The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1883.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1276, 25 May 1883, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1883.

Anything more utterly farcical than the proceedings of the so-called East and West Coast Eailway Commission, recently here, it would bo almost impossible to conceive. In the winking of an eye, so to Bpeak, the Commission, nbout the appointment of which so lunch fuss was made by the friends of the Government, has come and gone, and the only result, apart from one to Im> alluded to further on, seems to have )*en that it has excited a howl of indignation from one end of the West '. Coast to the other. Coming over with '. thfi object, ostensibly, of gaining infor- i niatioh as to the most practicable , route for a railway to connect Cantor- , bury and the West Coast, they h.-ve s

raced through the country on a sort of life-and-deatli errand, as though performing their duties by contract, and anxious to complete it in the quickest time on record. We have had many "Commissions" on the West Coast, but thislatestoneiscertainly the biggest pieceofMinisterialHurabugianathatwe ever encountered, and it is paying a very poor compliment to the intelligence of the inhabitants of either side of the Island to think that they do not see it in its true light. The purpose for which the Commission was appointed seems to us patent enough. The Premier was recently stumping Canterbury with his Arcadian pi-oposal for the extinction of pauperism, and in the course of his tour he found out that the people there thought a good deal more of the comparatively commonplace project of getting, a railway to the West Coast than they did of his magnificent scheme for the extraction of sunbeams fi'-om cucumbers, and accordingly, as a. bait for popularity, ho promised that the Commission should be nominated. At this time no date was fixed for tiie app'oihtment of the . Commission, but ffhe feet of a vacancy having occurred in the representation of Inangahua was then known, and so the Government calmly awaited the development of events? Shortly after this Mr. Wakefield was invited to stand for the vacant seat, and, acceding to a requisition from the inhabitants, he subsequently visited the West Coast, receiving such a reception as no doubt led the Government to think that he stood a good chance o£ being returned. Accordingly, upon Mr. Wakefield's return to Canterbury, we find the Ministry at once communicating with him as to the position he would take in the House in the event of his election. In giving his answer to Major Atkinson Mr. Wakefield seems to have been a little more reserved and a little more " stand-offish" than was thought to be good for the Ministerial health, and by this light we may read tho subsequent events. We find then the next step is that the writ, which had been unaccountably delayed up to this point, is suddenly issued, and Mr. Shaw, who was likewise so unaccountably held back, is suddenly packed off from Wellington with a letter credit in his pocket from the Government to the electors of the Inangahua. Arriving here, Mr. Shaw was of course able at once to declare publicly that the Government did not support Mr. Wakefield's candidature, but his own, and further, that nobody but a Government supporter could hope to obtain money for public works. Under these conditions then the contest proceeded, but the Ministry had yet a trump card to play to help their candidate. Accordingly, in the last stage of the contest this model Railway Commission appears upon the scene, and remains within cooey just long enough to see the . poll over, and then donning its seven league boots is soon out of sight. This we believe to be a true history of Mr. Shaw's candidature for the .Inangahua, and th.c appointment and visit of the Bailwav Commission, and on public grounds both are to be equally commended. That we are warranted,™ these conclusions is plainly evidenced by the telegrams from Major Atkinson read by both the candidates. On the one part there is tho Ministerial telegram, stating frankly that Mr. Shaw was the recognised Government candidate ; and, on the other, the message stating that Mr. Wakefield had declined to "pledge himself." We think this is the first time in the political .history of the Colony that any Government has gone so far and so undisguisedly out of its way to help a supporter into a seat, and shall be much surprised if we do not hear more about it as soon as the House meets. So far as the Commission is concerned, ifr matters little what its report may be. We shall bo in no way surprised "to find that it is an adyerse o)ne..'s : y but.. .though the Inangahua may have been silenced on the.subjject, U w^ll b.a found ;that Gan^terbury will not be so' easily disposed of.