THE WAITEMATA ELECTION.

Evening Post, Volume XLVII, Issue 84, 10 April 1894, Page 2

THE WAITEMATA ELECTION.

We hail the re6nlt of tho Waitomata election as tho dan v of a brighter political day for this much misgoverned country. It is the first eigu of a liealthy revolt against the dominance of a Party distinguished for ignorant legislation and corrupt administration. It is tho first by-eleotion of tho Parliament. Under ordinary cirounißtances little significance would have attached to it. Mr. Monk, who was unseated on petition, was an Oppositionist, and it would havo been natnral that an Oppositionist should succeed him. Had Mr. Massey on his merits defeated Mr. Jackson Palmer, tho fact wonld havo eseit'd little remark. It would havo bo«i accepted as a tubule to the good sense of tho constituency, which would not havo Mr. Jackson Palmer at any prico. It would havo been attributed to tho personal weakness of Mr. Jackson Palmer rather than considered as a political or Party triumph on tho part of Mr. Massey. We should have beon glad that a man doing bo little credit to tho position as Air. Jackson Palmer had failed to regain tho soat, but we should not havo regarded Mr. Massey's -victory as a matter for much congratulation. From many of the views he holds, and whioh aro advocated by tho political organisation which brought him forward, we entirely disseut. But the contest which came to an issue yesterday was conducted upon linos which entirely dwarfed all _ personal considerations affecting tho individual candidates rr their opinions upon mevo political questions It became not a contest between Mr. Jjckeon Palmer and Mr Massey, or one set of political opinions and another in the ordinary course of politics, but one between honesty and dishonesty, between constitutional practice and high handed illegality, between puro administration and gross corruption, botween electoral independence and insolent Ministerial dictation. The Ministry was determined to capture the seat at all hazards. It stuck at nothing to attain its ond. Tho Government issued the writ in an unprecedented manner, and under circumstances of doubtful legality— of_ undoubted violation of Constitutional principle and all precedent. It forced on the election regardless of any other consideration than that it deemed the time opportune to capture the so it. Then the Premier visited the district, and violated all the canons of even political propriety by tho allurements he spread before tho electors to induce them to support tho Miuisteiial candidate He promised them all sorts of good tbinjrs if they supported tho Government, and he did not hesitate to make it clearly understood that all tho good things in his power to grant or withhold depended cm how they voted Not content with merely verbal promises or tbinly-voiled threats, he inspired hia Auckland organ to write thna :—": — " Thero is no " cscapo from tho tact that if Mr, Palmer, the " recognised Oovornment candidate, is ro- " jectcdand Mr. Massey eleoted tho Ministry " will not nnd cannot accept tho decision of " the electors othor wise than as an avowal " of inveterate hostility to them. Mr. Massey " will take his stand among the 14 or 15 " Opposition rppresentativos who were re. " lii'ned at the last general election, and l: Waitemata can take such satisfaction to " itself a3 may bo derived from" the refloo- " lion that, unlike the neighbouring consti- " tuoncics of Mare don and the Bay of. " Islands, it has rewarded the Government " solicitude for the welfare of tho North, " with' its unmade roads and depressed gum- " fields, by administering to Ministers a " smack in the face. Whether the Govorn- " meut will find in this treatment a stimulus t: and encouragement to furtborexortions on " behalf of ' tho roadless North ' we do not " protend to gay, but Ministers will bo more " than human if, under such circumstances, " the crying wants of Waitemata during the " ensuing throe years of power which ia I' ensured to them by that overwhelming " majority appear to have any special " claim upon their attention." Nevor were bribes more plainly offered, or throats more clearly expressed. Mr. Monk was unseated bocause his friends debanohod and corrupted the electorate with beer. Wo unhesitatingly assert that all the beor that over was brewed iv Auokland could not havo exercised half the corrupting influence which tho words and actions of tho Premier and tis organ were deliberately calculated to produce. We honour tho Waitemata electors that they havo refused to bo either bought or coerced by Minihtorial promises or threats, that they havo shown that they aro neither to be bribed nor bullied. Their support of xlr. Massey is a splendid exh bition of moral and political courage. They have nobly redeemed their good narao, and wiped away any Btigma which migh*; have attached to them from tho faota disclosed in tho Petition Court. They have given tho Premier and his Party a sovere and salutary lesson. They have sot the country a splondid example, whioh we hopo othor districts will not bo Blow to cmnlate when opportunity occurs. If the conntry at large'shows itself sound at heart as Waitemata has done, the days of the Seddon Government will quickly bo numbered, and brighter, happier days will soon dawn upon tho colony, under honest and capable administration.