A COLONIAL POLITICIAN AT HOME.

Dunstan Times, 28 December 1900, Page 6

A COLONIAL POLITICIAN AT HOME.

j —o. , -« MR J. C. WASON'S ELECTION PAIGS. V [Fhom thk Evening Star's Correspondent.] LONDON, November 10. Mr J. Cathcart Wason is back again at Belgrave Mansions, his blushing honors thick upon him, so I looked in upon him to get some particulars of his fight by sea and land. Mr Wason declared that the difficulties of this amphibious electioneering had been much exaggerated; that the seas were not as rough as those of Cook Strait; and that as for the much-maligned wind, he had quite won the hearts of the islanders by assuring them that the wind did not know how to blow in the Far North compared with the " nor'-westers " in the colony. Considering, however, that each of the Orkney and Shetland Groups contains some twentynine islands, and that Mr Wason had to be perpetually steaming from one to the other, New Zealanders will be of opinion that, in the words of the play, to Mr Wason " obstacles are only stimulants." He quite took to the islanders (and, as their verdict proved, they took equally to him), whom he describes as a happy, contented, and comfortable people, in disposition more like colonials than their fellow-countrymen on the mainland. Among them he found several who had been out in New Zealand and Australia, and having made a little.money had settled down in their native islands again, including a former employe of his own. Sir Robert Stout's uncle he also met in Shetland. Needless to say that in the Orcadians and Shetlanders connected with the colonies he found enthusiastic helpers. In his five weeks' campaigning cruise there was no opportunity for any house-to-house canvassing. Mr Wason—who, by the way, was accompanied by Mrs Wason all the time -—as he arrived at 'a town or village,- landed from the steamer, drove to the building where the meeting was to be held, delivered his address, and after a few hurried words with some of the inhabitants was off again. In many instances he.was steaming away from the island almost directly his meeting had concluded. Only at one place—the island of Sunday— did he experience a noisy meeting. As his stalwart figure was seen advancing from the steamer to the schoolhouse he was greeted with cries of ''Lyell for ever ! Tory ! Tory ! Tory !" The audience in the crowded' room were evidently hostile. The chairman's remarks were inaudible for the cries of " Tory !" and hisses ; but Mr Wason faced the music, and utilised the frequent interruptions to score off his opponents by ready retorts. When a knot of lads bawled more loudly than before "Lyell for ever!" the candidate bade them give his opponent three hearty cheers, for Sir Leonard would not be heard of again in Orkney after the result of the election was declared. When Mr Wason was speaking on the question of grants for the relief of burdens on agriculture he urged the electors, if they approved of such relief, to make up their niinds to support the Government who granted it, " Our minds are already made up against you," shouted an old fellow on the* back seat. '•Then,"' replied Mr Wason, "you should take yourself out of the window. I am here trying to convince the unconverted; I leave the converted alone." Mr Wason. was illustrating his meaning by referring to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, when there was a cry of " Gae's a sermon !" " Yes," was the instant retort, " I've had in the course of my life to give sermons too ; and if it would be of any advantage to any of my friends over in the corner there I am prepared here and now to give them a sermon from a text from the Bible or from our great national poet, Bobbie Burns." Mr Wason was in good fighting form, and rather enjoyed the " sniping " of his adversaries. On his journev to the boat the " sniping" developed into a fusillade of stones and mud, with a more innocuous volley of "Tory, Tory, Tory!" but he reached his steamer unscathed. The next day he met his opponent for the first and only time, and discovered that the latter had been enjoying from the Unionists a similar reception to that given by the Radicals to Mr Wason. There is no doubt that Mr Wason's colonial experience and his sympathy with and understanding of the people and their needs, combined with his unremitting energy, meant more than half the. battle to him. The war, of course, played a prominent part in liis election addresses, but, as in all outlying constituencies, the questions of local interest were to the electors those of primary importance. The land and the fisheries were the two main subjects on which Mr Wason was called upon for a definite pronouncement, and on both of these he convinced the people that he was not only sound, but that he thoroughly understood what he was talking about. His experience of land and farming in New Zealand and of the colonial legislation on these subjects also enabled him to suggest extensions of and amendments to the Crofters Act, ' which appealed to the people, and which would not have occurred to a politician whose experience had been confined to the United Kingdom. The ' Aberdeen Journal' says : " Mr Wason's thirty years' residence in New Zealand, not to speak of his experience as a- member of the Colonial Parliament, have given him wide and tolerant views on many subjects which seemed to suit the islanders, many of whom have either been abroad themselves or have relations in the colonies." The Shetlanders, whose fishery is their harvest, are much distressed by the persistent poaching within the three-mile limit of the steam trawlers, which break up the breeding grounds of the fish, and thus tend to destroy the staple industry of the islands. Mr Wason promised to do what he could to secure redress and a more ample protection for the island fisherman, and has been working hard to this end since his return to London. The pieturesqueness of the islands somewhat counterbalanced . the discomforts to which the candidates were subjected. Lerwick and Stromness, two of the principal towns, are built literally on ,the water's edge, so that it is no exaggeration to say the inhabitants can fish_out of their windows. In the interior Mr and Mrs Wason often drove to isolated little villages, possessing no inn, where they had to trust to chance hospitality—a hospitality, however, that was always"readily forthcoming. In Orkney Mr Wason was struck by the high quality of the farming and the thoroughly modern agricultural implements. In Shetland he saw what to a New Ztalander was a novel method of divesting the sheep of their fleeces—that of "rooing." The fleece is left on the sheep's back until in the course of nature it is almost ready to drop off, and then the wool is " roo-ed," or gently plucked off by the Shetland women. This it is which makes the Shetland wool so finfj

and soft. Many of the Shetland sheep are what is known as " moorit," or brown in color. The herds of ponies, too, gave plenty of life to the wild scenery. / It can be readily imagined that the exist of a campaign in such remote and scattered regions was not light. I doubt, in fact, if it would be an exaggeration to say that the joint expenses of the two candidates must have been about.equivalent to the total ex- I penditure of all the successful candidates at m a New Zealand General Election. Mr Wa- «j son's victory was hailed with much enthu- M siasm throughout the islands. The decla- fl ration of the poll was followed by bonfires I on the hills and' displays of fireworks, for B the people, quite apart from party ques- 1 tions, seem to be satisfied that they have ■ elected a representative who will work hard j to redress their grievances and to better M their condition. fl