The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Publised Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning. Tuesday, January 28, 1890.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 409, 28 January 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Publised Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning.

Tuesday, January 28, 1890.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy oountry’e, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

THE EAST COAST ELECTORATE, A CLEVERLY-WRITTEN paper, the Mataura Ensign, has taken upon itself the task of proving that the Atkinson Government has not lost ground in the country, and has adopted Mr Gladstone’s remarkable process of analysing the bye-elections to show the course of public opinion. The process is one that has a valuable bearing, being undoubtedly a fairly accurate test of public opinion in certain quarters ; and if there had only been some show of accuracy in the deductions drawn by the Ensign, the article would have had some weight. Four seats have become vacant since the last general election, two of them having been held by Government supporters and the others by members of the Opposition, The Waipa electors very sensibly invited Mr Bryce to represent them, feeling assured that no matter on what side of the House he sat men of his stamp were sadly needed in our present third-rate Parliament. The other Government seat was that of the East Coast. “ Now," remarks our comtemporary, “ this was the very spot where the Government was most in danger of all the colony. The windy Mr Rees, who, we believe, once spoke for eighteen hours in a * stonewall,’ had represented those parts in the time of the Grey Ministry, and like a resuscitated moa still lives and breathes in the political atmosphere of those juggling and squandering times. He went to England some time ago to float a colonisation scheme which was to enrich the East Ccast at the expense of English dupes. The Government saw clearly that his success would bring the colony in great disrepute and would ruin those who trusted in his scheme. They therefore had the courage to put a wet blanket on him. Hence he came back fuming and appealing with his leathern lungs and easy command of language to the selfishness of the East Coast people whom the Government, he said, had robbed of the flood tide which would have led on to their fortune. The Government supporter who stood against him was not a man of special mark, and he and his friends at first held Mrßees very cheap ; but during the last few days of tbe canvass they awoke to the position and secured the seat for the Government. We certainly think that there was no seat in the colony possessed by the Government which they would be more likely to lose—simplv because they had been honest. It must be remember-d also that it was in this neighborhood that Mr Ballance, the leader ot the Opposition, had opined his stumping campaign a few weeks befare.

Hence, all things considered, the retention of the East Coast seat by the Government is a very reassuring fact.” Now, it is intensely amusing to see the different lines that are taken up regarding Mr Rees, according to the various purposes that are to be served. A local paper scored a point against him by its reiterated assertions that the object of his scheme was to flood the district with paupers : the Ensign is more bold and insults the East Coast electors by saying that Mr Rees had appealed to their selfishness. However, that point is one which is of little concern to us at the present time. It is the utterly absurd position taken up by the Ensign from a party point of view. Neither of the candidates {or the East Coast seat absolutely pledged himself to support the Government. Mr Arthur held to the

policy that he should do just as it pleased himself, though in his political ignorance he did go out of his way to try and prove that the Atkinson Government contained virtues to which it has no legitimate claim, and also asserted that he is an advanced Liberal. Mr Rees would not pledge himself to the Atkinson Government, nor to Mr Ballance, but be said he would support any party which had the welfare of the people at heart. It is as ridiculous as it is false to say that Mr Rees, fuming and with leathern lungs, told the people that they had been robbed of the flood tide which would have led on to their fortune. Mr Rees made nc allusion to the action of the Government until the question was put to him, and he stated that the Government admitted having done a wrong, but that he was now working in harmony with it so tha the Paremata, Pakowhai, and othei blocks might be thrown open to settlers He has so far succeeded in that matter a; to have obtained a promise that tw< Ministers will visit the district next montl to inspect the blocks of land. If Mr Ree had stated that this district had beei robbed by every Government he would no have been far from the truth, but the else tion was not fought on the lines of Govern merit v. Opposition. As to the statemen that Mr Ballance had been stumping ii the neighborhood that only goos to prov that there are some people who regan the East Coast seat as one to be used 'fo

their own purposes : it has unfortunately been too long made a puppet to the Qrmotid clique. If our Mataura contemporary really wishes to know how Mr Arthur won the seat we can give the Information. His candidature had been considered before the previous member had resigned, and Mr Rees only came into the field at a late

hour, but the deciding point was a block vote from the Coast rpns. And, for the enlightenment of the Mataura journal, we may add that, through the local journal which supported Mr Arthur, expression has been given to the Coast electors’ deep resentment at Mr Arthur’s ingratitude because he did not leave his harvest work and lose three or four days in dancing attendance at a hack race meeting. We know that Mr Arthur has more selfrespect than to pay any heed to smallminded cavillers, but it is a ”charming” example ofthe value some people set upon manhood suffrage, and the member for the East Coast has the grim satisfaction of knowing that some of the electors who secured him his majority have openly given vent to their vexation—backed up, too, by a public journal—because he did not make nearly a week’s journey to confer his patronage on a second-class hack race meeting' Mr Arthur is certainly deserving of the compassion of all electors who appreciate the sacredness of the franchise,