HOW IT STRIKES A MINER.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1128, 28 November 1873, Page 2

HOW IT STRIKES A MINER.

( To the Editor of the Westport Times.) " Above all things to thyself be true, hencer it follows as night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."—Shakespere. Sir,—To the Chief Magistrate of a province truth is a virtue essentially necessary, and conspicuously absent in at least one of the present candidates for that office in Nelson. But who will pause to weigh the worth ot a Shakesperian quotation in this*

Whirlpool of excitement? Is not the eloquence of a Curtis, the declamation ■of an O'Conor, echoing from mountain to glen, even waiting up the Sleepy Hollow of Nelson? The cry has gone forth* " Who is to be the coming man ?" Give -ear, O ye gods of the hills and long tunnels! for the roar of the Lion proclaims fiat his patriotic soul is heaving and groaning like a forty thousand horse power high pressure steam boiler with its safety valve screwed down, ready to burst and overwhelm us by the very magnitude of his benevolent intentions towards us. • What intentions and What has he done, do you ask ? Why •did he not intend 'to give gratis a ■section of land to all the people in Westport who lost their property by the floods? It's true he never said so ; but did not the people entrust him with a memorial to the Government praying to reserve certain lands for their use? With this knowledge did he not go and try to buy these •lands on the quiet? A gentleman like Mr O'Conor, the very soul of honor, the very pink of courtesy, what •else could he have meant ? ('Tis true my neighbor says'his courtesy is ; of a Billingsgate quality, whatever that 'means). How stupid of the people to ■make such a fuss on his return, meet him with a band of 'music, .play the 'rogues' march, burn his effigy, then sign a petition saying they were sorry 'they had done it, or something to that effect. What intentions? Did he <not intend with the-aid of his friends 'to construct a railway to the Ngaka'whau at a probable cost of £50,000 or £60,000, 'entirely at their own -expense? 'Tis true as compensation he wanted some miles of the Mount Rochfort coalfields, probably one of the richest mines in the southern hemisphere, besides a pick of -20,000 •acres of the best agricultural land in the Inangahua Valley. A property granted on the conditions asked, and 'then offered in the London market, would, no doubt, have readily realised a. couple of millions-. But then Mr '©'Conor's patriotism is of a costly kind, and a grateful country will 'estimate it at 'its worth. What has he done ? Has he not charged Mr Curtis with a tnal-administration of the public funds ? 'Tis true as member for this district the Government did depend upon Mr O'Conor for reliable-information, but then 'tis as •a specimen of this gentleman's sharp practice that weall knowhow cleverly he 'bamboozled the Government into buying up an insolvent Towing Track concern in whicih he was monetarily interested, also helping to induce an •exorbitant .price to be paid for a rotten bridge over the Orawaiti, and then to turn and hurl his thunderbolts of accusation at the head of the Superintendent. What has he done? Lid he not in a recent burst of electioneering eloquence at Giles Terrace exolaim, " I will cleanse the ship of state of her barnacles, and-let her float free ?" That means he will clear out the official •departments of their occupants, and fill them up with his friends. Givehim -his chance, and I'll bet a new hat that Nelson Province in the next four years will eclipse the Yankee Tammany Hall •for sharp practice. At this same public meeting did he not ridicule the idea of wasting money on the construction of a Nelson Foxhill Railway, and opposed it on the ground that it would paos through a thinly populated barren •country, aud if made would not pay half its working expenses ? 'Tis true he told another tale in his speech at Nelson, Suburban North, but it is a long way from Giles Terrace to Nelson, and on his voyage he might have got sea-sick, and that might have changed his 'ideas as well as his stomach, for the .Nelson Colonist informs us he said he formerly opposed this scheme, but now he would support it, and gave certain reasons, one of which was that Nelson was formed by nature to be the •terminus, and grand metropolis of the Province. But then make him Superintendent, and another voyage might again change his ideas, and he might think Westport might answer equally as well and infinitely better, and I am certain he will get plenty here to back him up in that opinion. Where is .probity in the man? Point out one single original idea that he possesses worthy of a statesman. His friends say he has energy. It is his most dargerous quality. Place him in office and you place him in power to gratify those selfish schemes in which our knowledge ■of him has proved him to be so •thoroughly proficient. This letter is already too long. In another, if allowed I may state my views on the future promise held out for the Province.—l am, &C., Mines.