THE ASHBURTON SEAT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12906, 11 September 1907, Page 8

THE ASHBURTON SEAT.

TO THE EDITOR OF "TOE THESS." Sir.—l observe that Mr \V. S. Maslin has announced himself es Opposition candidate for the Ash burton seat. I do not know whether he is doing thn> at the request of Uio Opposition, nor whether they hare endorsed his candidature. V>nt it would surprise mc to learn that either was the ease. Nor have i heard ot tiny widespread desire atnorg opponents oi" the Government in tho district that Mr Maslin should bo tlieir ch'iiupion. I aanrae, therefore, that Mr Maslin has announced himsolt at nobody's sugyention, but simply out of a desire to win the scat for him-

It is extraordinary, and at the samo tiaie pathetic, to notice how oomplettrly the politkval microbe takes possession of its victims. When a man ha.s ant in one Parliament, he spends the rest of his liie in a vain attempt to enter again those tacred portals. And so your Maslins, your Hislops, your Ksrnsliaws, your Ivesos, are found, dreary old derelicts, drifting about tho political ocean with no hope of winning to port, but a constant source of danger to well-found cruft that m»j Iwi-pon to bump up against them. That is exactly tho part which Mr Maslin i.s <k'fctiiicd to play in the next election. Having no earthly chance, he will render it impossible for any other nun on the Opposition side to succeed.

It is surely opportune for some on« to remind Mr Ma.>lin that when he scored hir-5 solitary win, ho did so as a Government candidate ot a genpral election, when the Opposition did not get a sin,o;io moiiil>er in for Canterbury; that the sitting member w;is prejudiced by tho poll l-eing taken earlier than was expected ; that in spite of these advantages Mr Maslin only crept in by « majority of 67. It may be recalled that as e<jon as Mr Mα si in wavered in his allegiance to the Government, and put his own personal merite to tho test, his chances receded to zero. After a period of seclusion, wo find Mr McLochlan beating him by 2027 to 727. 1 know that there is a kind of idea that i roan who flits about the political arena, standing this time, announcing himself next, and retiring, when ho finds ho has no chance, "in favour," ne it is said, of eon;e one else, may bp said to "have claims" upon the seat. That is all nonsense. The idea of any man having such claims is a complete inversion of all theories underlying representative government. No man has any claims upon the seat, tho honour, the emoluments. The only claim that can be recognised ie that of any section of electors to seloct out of any available nn<l suitable men the one who is most likely to succeed. Has such <i claim been recoanised in the present instance? Iβ it'quite certain that Mr Maslin would be any more loyal to the Opposition than he was to the Government? His candidature it seems to mc, will simply make the C'Overnment a present of'the sent, in Ibyj you could not annoy electors more xi ?• by snyins they voted for Mr Maslin. They claimed to havj voted for the Government, as A.<hburton electors did last time. Opposition electors do not ptay this game, They look for qualities which even Liberals did not profess in find in Mr Maelin when they elected him, as I hare said, by Cv, when neither a Rolleston nor a -Yours °etc Wm *" ° I>position ****■ ELECTOR,