Evening Post. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13,1880. A MAYORAL MARTYR.

Evening Post, Volume XX, Issue 266, 13 November 1880, Page 2

Evening Post. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1880. A MAYORAL MARTYR.

Poor Mr. HuTcnisoN ! It is really too bad that while yearning with an unspeakable longing to be allowed to retire into private life, his exacting and importunate friends should persist in forcing him once more into the troublous turmoil of a contested election — that they should cruelly drag him out of tho peaceful obscurity for which his soul hungers and pines into " the fierce light which beats upon a (Mayoral) throne." And what enhances the cruelty and wiokedness of the thing is that Mr. Hutchison had pledged himself not to stand for the Mayoralty this year, therefore these friends of his are actually making him break his pledge and tell a — woll, let us say a " story." This is inexpressibly sad, and we deeply sympathise with Mr. Hutchison, who must be racked with mental anguish immeasurable at being thus compelled by brute force to depart from the truth, and break his plighted word. But let us look a little farther before we pour out the vials of our wrath upon the heads of Mr. Hutchison's unkind friends. He told us last night in his speech at Thorndon that it was not only hiß friends who insisted on his coming forward as a candidate, but also some other gentlemen who had not previously supported him. Can it be that these " gentlemen who have not previously supported" him are the real " wire-pullers " in his present candidature? We have his own authority for the explanation that "not to support" and "to oppose" are equivalent in his vocabulary. For he says the Post has declared it will " oppose" him, whereas we only said we should " not support" him. It might appear to some people that there is a good deal of difference, tfor instance, it would materially alter the case if one nation instead of merely " not supporting" another in a war should join with the enemy in actively "opposing" it. But Mr. Hutchison says we Bhall " oppose" him, and we do not wish to be so rude as to prove him untruthful in his statement. At any rate we accept his interpretation, and therefore understand that it is his former opponents who have been chiefly instrumental in persuading him to stand for the Mayoralty on the present occasion. This makes us uneasy. Can it be that these old enemies of Mr. Hutchison are insidiously tempting him to break his pledge in order that they may be able to cast that broken pledge in his teeth when a convenient time arrives ? It would be dreadful to think that such perfidy should exist, but th ; s is a very wicked world. We do hope that Mr. Hutchison has not fallen into a trap, yet we aro "tormented with doubts." One thing which makes us distrustful is the reason which Mr. Hutchison tells us his quondam opponents urged for his breaking his pledge, namely, that "there was no ono who could fill the Mayoral office with snch dignity." This is very funny. Mr. Hutchison must excuse us, but we really cannot help being diverted with the idea of his assuming the "dignity" role, which will be quite a novelty to him. However, " ono man in his time plays many parts." and if these " friends" have persuaded him that he can undertake the " deportment department," and become a Mayoral Turvetdrop, wo really see no reason why he should not " try his 'prentice hand" on a new part. Still we cannot divest ourselves of a haunting fear -that there is % ring of insincerity about these new-found friends of Mr. Hutchison's. They urge him to break a public pledge, and the reason they give is that ho has so much "dignity," they really cannot do without him. Whether it is "dignified" to break pledges publicly given, is, perhaps, a mere matter of detail, so lot that pass. But why is Mr. Hutchison so alarmed lest the dignity of tho civic chair should suffer by his loss ? He himself tells us. Ho is much hurt and grieved to find that a mere coach proprietor has had tho assurance to come forward as a candidate in response to a very influential requisition. To a man of Mr. Hutchison's "dignity," this is low — very low. He is shocked and pained to think that there should positively be a grave danger of the Mayoral chair being filled by a coach-proprietor. " Good Heavens ! What are wo coming top" thinks Mr. Hutchison. " This is democracy with a vengeance ! A coach proprietor to succeed me as Mayor ! It is a positive insult to my dignity! No, it must not, shall not be. Perish all pledges rather than this should befall my faithful burgesses." Of course, there always will bo people who will siy that if the coach proprietor has managed hia own business affairs so successfully, and got on in life so well that a large number of his fellow-citizens deem it advisable to secure his business capabilities for the conduct of municipal affairs, and consider they would be quite safe in trusting those to him, that is all the more creditable and complimentary to him, rather than the reverse. That is not Mr. Hutchison's view. No; "A man may be a very good coach-driver," he says, "and yet be utterly unfit for other positions," and especially unfit to succeed Mr. Hutchison as Mayor of Wellington. These be words of wisdom indeed, and yet they are scarcely consistent with the Uriah-Heepian " 'umbleness" of Mr. Hutchison's utterances during his former Mayoral candidatures. JJufc then ho was not "Mr. Hutchison, M.H.R,," a member of the Legislature, and now be is, It ia not surprising, therefore, that he Bhonld look down from his lofty pedestal upon mere working men, "coachdrivers," and others, whe get on in tho world by hard work, and not by trading in politics. Only he should not forget that he climbed to that pedestal by tho aid of these "coach-drivers" and other working men, whom ho thinks he can now afford to despise and disparage. We must confess that, much as we sympathise with Mr. Hutchison in the false position which he says he has been forced into by his former foes, we cannot approve these remarks of his. Sneers at tho antecedents or social position of an opponent are always in execrable ta&te, and wo are sorry to find Mr. Hutchison setting such a bad example by being the first to introduce into the present contest those personalities which he so nervously deprecates as applying to himself. He will have only bi3 own bod taste and ungenerous conduct to thank if he comes in for some hard hitting, which otherwise he might have been spared. He should have recollected that coach-drivers" are usually " good whips," and there would be a certain amount of poetical justice if one of these " whips" should beat Mr. Hutchison after all.