersten into a " dear charmer," for, " charm they ever so sweetly," they would be sweeter still were they men of more " pith and moment." But, not expecting gods to come among us, or even angels, the West Coast electors would fain put faith in one or other of them, and hope that, in receiving them well, they might be " entertaining angels unawares." If, like the other tw r o, one of them has an exceptional advantage over the other, it is that Mr Gibbs is more intimately allied with the West Coast. Not personally or pecuniarily, but in his place in the Provincial Council, he has been so—and has been so repeatedly. It only can be said that Mr Akersten might have been the same, had he had the opportunity—which he has not had. As it is, the advantage distinctly attaches to Mr Gibbs. It is a circumstance, and a suggestive one also, that the fiercest opponents of Mr Curtis in Nelson itself favor Mr Gibbs and do not favor Mr Akersten. These are facts patent to all, and are not used as pleas for a preference for one above the other. Irrespective of any pleas, the electors, in a dilemma as they are as to the probable success of either, are disposed to please themselves; and, in the name of Fortune, who is said to favor the brave, let them do so. Only let there be no " rats " or renegades. Grovernment officials, Government contractors, electors with Nelson sympathies, admirers of admitted abilities, and friends of Mr Curtis—for why should he not have friends as well as enemies ? —may and will vote for him, but, with others who maynowbeneutral, let them nurse their neutrality and keep it warm; and "on some jocund morn " —say Tuesday next —all may be well.