The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1884.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4422, 16 July 1884, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1884.

For tho cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs rssistaaet. For the future in the distance. And the geod that we can do.

The address delivered by Mr Tole last night to the electors of Eden completes the series of speeches by the three candidates for this district, and we may now discuss the merits of the issue which the electors are asked to decide The question takes something like this shape ; —What has the gentleman who, in three well-contested elections received the confidence of the Eden electors, done since %0. forfeit their esteem 1 Has he be,en fixU& to any of; his pledges. Has he been neglectful. of tlie local interests .of his con-! stituents or of Auckland. Has any1 new political jjieasyre arisen with which lie is out of harmony ? Has he become identified with any political job? Is he opposed by any more able politician who offers the electors a better service 1 An answer in the affirmative to anyone of these questions might be sufficient to warrant the electors in putting off the old lore md giving their confidence to a new one. In order to supply an answer, it will -be necessary to glance at Mr Tole's political career. It was in those days when Sir George Grey was entering upon.active politi«al life, and had set in motion that wave of ■democracy which has since flooded the land, that Mr Tolej then little more than out of his teens, came forward to vindicate the pluck ,of yo.ung Auck land, and first wooed and won the hearts of Edep against all the influence of an old resident. He had our heartiest support then. Again, when. Sir George Grey went to the country as Premier, and the head of a g*at

colonial party, Mr Tole had a severe battlo to fight. No_ one pretended to compare him in political experience, in ability, or public service with his opponent, Sir Frederick Whitakorj but there was a distinct party issuo before the country; not Mr Tolo, but his political chief, was being tried; and again the young gladiator received our warmest support and sympathy, and once more the vows were renewed in Eden. The borders of tlie garden were then greatly extended, and in the following election, Mr Tole was challenged by another political veteran, Mr Header Wood, but his election was a virtual walk over. The electors of Eden have thus spent eight years upon his political education; they have expended much energy; havo taught him the highways and bye-ways _of their'garden; have poured their grievances into his ever-sympathetic ear ami wherefore shouhl they tutu away from him now .

To the query last propounded, Mr. Allan O'Neill, as far as we can gather from his speeches, makes reply that he also is a young Ancklunder and anxious to serve his fellow-colonists ; that he is besides a supporter of the present Ministry, and they have large claims upon the help and good will of the North. The first reason is a good enough one for contesting any constituency. The privilege of representing tho people in Parliament is an object of honourable ambition to evory young man, and we hope Mr. O'Neill will not be discouraged by his first failure— although it would be prudent for him to enter for preliminary training some of tho lower public bodies that arc open to him. It is only at times of great political oxcitomont, when the electors feol strongly and have an end to serve, that they will accept of a perfectly raw recruit. The second reason is, according to tho forecast we have mado of the probable results of these elections, no reason at all, becauso Mr. is supporting something that will have no existence within a month after the country has declared its will through tho ballot-boxes ; and as an advocato of Liberal legislation, which is the common ban's of their claim for the confidence of the electors, Mr. O'Neill stands at a decided disadvantage against his opponent, who appeals to a gootl past record, ami not to a problematical future.

"We must now sock for Mr. Atkin'a reasons for asking the electors to transfer their support from Mr. Tolo to himself, Tlie primary ones aro : (1), That he has long been identified with industrial business, and that tho large and important section of tlio people to which he belongs is without representation in Parliament ; (2). that he is a local resideut; and (3), that he is an Independent Liberal. The first is the best reason of the three, and if it wore addressed to a manufacturing constituency might have considerable weight. But the manufacturing industries ate not so badly represented in tho General Assembly as Mr. Atkin would have us believe. The best evidence of this is the readiness with which concessions in the tarift' are obtained by any manufacturer. Thero aro several members —Mr. Swanson notably — who havo made it part of their rocess duties to visit manufactories with the object of ascertaining how they could be helped ; and the willingness of the Commissioner of Customs in accepting suggestions, and tho facility with which they havo been passed through the Assembly, show that if tho number of technically skilled mechanics in the House is few, the sympathies of a majority of the members are with the manufacturer, and Parliament has only to bo satisfied that a concession is reasonable and equitable to secure its being granted. We believe such concessions have been made in Mr. Atkins own business. His second ground of appeal is running localism too far; the interests of Eden are nearly enougli allied to thoso of Auckland city to justify us in classing thorn all together. The third plea for election will scarcely be pressed as outbidding the Liberalism of Mr. Tole.

And this brings us back to the live propositions with which we set out in the present article. Four out of the number go by default; neither of his opponents challenge Mr Tole's position on those grounds. Both of them, no doubt, cherish in thoir inmost hearts the conviction that they could challenge him on the fifth ground—that of personal fitness for public life. In the plan we have marked out for ourselves, however, we are bound to judge by results, and these lead us to cast the verdict unhesitatingly in favour of Mr Tole as tho one among the three candidates who can offer the constituency and Auckland the best service in Parliament. He brings to it a longer experience of parliamentary fife and practice, powers of expression ripened by his eight years' training; he is thoroughly conversant with all Auckland matters, and knows the genesis of every local movement within the electorate of Edan. On the one question from wli.cn his views seriously diverge from thoso of a 'majority of his constituents, he is more firmly bound than one whose general acquiescence would allow him some freedom of action, and the sincerity of Mr Tole's promises to support the present system of education have been tested in several trying division 3.

Reviewing the whole circumstances, then, and after an attentive perusal of the speeches of his opponents, we come decisively to the conclusion that Mr Tole is the best man for Eden. Young and enthusiastic, with recollections of a loyalty to him that is almost unique in local political history, he svould be more than ungrateful, did he Tiot use every faculty that he possesses to bring honour upon those who havealready chosen him three times, and who mean to send him in with all colours flying on Tuesday next. Viewing his successive candidatures for this constituency with a sort of paternal interest, we cannot avoid a passing huzzah to the young Irishman in his new defence of the old battle ground, and if the figures that are run up at the several polling stations on Tuesday next do not tell us that Mr Tole goes bjtck to Wellington for Eden wo shall begin t,o suspect that we havo lost the faculty of presagemont, and a new generation has prison that js beyond our ken.

Those, however, who still feel some confidence in our judgment, we would strongly exhort to vote for Tole.