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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 2, Issue 64, 11 December 1858, Page 3

To the Editor of the Smoke's Bay Herald.

Sir, — after the dreamy monotony of the dismally dilated Tractß for the Times,' which have been bo mercilessly inflicted week after week upon your readers for some time paßt, it. is quite refreshing to see something in your 'Open Column' of public interest to write about and talk about ; and. I feel sincerely grateful to "Publicola' for his letter inj your issue of the 27th Nov., although I disagree with the writer as to the propriety of following his advice. ... ... . . .

.. ,'JPublicola', calls upon-us, jand pretty loudly too, to "unite in inviting Mr. Domett to. accept the of-; fice of superintendent of our nascent province j' and he supports, his position by. some reasoning of a peculiar kind, intended to show that Mr. Domett is the person in ISFew Zealand the most fitted in 'every way to take command of the new ship so soon to be launched; 1 . \Now,' with all due deference to Mr. 'PuhUcola,' ;X beg "to differ from him entirely. l admit that: Mr. Domett is^a man

of New Zealand reputation — such, as it is; It is j true that he has abilities of a certaiii sort 5 and as fdr his honesty, integrity and worthiness of char*, acter, every one who knows Mr. Domett will I $Mnk concur with his panegyrist on these points ?p30. . He has lived amongst us and we know him "intamatßlyj-.it is true— but that from "that intimacy ';has!sprurig%dmiration,-reßpect, confidence, or affection, except in the minds of 'Publicola' and a few of his way of thinking, I beg leave to dispute. . But some-one may ask, how comes it that.whilst admitting so many of the qualifications which j 'Publieola' relies upon as the grounds of his proposal, I differ from him pa the main pomt — the propriety of sending for. Mr. Domett. I will explain this as briefly as possible. In the first place I do not think that the qualifications enumerated by Tublicola' are at all necessary to the efficient '; fulfilling of the duties of a superintendent under the New Provinces Act. — Secondly, I deny that Mr. Domett possesses the qualifications that I believe to be necessary ; and thirdly I maintain that .there are reasons why. we should consider Mr. 'D-onieSt an undesirable man to place at the head of our society. For the sake of brevity I will consider the first two points together. That Mr. Domett wields a 'trenchant pen,' none will deny ; but it is the pen r,of a poet, of an essayist, of a writer of articles for j reviews, and leaders for newspapers — in short Mr. '' Domett might have been a literary man of some position had he possessed sufficient energy for the -purpose. But what is all this to us? Do we want a poet and a dreamer of dreams to rule over us ? We cannot afford the luxury of a Laureate just yet ; we cannot afford to pay a head for the sake of ornament, and a staff of officials to do the work. I maintain, sir, that Mr. Domett is an eminently unpractical man, vacillating, unbusi-ness-like, deficient in moral courage and in all the qualities that make an official superior obeyed and respected by his subordinates — mentally and physically indolent to a degree. He has travelled extensively over the continent of Europe and America, dreaming dreams and nothing else. What is the result ? Has he brought any vast amount of practical experience, research, or acquaintance with men and manners to bear upon public affairs in New Zealand ? On the contrary, unanimously elected by an important constituency to a seat in the House of [Representatives, he takes but a middling position in an Assembly ' where mediocrity is the rule and talent of a high j order the rare exception — and this after a long oflicial career in which he had filled the highest office in the colony, next to the Governor, and ended by being Resident Magistrate and Commissioner of Crown Lands at a then unimportant and almost uninhabited district. The man we want here is one of plain, practical, sound common sense, not a theorist ; one who will be constantly moving about to keep himself practically acquaint- | ed with the status and requirements of eveiy part j of the province. The Council will do the theoretical _part of the business; the superintendent lies into practice; And uhis is the very position ] that Mr. D omett is eminently qualified — not to .fill. Who ever heard of Tenny3on being made . Mayor of a Coi'poration, or Carlyle Chairman of \ a Country Board? Our superintendent will have to fill a situation nearly analogous to these, and \ yet 'Publicola' gravely tells us that a man of their j stamp is the best we can find to hold the office ; and we must send over to Nelson for him, because, : forsooth, we have not sufficient talent amongst us to perform the duties. Oh 'Publicola' ! them's not your real sintimints, or I am greatly mistaken in my guess at your identity. { If any one is desirous of information as to Mr. j Domett's official qualifications, let him ask any of the gentlemen now in this district ,• and there are several who have been his contemporaries in the public service ; and I will undertake to say that they shall all concur in the character I have given of him above, with perhaps the exception of one individual, whose opinioa is worth — -just what the public think proper to estimate it at. . •-• As to my third reason for objecting to 'Publicola's' proposal, viz., the undesirability of placing Mr. Domett at the head of our society — perhaps the less said on this subject the better, and we will draw for the present a veil over this part of the subject in the hopes that 'Publicola,' or any one who thinks with him, may not provoke any further discussion of so painful a topic. After all, the superintendent is to be elected by the Council, not by us newspaper scribblers, or even by the constituency at large ; and I trust that the subject may be allowed to drop and that the . hands of our representatives, when elected, may be entirely unfettered, so that, untrammelled by personal or other considerations, we may really put 'the right man in the right place,* instead of selecting him, whoever he may be, who is merely the incarnation of the war cry of any party whatsoever. And now, Sir, I have done. Most reluctantly have I taken up mj pen to discharge what I conceive to be a public duty, arising from what I shall take the liberty of calling a most illtimed and indiscreet appeal' from your correspondent. But when men are thrust prominently by name before the public (whether by themselves or by others it matters not) their every act in life, be it publk; or private, becomes public property and fairly open to public criticism. Well may Mr Domett exclaim 'save me from such friends !' ; * . ■. ■ I am, &c., Aiiquis. SVom my Cave in the Country, this 3rd December, 1858.. '"" -To fkeJSditor of the SawJcfs Bay Herald. \ j.Sirj^-in your issue of 2?th ult., in reporting the case^Kennedy #• CJharlton,' you .mentioned that I stated tho owners of the 'Southern Cross' were bankrupts, This v an error, which "you will please correct. What I said was: that billsnpon them for ship's disbursements had been dishonored, but am happy at now being able to inform you they have since been taken, up. . , '.' „.'.'. J am, &c, -'• v . „.,.- . 1 '"■•", ...■ i: -.,."•;'. '". / ' ':.-. Aixx... 'Eekkkdt. 1 .-'^ .' "'. Napier", ■' ,'..••''..'■' ■'.'■"'" ''.'..,:■ : Dec. 7, 1858. /