Evening Post. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12,1880. " LOOSE IN HIS FIGURES."

Evening Post, Volume XX, Issue 265, 12 November 1880, Page 2

Evening Post. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1880. " LOOSE IN HIS FIGURES."

? Mb. Wilkie Collins, in one of his novels, tells us how a young gentleman named Francis Clare was thrust by his friends, very muoh against his own wish, into an excellent mercantile position, and encouragingly told to "go in and win," the latter being assnmed as a matter of course. "Yes," said Frank, "Thank you. It will be rather difficult, though, to go in and win at first. I wish I didn't -feel quite so loose as Ido in my. figures. It's discouraging -to feel loose iff one's figures." " And when he" wrote to his friends, even after a lengthened experience, he described himself as being still " painfully loose in bis figures." Many men are so. It is not at all an uncommon > failing. Still wo do not often meet with: quite such a charming degree of looseness as that displayed in the Arcade last evening by Mr. Thomas' D wan, one of tKe rdandidates for the Mayoralty. Indeed, Mr. Dwan's position in the present election greatly reBembles that of poor Mr. Francis Clare. He has been thrust into' nolens volens by his "-650" friends who signed that tremendous requisition, and he is told to "go in and win." He is less troubled, however, with doubts as to his winning than was -the hapless Frank, and apparently he entertains no distrust of his "figures." He puts them forth with all the simple^ faith and religious fervour of a financial missionary bent on the conversion of a world, dead in monetary trespasses and sins. But really his figures are dreadfully loose. It is not that he wilfully and consistently either overrates or underrates the magnitude of our financial difficulties, for he treats tho whole question with a sort of " spread-eagle" free and easy discursiveness, which is immensely refreshing. He strays off the monotonous path of dull fact on both side 3 with delightful impartiality. He has made the notable discovery that this Colony has a population of half a million, and a debt of ,£3s,ooo,ooo— "the largest national debt in the world !" remarks Mr. Dwan, with just pride in the pluck of his borrowing fellowcolonists. Only it happens that the population isn't half a million, and the debt isn't .£35,000,000; but then, if the facts do not agree with Mr. Dwan's version, he" will doubtless Bay, " So "much tfie worse for the facts." It would be hard indeed an orator possessing his pleasing imaginativeness were to be debarred from indulging in these flights of fancy. Perhaps some surly burgess, utterly devoid of humor and incapable of appreciating a joke, may growl out, " What on earth has the debt or population of the Colony to do with a Mayoral election?." Nothing, of course ; but that is the huge joke of the thing. Mr. Dwan was not going to be so trite or commonplace as to bore his hearers to extinction with dull, dry remarks about municipal business. All the candidates would be sure to do that, and he prefers to carry his listeners with him into the realms ,of romance. Hypercritical people may say that if Mr. Dwan intended to gb"mto su6h elaborate calcnlationa-Hrittrat tne 1200 ratepayers having:* a debt of .£200,000, and about that being just £166 13s 4d per head, and therefore taking 83 years to "wipe out,'' and so forth— he might just as well have ascertained beforehand what the civic debt really was. For that would have strengthened his case, inasmuch as he would have found that it was £430,000 instead of £200,000,' therefore would be- £358 per bead Instead of £166, and would take about 179 years instead of 83 to " wipe out" at^the rate df £2 per annum. Bub then, no doubt, he reflected that this would impair" the foroe of his illustration, because everybody expects to live to 83, while very few can hope to attain the age of 179, so that the number who would be thrilled by the prospect of having -to pay for 179 years would be incomparably smaller than the other. Mr. Dwan's remarks about the waterworks, the fire brigades, the insurance companies, and the cemetery, were highly diverting, and we must credit him with having introduced an element of fun into what threatened to be a rather dull election. His complimentary sketch of his own career might have been omitted, because every ratepayer in this city is eligible for the civic chair, and entitled to aspire to that honor if his brother ratepayers deem him worthy of it, but they will choose him for his own merits and for the capacity he displays in comprehending and grappling with municipal affairs, and will not be influenced even by such interesting historical reminiscences as his services in the American cavalry, his municipal contests with Sir Julius Vogbl, or his Superintcndency candidature against Mr. Oswald Curtis in Nelson. The vote of confidence in t Mr. Dwan, carried at last night's meeting, was peculiarly expressed. It set forth that he was " a fit and proper person to be a candidate for tho office of Mayor." Surely this is rather "taint praise," but, no doubt, Mr. Dwan's "650" friends know best whether they support him for the Mayoralty or only for the candidature.