THE ELECTION.

Hastings Standard, Issue 390, 4 August 1897, Page 2

THE ELECTION.

To-morrow the electors of Awarua will by their action decide mi important issue. The issue is nothing less than whether or not this country is dead to all political morality. If Mr Ward is beaten —and we hope he will be—then we think the Awarua constituency will be entitled to the unstinted praise of the people of the colony ; but if the other event happens —and this seems only too probable—then we think the electors of Awarua will discredit themselves and humiliate the whole colony. Mr Ward in seeking re-election is not doing himself any good ; and while some people may view his conduct as that of a man of grit, to us he appears in the light of an irresponsible puppet. It is not Mr Ward himself that is so much to blame as his friends. These friends have profited in the past and they hope to profit again, and to serve their own sordid ends they have led the (x-Colonial Treasurer to believe that he is a much maligned man, and that it would be cowardly of him to refuse to face his political foes, who are alleged to have brought about his ruin. The one pleasing feature about the Ward episode is the attitude of some ardent Ministerial journals, which unhesitatingly condemn Mr Ward for seeking re-election. The New Zealand Times, which has been a consistent advocate of Mr Ward's political and commercial purity, says: —" His warmest friends must regret that the Hon. J. G. Ward has determined to go to the poll for the Awarua seat His action in any case can do him no personal good, and we are decidedly of opinion that he would have consulted his best interests had he declared it to be his intentiou to retire for a time from public life."