The Ellesmere Guardian. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1891.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 884, 4 February 1891, Page 2

The Ellesmere Guardian. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1891.

A OHANC4E of proprietorship has talren place m the paper, and the present is the first issue of The Ellesmebe (jcuaudian under the new management, it will be our endeavor to turn out a journal worthy of this important district, and m this endeavor • we feel sure we shall have the hearty encouragement and good wishes of every resident m the district. A well-conuuoted journal is a real necessity, and such un one would uti welcomed m tue home of every one of our settlers, the naw proprietor being muou impressed with tue great iuterest manifested m the paper by" every one with whom he has come m contact, and the strong desire to see it flourish. Ina late proprietors were working uudei adverse cireurastances,but with the cftangu of proprietorship these have been entirely removed, and there is nothing now to prevent the Guardian being made a credit to the district and deserving of tho large support which it has received m the past and which will be extended to it m the future. A newspaper can create and cultivate public opinion on public requirements, and it o»a conserve and. voUoot existent opinions on all those subjects m which the great majority are interested. There are certain subjeots and objeots whioh. cannot oe attended to properly by individuals m their private capacity, Boad, bridges, education, whaives, harbors, and Custom duties, police, and other public matters, demand the earnest, the patriotic, attention of men assembled together for collective objeots, and not merely solitary personal ambition, A bridle- track to or froja a man's home might be a theme for mere individual exertion, but a main road linking more than one commercial or agricultural town or city is an eaterprise which few men, singly, could do, but which, under the influence of that union which is strength, can be, with comparative ease, achieved by a number of men embued with unselfish but broad ambition, Our politics will ba liberal and conservative ; we will be liberal m our support to measures which will evidently benefit the district m which our lot is cast, and we will try to co?iserve all ideas, all facts, and all institutions which are vigorous, healthy, progressive, and " sound at the core." One of our guiding mottoes will be measures and men — not merely measures, not men. We believe, as a rule, to which there are the usual exceptions, that few good laws havo emanated from men who have rotten principles, which is only another way of asserting that few, very few, good rules, have been based on a vicious view of society, At the present time there are m the New Zealand House of Representatives men whose personal honor is unsullieJ, but whose political motives and actions, when realised, are pregnant with evil consequences to the colonists. The great Duke of Wellington, although he helped greatly to pass the Act for the Emancipation of Jews and Roman Catholics, was an obstructive Conservative, who looked upon all reform as merely a phase of destructive Radicalism. The Duke was a great man, an honourable man, but had he had bis own way the Imperial Electoraj Reform Bill of 1832 would never hate kjcu inscribed on the Statute Book. U would be wrong to assert that Conservatives never passed laws which have increased the total of the happiness oi the great majority of the people, but, as

the fruit from the tree ; let it fall." Ifc is said that aristocrats seldom eat game until it enters on the stage of dissolution and it is true that . the Conservatives, among whom are a number of aristocrats, never attempt to reform an abuse, until the nosa social and the nose'pohfciendure its- odour no I6nger ; This toloration of bad men, and the institutions built up and nursed by bad men, is the mere abuse, not the wise use, of a Conservative policy, the aim of. which should be to prevent the radical- dosti uc tion of things which are still of value to ~ soolefcy . ■ ' : - >'■ " ■ ■"-■"•■' ' : -'~- -'— "--■£-— - :; - Localnews shall always command tbe best attention of the conductor" of The E llbbm b re -Quarih-ak; j : Many r men have many minds, and we know that it will riot always ba easy to satisfy a mixed community, composed, probably, of ardent Progressionists, moderate Liberals, and decided Conservatives, W"e are not unmindful of sectarian difficulties; but we will steer clear of pany m sect, by levelling all our patrons to tne broad level of tl»at greatest of all sects — Christianity ; but although we shall do our utmost to propagate Christian views of society, our aid, our sym pathy, will not exclude people of any sect. Jew and Gentile sliall receive warm and generous recognition at our hands. The fagot and cue stake, the axe and the headsman, have long all baniflued from tlie neigubouraooJ of the jauotua»y ana the Synagogue, and m these days of adrancemeub it woaM ill become an organ of puolic opinion to make wnr where peace . snould ever be. Where we cannot agree, let us agree to differ ; where and wuen we oauaot differ, let uscordially agree. Unit- is strength, and strength leads to soundness m boia private aad public sooiety.Our correspondence coluinu will be always open for the temperate discussion of public topics, but we will endear your to guard against attacks on private character cloaked m a public guise. Petty sp!tf-r., in..ii«rc, a«il —personal uatred Biiouii J»i«vs no place m a journal whose mission :s t"> record coace.up«jrary events and public vie>?a of puoiio actions. "As you prove us, praise us." We will not prove ungraceful for present support, but we hope to receive uiora m tue iuture, aad our many subscribers and advertisers desbrtre our cordial acknowledgments, wicnouc whose tavouro no journal of news can possiuly exut. Tne proof of the pudding is m tne eac ing of it. We intend to give to our supporters sometning wuica will be mord satisfactory than a mere supply of good intentions and favourable promises, j