The Eden Electorate.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 152, 30 June 1887, Page 2

The Eden Electorate.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Politicians are as a rule so ambiguous, evasive, and disingenouus, that it is perfectly delightful to read Mr J. Aitken Connell's second address to. the electors of Eden. Its originality is unique ; its modesty of tone, marvellous; its transparency of style is symplicity itself; and its delicate allusions to the .political situation evince a critical acumen both rare and wonderful. The moral earnestness with which Mr Connell alludes to his bell-topper ; theexemplary suppression of the personal pronoun? the felicitous language in which he depicts thesweatrunningdownhisback, "in the happiest and altogether best days of his life ;" the pathos of his appeals to us to see fair .play while he ''gives the "Government the soundest thrashing they will get in the colony," are stimulating to a degree. Whatever Mr Connell may have oeen in his happiestand best days, his natural force seems unabated, his pluck is undoubted, and if he does notget what is "very dear to his heart" he will evidently bear defeat with commendable fortitude. But if Mr Connell does not become less diffuse in his addresses, he will court defeat. Electors of Eden do not want to know the style of Mr Connell's coat or hat, but what he thinks of the unearned increment; not what will gratify a longcherished personal ambition, but how we are to pay three millions a year in interest; not whether the sweat has ever run down his own back, but how he proposes to find work for the unemployed to sweat at. New Zealand, with a population of 600,000 souls, owes L 89,491,324 ! That sum is simply appalling and it were the veriest sham to aft'ect that we could pay even the interest legitimately, to say nothing of the principal. We have borrowed to pay interest until John Bull has found us out; and now he will lend no more for that purpose, extra taxes must be wrung from the people. The public creditor must be paid, but private creditors simply oannot bo paid, hence mortgagors are abandoning their properties, mortgagees get no return for reinvestment, therefore the unemployed remain idle and capital unproductive. Thie can go on only for a time ; the end draws very nigh, and those in power are making hay while the sun shines. Fancy the Speaker drawing LBOO foi* about four months' work at Wellington ! Fancy the Ministry having from L1,'280 to L 1,750 each, besides residences, allowances,, and private practice ! Fancy the two Houses drawing this year nearly L 50,000 ! But it is not a question of fancy; it is a question of life and. death. Unlees some good men come forward and man the ship, we shall inevitably soon be among the breakers. If Mr Connell can satisfy us that he can help more than others to save the country from bankruptcy, our wives and-little ones

from starvation, and the men from despair, we will welcome him ; but the crisis is too serious to permit of our dispensing with credentials.—Yours, etc., F. G. Ewington.