The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1875.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 59, 26 August 1875, Page 5

The Clutha Leader. THURSDA Y, AUGUST 26, 1875.

The contest for the representation of the electoral district of Caversham was closey, nuc j][ iclay night. The whole of the Duixedin public, as well as the Dunedin Press, regarded this election in the light of a test case, the decision 'of which would fairly indicate the state x>f public feeling in that quarter for or against the abolition measures now before the Assembly. A distinct issue was placed before the electors for their decision. The two champions were Mr Stout and Mr Larnach, and it can scarcely be said they met on very equal terms. Mr Stout is a young lawyer, and may be said to have been supported only by the verity of the principles he contended for, and the ability with which he could lay these before his audience. Mr Larnach, on the other hand, was personally popular with the 'elector's, and was supported by all the influence wealth and large commercial convection could afford. Amongst his friends, who exerted an active interest in his behalfj he numbered the General Government, the Bank of New Zealand, the Land and Mercantile Agenc} r , and it must be remembered that he employs hundreds of electors in connection with his own business, who, to say the least of it, would not be predisposed to vote against him. Further, he had in his favor the combined influence of the daily papers of Dunedin, although we are free to admit that With the intelligent electors of the district this did not, nor did it deserve t), amount to much. Unpalatable as it may be, it is nevertheless true that the <f influence of the Press" was the weakest point in Mr Larnach forces. But, notwithstanding all the power j brought to bear against him, the 'electors elected Mr Stout ; in other words, they gave their verdict ngains, the abolition measures. Mr Stout was engaged at the Supreme Court the whole ofthe day ofthe poll, and never solicited a Vote from a single elector. He was even unable to be present at the official declaration of the poll the following day. He, however, sent a letter to be read, and in which he said and said truly : " I trust that those who have all along asst-rted that the people desire the abolition of provinxialism will see from this election that the Press is not infallible either in its opinions or facts. I can assure you that elections such as these, determined by principles, are cheering to those who take an active interest in politics, showing as tbey do that merely personal considerations do not weigh with the electors " What says the Press now of the election ? The ' Star' writing on Saturday says : " That so far from the Caversham election being •an expression of .opinion adverse to provincial abolition, it regards it as an emphatic pronounciation in its favor." ' The ' Daily Times ' of Monday continues the strain : "ft would be absurd to deny that in the election of Friday tlie provincialists have sustained a victoiy at least as disastrous as a defeat It would be useless to deny it, and impossible to explain it away If nothing else would persuade Sir George 'Grey and his colleagues in the Opposition that their programme did not. meet with the approval of the people, we should hope that the Caversham election will go -some way towards that desirable result. Mr Larnach may congratulate himself upou a victory. o 1 # J • The defeat is indeed utterly disastrous to the Opposition, and we hope that they will feel it to be so The defeat as it occurred is equivalent to a tremendous victory, and as regards the Opposition they have received a crushing blow." We excuse the ' Star." Were it to sat i white was white and black black, its readers might be surprised. But for the 'Daily Times,' the "leading journal " of Otago, thus to disregard veracity, common sense, and the eonri dence of the community Ivy attempting to thrust down the throats of intelligent beings that white is black, simply because it suits its purpose to say so, is humiliating to say the least of ir. ""{Suppose for a moment that Mr Larnach had been elected even by one of a majority, would the ( Daily Times'' "insist upon its readers regarding it as a defeat utterly disastrous indeed to the abolitionists and a " tremendous victory for the Opposition ?" "When such " has been the reasoning of -ther Press in the matter of the Caversham election and the abolition question, it is not to be wondered

at that the electors should have turned a deaf ear to their en treaties, and voted as their own judgment dictated. The Dunedin Press evidently had entered into a compact to return Mr Larnach, but the people have defeated both him and them. They Refused to be led by such blind and arbitrary leaders ; they thought and acted for themselves. The Result is the triumph of the principles Mr Stout enunciated, and the Dunedin Press has got a lesson which, it is to be hoped, it will not forget for sometime to come.

Our versatile Tokomairiro contemporary, in a miserable conglomoration of perverted facts and misapplied fiction, makes a puny attempt to sneer at the meeting of electors held here on Friday evening. In referring to the meeting, the resolutions, the speeches, and everything connected with them, he has evidently exhausted his vocabulary of such terms as " ridiculous, bald, common-place, narrowmindedness, dimness of mental vision, miserable failure, dreary, monotonous, childish, ignorant,' absurd, bunkum, twaddle," &c. It must not however be supposed that this collection of .elegancies has cost our contemporary any great amount of research, for he evidently has at his right hand " Boget's Thesaurus," in which he has found the whole under one heading, and handing the list to the compositor has asked him to distribute them throughout his copy. Notwithstanding our contemporary's opinion of the meeting, he has devoted six columns of his valuable space to a very fair and faithful report of the same. We believe in thus he acted wisely, as we have heard it remarked upon as being' the most instructive and interesting reading he has given his readers for many a day. Having the excellent report before them, his readers will read and inwardly digest for themselves, and form their own conclusions both upon the speeches and the injudicious remarks thereon by our contemporary. We must put him right in one particular — there were upwards of 150 people in attendance — not only about 100, as he says. The greater part were bona fide electors, and they belonged to that class of electors who take an active and intelligent interest in public affairs. Whilst there were no manifestations of disorder or fanatical enthusiasm, the audience clearly expressed its acquiescence with the utterances of the speakers. The proceedings were simply a calm, impassioned, and earnest consideration of the question which is now agitating the country. The resolutions were comprehensive, apt, and outspoken ; and the speeches were pertinent to the question. We believe the resolutions will bear -favorable comparison with any passed at any of the meetings yet held upon the subject, while the speeches will be found at least not inferior to many of those delivered from the Ministerial benches in the House of Representatives. Th.re ! In this matter, however, as upon the whole abolition question, we wish the people simply to read and judge for themselves.