ASHBURTON CONTEST.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1666, 19 September 1887, Page 3

ASHBURTON CONTEST.

10 THE EDITOB. Sib,— When the history of the present, contest comes to be written, if It ever |oh, the maig feature to strike the

hirt rian, will be tho sublime audacity cf . the MinieteriftKntei. Firat of all, Mr Walker and his Bide try to make oapltal out of the profession of his opp nent. He knows that lawyers are generally regarded as far sport for joke and banter, and ho has not been above making sneering references to "lawyers and newspaper men, sucoesefal and unsuccessful "m his addresses. Nor can hia Committee be held free from responsibility for the use that was made of thisoontemptlble argument by Mr Walker's proposer at ths nomination. Does Me Walker think that if the people are going to vote for the candidates beoause of their profession they will forget that the class that haa wrought most evil m New Zealand politics Is that to which he belongs, the squatters ; and that if it cornea to a question of sucjesß or nonsuccess m the man's profession, the man who began as owner of two stations, and is now only manager of one, should be the fast to throw atones 1 Does he forget that the Premier of the Government which he so blindly follows la a lawyer, and that m and about Obristohurch nearly every candidate on the Ministerial side is a member of the learned profetsion i Then again Mr Walker wishes about the disadvantage under which he is laboring m this contest. Good heavens ! what doea ha want I He has the County Council and its retinae behind him, the Borough Council to contribute to his i election expenses, Mayors, ex -Mayors, grain merchants and money lenders galore, and the local newspapers moat pronouncedly m his favor. And as if all this were not enough, the great pillar of hia party, Sir Julius Yogel, came down \ to enthrall the electors with his eloquence, and last of all, the pane strings of the Government are placed at his command, for juat on the eve of the election we find that Mr Walker has obtained a grant of £25 to the local volunteer funds. Bat will it all avail against the common sense of tho electors, who fiod the making of both ends meet hard enough no?, and who kaow that Mr Walker's return »ill mean a vast Increase m the cost of living. Qpb V,