MONDAY’S STRUGGLE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 45, 24 September 1887, Page 2

MONDAY’S STRUGGLE.

The weeks have quickly slipped away since the writs were issued and we stand almost face to face with the problem of choosing our spokesman in the Council Chambers of the nation. It is a solemn trust, that of the parliamentary suffrage confided to us, and we should not treat it in any light and unthinking manner. The Colony stands upon the verge of a great crisis, a crisis which can only be averted by our returning to the House men of unblemished honour, of private and public good repute, shrewd, hard headed, common sense men, who will steadfastly take upon themselves the onerous task of endeavouring with migh t and main to reform the Government of the country and to do their utmost to bring about the long wished for return to prosperity and happiness. We do not want men whose only qualification is an unlimited supply of frothy verbiage, or men who go down to the House with hands and tongue tied against anything beyond the interest of the narrow band of the selfish squattocracy. We want men of the People, to speak for the People, work for the People, study the interests and welfare of the People, and to work disinterestedly, courageously and honestly for the good of the district and of the Colony at large. It is cheering to see that right round the Colony, from Invercargill to the North Cape, from Christchurch to Hokitika from Gisborne to New Plymouth, men of good standing and qualifications are coming forth and championing the double cause of retrenchment and reform as against extravagance and dishonesty.

There is little need to doubt that the Ministry, as a Ministry, will be defeated, and he must be merely a fanatical unthinking admirer or one whose selfinterests prejudice his opinions who would for one moment regret their defeat. But at the same time a certain amount of praise may reasonably and fairly temper the blame so liberally meted out to them. One man especially do we consider as having been unjustly attacked, and that Is Sir Julius Vogel. As for Stout and Ballance, both well meaning men, a little seclusion from the sweets of office will do them tlojiarm, but on the contrary may be their political salvation. Both we believe to be true friends of the People, but they have not faithfully guarded the trust the people placed in them. Both have wrought much evil while doubtless striving to do good, but both after a due season of repentance and reform will be welcomed back by their old friends. It is not for us however this morning to deal any further with generalities and to study in detail the shortcomings of the Ministry, what we have mainly to consider is the representation of the East Coast district.

We live in a backward district, but one which, if treated with fair consideration by the Government, would be one of the richest and most prosperous districts in the colony. Everything is before us Land has been tied up by stupid native land laws : settlement of late there has been none. Whilst other parts of the colony have been treated to vast systems of railways, opening up large tracts of land and increasing the range of the producers’ market, we have had literally nothing whatever except the grants in aid to the County Council. We want many things here, and, what is more, we are determined to have them. And when we consider the claims of the rival candidates, we must first and foremost take the question into consideration as to who of the three is the most likely to obtain justice tor us in our requirements. There can be no doubt in the mind of any right-thinking, unprejudiced elector that we shall find in Mr Allan McDonald the man best fitted to serve us faithfully, and to see that our just wants and requirements receive favorable and fair consideration. We have no wish to say hard words of Mr McDonald’s opponents —it has been the policy of this paper to eschew abuse and scurrility, and deal with public men purely on public grounds. It is a pity that during the present struggle such a policy of fair play has not found favour with our contemporary ; but let that pass. Mr Graham enjoys an excellent reputation for honesty and fair dealing, he has been a long time in the district and possesses many good qualities, but as a fit and proper representative of this district we cannot regard him. Mr Graham represents one class and one class alone—all his sympathies .areiwith the wealthy Class, and from the very nature of his business connections, he would, if returned, have to consider first the interests of his own particular set before the interests of the community at large. With the great mass of the electors he has nothing in common, and although his success would greatly delight the landring men like Ormond and Williams, and a few selfish half-bankrupt Poverty Bay squatters, it would, we consider, be an actual calamity to the district as a whole.

Mr Graham’s country friends have, we regret to hear, been using every possible political trickery to hoodwink their employees into . voting for their master’s nominee, but we give the country working men credit for more common sense than t o suppose they will be gulled into being driven like a flock of sheep, to vote for a man whose interests and their own are entirely inimical. We cannot believe that Mr Graham has the slightest right to count upon one working man’s vote and if one is to be found, we cannot commend his intelligence, As for Mr Gannon we speak more for pity than in anger. He lifts been made a perfect tool of and will suffer a rude awakening from his day dreams of political success when he learns the result of the poll. Mr Gannon is an excellent fellow in many ways; young, ardent, an able speaker, and a clever writer, but as against a tried, solid man like McDonald he cannot successfully be pitted. He has worked hard and we trust that the time may come when he will gain a seat in the House for he would be sure to do well. But that seat must not be the East Coast seat, for a better man than he is out, and while McDonald continues to stand, Gannon must be content to bide his time patiently. The public have hadenough and tospare oflate in the way of political leading articles and we will spare them any more to-day. In conclusion we would ask the electors of the East Coast to pay no attention to the many malicious reports which have been circulated about Mr McDonald, but to remember that he is every way the best fitted to represent us in the House, and to remember that the ballot-box provides secrecy, and to vote according as their consciences may direct them. We have not the slightest fear for the result.