Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1989, 26 January 1907, Page 2

Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1907.

Where are the Democrats to-day ? Are any of them occupying seats in the so-called democratic Cabinet that at present rules the destiny of this professedly democratic country? Will the professed democrats throughout the length and breadth of the land ask themselves these questions and supply the true answers ? If they do the logic of fact must force upon their unwilling senses negative answers, for in the face of the recent appointment of the new batch of “lords,” and having regard to the circumstances of these appointments, no one can say that one shred of democratic principle governed the selection of a single appointment. On the’ contrary, the considerations that influenced the Cabinet in making the selections have been the reverse of democracy and in direct opposition to the will of the people which, according to democratic definition, is the essence of true democracy. in the first place, the people of the colony have, through their properlyplected representatives, declared that the Legislative Council as a whole should no longer exist on the nominative principle, and that it should be brought more into line with the real principles of democratic rule. The House, by affirming the principle of the Elective Legislative Council Bill on its second reading, issued to Jhc Government the mandate of the people that the Council was to be no longer a nominated body, and the Government, if they desired in the least degree to show their loyalty to the cause of democracy, could have given that mandate the force of law, or at least could have refrained from wilful disobedience of the- people’s ' wishes, by refusing to make further I appointments upon the old undemocratic basis. But wliat have they done? They caused the Bill to be shelved before it reached- its third : reading, and have now disregarded

tho mandntu of the people hy making further ap|)ointinents in the face nf tho country’s desire for a chango of system. And who are the people that 1111 vo boon nominated P Are they men that would have boon chosoli hy the people of this colony to take a hand in tho Government of tho people Not one of them. AVliy in almost every instance they are men who have either boon rejected by tho people themselves, of who were thought so little of that they have never dared to ask tho electors for their suffrage. Not ono amongst .them would have a possible chance oi election even though their constituencies wore confined to a five milo radius of their own domiciles, and yet in tho face of democratic outpourings ud captaiidum vulgus; in the very teeth of a democratic instruction from the people themselves; in direct opposition to all democratic principles, professions and 'promises, tvs find these men foisted upon the country ns part of its governing machinery. In such extraordinary circumstances it is pertinent to enquire what are the individual claims of those moii that they should he thought sufficient to outweigh the higher claims of principle and the exigencies of good government, for there must surely bo a reason for so grave and audacious a subversion of acknowledged principle, and either democracy is wrong or a sufficient cause can ho found in tho individual claims to justify tho Government in flouting it. Let us examine the claims, and taking the list seriatim, wo find the first appointee in the person of a respectable farmer of Kawhia named AV. D. McCardle, who tried on various occasions to oust Opposition candidates at election times, but tlio electors would have none of him, and in these attempts we discover no excuse for his elevation to flic legislative halls. On the contrary, it affords every logical reason why lie should still remain in political obscurity. Next comes our old friend, Captain AV. H. Tucker, whose suavity is his highest recommendation to a political appointment, to which may he added a little recent notoriety; but they fall very far short of tho requirements ol' democracy. AA’i Pore we may pass over on the supposition that the Native race is inadequately represented, without admitting com pliance with the principles from which wo are arguing. Air. Oliver Samuel is the only one who may he said to bo eligible becase ho was more than once elected to the House of Repiesutatives, and was never rejected, bocauso ho retired from polities for a time. Dr. AAV E. Collins’ contribution to the cause of Democracy consists in the fact that ho was a useful banquet organiser when the Government felt that it was necessary to blow a political trumpet; lint Democracy takes no stock of the man who call merely wear a swallow-tail and drink champagne and put on soft soap plasters to heal politica. incisions. Air. C. M. Luke is another of the rejected ones of democracy who lias split votes and nearly caused the Oppositionist to triumph, so the excuse is evidently that he shall not be permitted to do it again, hut Democracy's requirements are still unfilled. Then we find in Air. Hamilton Gilmer a gentleman who lias soil enough beer to make a fortune in a well-regulated public house, and to enable hint to develop into a successful land speculator and brewery proprietor whom no one ever suspected of political ambitions of any sort, or knowledge of politics outside the Liquor laws; but there he is the elect of a professedly democratic band. In All-. Robert Louglinan there certainly are some redeeming political features, because as a capable journalist he lias done something for Democracy, and lie knows tho “run of the ropes” ; but “the people” have not chosen him. Air. G. J. Smith, once the elect of Christchurch and now the rejected thereof returns to the legislature against the verdict of the people, and Air. John Anstoy has earned his spurs merely as the Hon. AA r . HaJl-Jones’ chairman of election committee and appointee on the famous Land Commission. Of the two Dunedin lawyers we know nothing beyond the fact that neither lias been thought of as capable representatives by tile people themselves who know them best, and so we have a .number of men appointed to rule this country’s legislation whom with one exception Democracy could not recognise without trampling upon its most vital principle. Privately they may be all good fellows enough ; but honest government demands more than, selection on the. score of rewards for personal favors., which in every case has been the chief dessideratum, ami it is an insult to the intelligence of the colony as a whole as well,as to the elastic principles of Democracy to think that better men could not have been selected from among tho population of this colony if it were necessary to make any selections at all before complying -with'the mandate of the people which tlio autocrats of the Cabinet lias so flagrantly disregarded .