The Star. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1896.

The announcement published in our city edition, yesterday, that Mr J. L. Scott iiad : retired from the electoral contest, came' as j an;; unpleasant . surprise. , Nevertheless, must recognise that the reason' .advanced for the adoption: of tliisi course is justification for such a resolve, and it -Will' be freely admitted . that | the candidate- whom the Liberals had so unanimously selected, has throughout acted in perfectly good faith; MrjSc'otti ha,d^ u^xp^ctedlyv:fouiid that his brother j Mid partner, must be. absent .:fronv the:] colony,, for, .a considerable portion of the 1 year,, and. that in consequence^ it -was. im- 1 peratively :necessary . that he ; himself ) should: remain- in. Christchurch to attend! to the. business of the firm. As/4 jßfri Scotfc- has well said, a man's. . first duty „is to his "family. , He cannot ,be. expected to. thaw all considerations \ to the winds, even in order to go. to .;■ W. epngton .as . a representative ( of the. .people; The. question of the moment, is, : What are the pfeople going, to do about Jt? Arid we reiterate, the hope expressed; by Mr. . Scott in his announcement,; " that whoever may be selected by .the Liberals of. Christchurch as^a candidate, will, receive a united jSupport, and that the progressive, legisla-, tion of the past five years will be continued." . ,' .-,:, .• It is quite in keeping ■with .Conservative tactics, that ,one of th?> shininp- lights of the party should, at a meeting held yesterday afternoon, have " mentioned their candidate had ah?eady. frightened .the, Government', candidate out of,, the field." It is also in keeping with those tactics that ; i the Press should ' this, morning assume an attitude of righteous, uidignatioh because— Mr Scott haying 1 retired—the .writ/, was '.not instantly issued, and the election hurried on. It is a dreadful thing, according to pur temporary, that the Liberal Party should have the chance of selecting another candidate; and, of course, a Government' that in any degree facilitates such opportunity must be terribly corrupt. Such an assumption of political virtue is ludicrous to a degree, and constitutes as good a joke as that, of the shining light previously referred to. The Press must possess its little soul with what patience it can. for yet a short time longer, -since neither the Government nor the people quite see why an important seat should, be deliberately given up to the Obstructionists. As to the Liberals of Christchurch, they are confronted with a difficulty that, was altogether unexpected, but we. do not, for one moment, anticipate tha.t they will be either frightened or disheartened by that fact. . The party has had difficulties of considerable magnitude to contend with before now, but it has always surmounted them ; and we do not doubt that at this juncture a little conferring together will result in a perfectly satisfactory solution of the problem. • .