THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1881. MR. WYNN WILLIAMS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2397, 8 December 1881, Page 3

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1881. MR. WYNN WILLIAMS.

It requires a lawyer to be a very sensible man in order to be a useful one in the general field of politics. The cases of legal gentlemen who lead off by describing themselves as " Intellectual Athletes " are absolutely hopeless, simply because they show that such gentlemen are capable of talking nonsense to an unlimited extent. When a man's mind is proved to be in a leaky condition in one important particular, the odds are that under the pressure of political life it will leak in almost every possiblo direction. Mr. Holmes, for instance, is a lawyer of a most undesirable political type. He describes himself as mentally an athlete, but his activity is that of political delirium tremens. Now, we certainly think that too strong an element of the " legal persuasion" is not to be desired in the new House. One of the most important questions to be considered is that of legal reform. The community is taxed by the lawyers in a manner that is altogether outrageous, and the country •will look to the new House to pass a series of measures for putting an end to a serious evil. Consequently we should not favor the candidature of Mr. Wynn Williams were he not a very sensible man and were it not a case of " Hobson's choice." For if Mr. Williams is not elected, who will step into the vacant seat ? Why, honest Farmer Fisher; for Major Hornbrook may be considered as altogether out of the running. Now, rumour has it that honest Farmer Fisher is a very amiable man in private life, but he is just as much out of place in public life as a sheep is on a crowded racecourse. Heaven only knows what would have happened to Mr. Fisher if Sir George Grey had not taken him in tow. He ■would probably have attached himself to Mr. Lundon or Mr. ShrimsM. He is by nature a political limpit—a gentleman, and yet a political limpit. In his address at Woolston, to the electors of Heathcote, Mr. Fisher spoke in a very plaintive manner of the complaints made in the district to the effect that he had done nothing for the district. Mr. Fisher need not have troubled himself at all on the subject. Most sensible men never expect that he will, on the political stage, do anything for his district, much less for the colony at large. Political limpits are not noted for their constructive activity. They exist, but they do not build or even destroy. As a private member Mr. Fisher is a nonentity. As a Minister he was a farce. An example of his brilliant reasoning faculties may be found in the reason he gave the electors of Heathcote why the Grey Ministry did not carry through any liberal measures. It was, he said, because they wont out of office ! Of course they finally went out of office. All Ministries must have an end some day or other. But they were in power upwards of two years and had a large majority at their back. This

does not seem to strike honest Farmer

Fisher. —».«. We have said that Mr. Wynn Williams is a semsible man, and we think his speech to the electors proves it. In the first place he is perfectly candid in acknowledging that he labors nndor a disadvantage in that he is a lawyer. And when he proceeds to give his views on general topics, he shows that he is altogether above trying to obtain a little cheap popularity at the expense of his own character for good sense. With regard to the railway tariff he fully acknowledges the difficulties against which any Ministry must fight in this and he asks the following very pertinent question :—" If a Ministry composed of men who came from amongst the people of Canterbury, and whose electoral and other interests were dependent on the people of this neighbourhood, could not do anything, was it reasonable to expect that a Ministry choson from tho North Island, and consisting of supporters of Sir George Grey would afford them any relief ?" Suppose, for instance, Mr. Henry Bunny, late member for tho Wairarapa, were to become a Minister, do the people of Canterbury imagine that tho inhabitants of the Wairarapa and the breezy summits of the Rimntaka Range would find themselves taxed to make up the deficiency between the receipts and the expenditure connected with that fine feat of engineering, which is the delight of tourists ? Mr Williams propounds a plan with reference to the railway tariff which may be feasible or not; but of one thing the Canterbury public may be certain, namely, that the Hall Government are very much more favourable to the railway interests of Canterbury than any Ministry would bo whose fortunes wero not equally connected with this province.

And, again, to prove that Mr. Williams is a vory sensible man, it is only necessary to point to the fact that what he considers to be the most material point in favor of the present Government is that, "since the Grey Government had been succeeded by the Hall Government, New Zealand had improved vastly in material prosperity and in her position among the nations." Mr. Williams tells ns from personal knowledge that this country never stood higher in the English market, and that the greatest confidence is felt in its future. So Mr. Williams asks: —" If they had a Ministry in office that had done a great deal of good in New Zealand why turn them out to put in men who had been there before, and from whom they could not now expect any better management of the affairs of New Zealand."

Mr. Williams has, since he first entered into political life in the Provincial Council, been a popular man, and a man who has taken the greatest interest in the welfare of his fellow-citizsns. He has devoted, at one time or another, much of his energy to the development of their material prosperity, and to the furtherance of their amnsements. His views, as we have seen, are sound and wholesome on general politics. The only one drawback against him is that he is a lawyer. This he himself pathetically acknowledges. Such a man is more worthy of support than a political limpit, who sees through other peoples' minds, and who, if he gains the seat, will practically hand it over to Sir George Grey, as a Christmas present.