THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21, 1877.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 80, 21 February 1877, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21, 1877.

" It is not altogether easy to account for the extraordinary interest which Irishmen, and more particularly Catho lie Irishmen, manifest in an election in which one of their countrymen and coreligionit>t fills the most conspicuous position." So saith the oracle of Lower Broadway, and presented as the case has been, it can hardly be denied that it does suggest an element of strangeness, but this strangeness will readily disappear when tbe explanation which we are about to give is laid before our readers. This explanation would have been forthcoming in any I case, but since it baa been courted in ! an especial manner, and hedged with bo much importance, we will perhaps be pardoned for going into it a little more minutely than would otherwise have been necessary or desirable. It appears that immediately after tbe close of tbe recent Crushington election, in which Mr Byrne and Mr Daviea were candidates, the former being defeated by one vote, an inter* change of what we may term electioneering ''courtesies" took place be. tween the " Oracle " before alluded to and Mr Byrne, tbe former baying per* sonally taken a very active part in Mr Davies' canvas. In the course of this interchange it appears that a threat was expressed by this same " Oracle " to tbe effect that if Mr Byrne ever again offered himself as a candidate for tbe County Couocil means would be taken to prevent bis return — or, in the vulgar parlance of tbe occasion, be (the Oracle) " would make it hot " for him. To show bin respect tor this threat, upon the vacancy for Antonio's Riding occurring Mr Byrne at once determined to offer himself, and viewing, as be was quite justified in doing, tbe contest as a mere trial of strength between himself and the " Oracle," be exerted himself in rallying up supporters, if for no other reason than to prove to tbe '• Oracle " the emptiness of his boast, und his impotency to control or influence tbe result one way or tbe other. That tbe same exertions were made on tbe other side, but without success, we have already seen, and here is the beginning and the end of all this "much ado about nothing" Bat, forsooth, because an idle braggart has been disconcerted in a silly public, house boast, and because journalism cannot be successfully degraded to the gratification of a personal " objection," the community is to be set by tbe ears. The good sense of the community will, however, we are convinced, not be turned awry by such unmitigated c!aptrap. There is not indeed "no sufficient reason wby tbe Antonio's election should have so profoundly exercised the thoughts of our Hibernian coun»

trymen,' 1 nor, indeed, has it exercised them in the slightest degree. The " exercise " baa been solely confined to those who were aware of the real aspect of the contest. It is an old instioct which men have of travelling long distances to defeat hole and corner stratagems such as those resorted to by the '• Oracle." Whatever public importance has been attached to the Antonio's election, to our contemporary alone it is due. It is well known that Mr Byrne has no personal purpose to serve in offering himself, and certainly he has done so at very considerable sacrifice and expense, and would probably never have taken the slightest step in "tbe contest but for the boast we have alluded to. The election has, however, done this much good, ifc has demonstrated that elections in this district are not to be carried solely upon the Artful Dodger principle, but that tbe votes of the majority will at all times prevail against mere journalistic bombast and electioneering trickery. As to the question whether we will have a ''second Ireland behind us," that is a mere matter of taste, not, wp are glad to learn, of apprehension The dragging in, however, of such questions upon a comparatively paltry occasion ouch as the present, might possibly in due time have the effect of inducing 'behind us tbe proximity of a repre sentative of that land who would have little hesitation in momentarily accelerating "our" ordinary mode of locomotion. But that as it may be. Our contemporary may then persevere in the exercise of " tbe unbounded liberty" to which he refers without, we rejoice to say, any immediate fear of his " setting tbe Thames on fire," or bringing about any equally disastrous consequences upon this " the latest and most distant settlements bearing evidence to the energy and self-reliance of our race." The only "alienation" pi which there appears to us to be any imminence at tbe pre» sent time, is that of all right-thinking men from a contemporary whose dis* tinctive policy appears in its strictest sense to be : tbe greatest good for the greatest number — greatest number — Number One.