THE Bay of Plenty Times.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume VI, Issue 548, 15 December 1877, Page 2

THE Bay of Plenty Times.

"THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES SHALL TEACH ME SPEED." KING JOHN, ACT I\ Saturday, December 15, 1877. o "We cannot congratulate Captain Morris, M.H.E., oh the address he delivered to the electors at Gisborne on Monday evening lafct — it is throughout : , extremely wishy-washy. "We have carefully read and re-read it with a view to finding some one point in it worthy of a passing remark, but utterly fail to recognise one. The honorable gentleman evidently commenced in his usual style, of getting his audience in good humor by " expressing gratification at the large attendance," generally assuring them of his very high esteem ; and then, as he invariably does when before the electors, pulls out that memorable "Address" he issued when a candidate, the principal feature of which consisted in its vagueness. We confess our inability to follow the honorable gentleman in his reasoning on the question of Triennial Parliaments : to arrive at the conclusion that the exercise of the suffrage by the inhabitants of the colony every three years, instead of as now only every five years, would tend "to place the Government" of the Country in the hands of political adventurers, or devolve on the wealthy" classes," requires an amount of mental training, an aptitude for bamboozling, and an utter disregard for the truth, which we take it,, can be acquired only through a process of rubbing shoulders with '.■political adventurers" and the "wealthy olasses." We really cannot afford the time or the space, nor is. it in the least necessary, to go all over the honorable gentleman's speech— it speaks for itself, aiid has Superficial branded in its every sentence. That such a production should . have gone down with the "free and enlightened" (?), of Poverty Bay, at first glance, appears a perfect marvel, intelligible only on the hypothesis to which we have often before referred, namely, that in all communities, and especially in

small communities, one or two .minds, of possibly but average ''calibre^ ! . sway the;majority. ;in this instance;?,' however, we have good-reason to ,be r ,y lieve that th& Poverty Bay people did not care a' rap whether Captain : Morris addressed them or not;.tti*it having nothing better to do on Moh4ay .evening, th^r went to hear what was going, on i_/ the "Masonic Hall, and inasmuch as it is generally ;Tbe-"i lieved that, a dissolution must occurnext year, it was not considered necessary, or even worth while, tocreate any . unpleasantness at tha meeting. For the credit of the-: Poverty Bay end of the electorate, we feel called upon to give this explanation of the vote of confidence. Since writing the above, we received ■ from a leading Poverty Bay f settler, ' the following telegram regarding Captain Morris's meeting, which in a very remarkable degree bears out our remarks on the matter : — . ; 1 CAPTAIN MORRIS'S MEETING 423^ GISBORNE. X^Xci. To the Editor of the Bay of Plenty Tn_33, ■■,■•.- Tauranga. . Gisbobne, Friday ' Afternoon. . Captain Morris's meeting was the greatest political fiasco known, and cannot be token as a criterion of the true state of public feeling. The Mayor as Chairman made a .great bungle in putting the resolution of a vote of confidence, which was met by an amendment to the contrary effect, but the meeting thought both the proposition and the amendment were merely intended to thank hiiit for hia address ; it wished to meet him courteously, but had no confidence in hia ability. The compliment at best is an empty one, as only 2d votes were recorded for the thanks, and 5 against. The whole affair lasted only an hour, and everyone was disgusted at the result when it became apparent, which is attributed more to personal club influence than to political merit.