THE VACANT SEAT FOR THE COUNTRY DISTRICTS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 7, Issue 433, 31 October 1863, Page 2

THE VACANT SEAT FOR THE COUNTRY DISTRICTS.

To the Editor of ike Hawke's Bay Herald. Sir, — On the Ist in.st., Capt, Carter took office aa Crown Land Commissioner and Provincial Treasurer, and de facto forfeited forthwith his seat ia the Provincial Council. The mouth, is now on the very eve of closing, and no notice from the Returning officer of his receipt of a new writ for the Country Districts has yet appeared. To what cause are we to ascribe this delay 1 Proverbially sleepy as Hawke's Bay is, to attribute laziness to such a veteran official as we have now at the helm, is the last reproach I should imagine could with truth be launched against him. That explanation would readily have been accepted ia the reign of King Log — good, placid, imperturbable fellow as he was. A dreamy state of quiescence and procrastination, confirmed by Eastern, residence, and habits acquired in sunny Ind, was his innate temperament. The activity of mind necessary to learn deftly " how twt to do it," I suspect he never possessed. But his successor — with wits early sharpened on a North British grindstone, and then polished and brought to a keen edge by a long course of official life and many a sharp contest with the lords of Maoridom — I opine is a dabster at that work, and just now is treating us to a sample of his skill. If this conjecture be unfounded my sluggish apprehension aids me in offering but one reason besides — which is this, that, having, as a foil and contrast to his predecessor, playfcd with distinguished success the part of King Stork, he is for a time compelled to remain like a gorged boa in a state of torpidity, to fully recover the effects of such a gluttonous meal.as a Treasurer and Commissioner devoured whole. Meanwhile, with a watering mouth, he is most suspiciously ogling the seat for the Country Districts, unwilling to precipitate matters until fairly in a condition to gobble up that also. Unfortunately for the success of thi3 little design, the electorate is hydra-headed, and unless it be lulled into slumber, may prove an awkward morsel. Slow to wrath as electors usually are, I cannot believe they will much longer .permit, this tampering, with their privileges to pass unchallenged, or their sense of its gross impropriety and unconstitutionality to remain unmarked when the government candidate cornea to the poll. ... Your, «&c, Qui-Vim [The so-called government candidate is, in our opinion, as independent a man in the province ; \infqrturiately he lateksj^mpudent aspun>ption, and may quite possibly, inconsequence,

go to the wall, It is rather cool, by the way, for our correspondent to convert the Heralci into an electioneering medium for his own favorite. Touching the writ, we think the probable solution ■of the delay complained of to be that, in consequence of there- being no likelihood of the Council meeting for the next six months, -the matter was not regarded at first in an argent light and was afterwards overlooked. We trust, ' however, that no further delay will take place, more especially as a nervous dread of some change in public opinion seems to have seized hold of the opposition. — Ed.]