The Westport Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1872.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1032, 24 December 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1872.

Now that the Westland elections are over, the results to follow will be watched with some interest bj residents on the Nelson G-oldfields, who, living over the border, on a debateablo ground wherein good rule and judicious counsels do not prevail, have thought, and wisely, that some form of local government might prove of much avail to themselves in adjusting the vexed question of wrongs and remedies ; and hence the more anxiously watch the result of the experiment iu Westland. Our neighbours there, finding thetneelves brought to a stand by the inevitable necessity of either struggling resolutely through tho slough of County financial difficulty, whereto they have been hurried by unforseen and, perhaps, unavoidable emergencies; or owning themselves unable to longer carrv out a system of local government, heralded "at the outset with exceeding praise, and giving promise of exceeding honor and profit thereafter ; stake their present hopes upon tbe individual and collective efforts of the new members called to the -Council. Thus has the position of member of the Westland County Council become of more than usual importance. A. perusal of the various speeches made by tho candidates, to glean indications of either expressed or implied opinions upon questions affecting tho peculiar circumstances of the Westland community, does not leave a very convincing impression that either the elected or defeated candidates are nxooptiono to tbi». prevail nig 1 rule whereby electors too often assume a right to consider that the priveleges of the franchise creates all necessary capacity for legislative functions ; without the necessity, incumbent on other professions, of previous study and some elemontary practice. Tho competitors appear to have been incited as much by a desire to air their eloquence and favorito crotchets as to enunciate any distinct plans for remedying the troubles so thickly gathering around them. It is not that either the elected or defeated are of that class who yearn for office and the entrance to any arena, howsoever limited, wherein they may parade their vanity and self assumed dignity; they are evidently not (hose who seek to make a good thing out of local politics; holding as they do good social positions in each community they represent, but they seem to have been drawn or forced by the presence of passing circumstances to take control of tangled affairs of which they have not as yet a full understanding or a complete grasp. This and no more may be gathered from their public utterances, It may be that after having defined a line of action and contrived to pull with a will togother, they may assume as their watchword Aye ready ! but at present public expectation has not been aroused to any very sanguine enthusiain.