The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XV, Issue 857, 26 January 1861, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, January 26, 1861. We are much concerned to hear a report on good authority that some of the inhabitants of the town of Akm-oa mean to oppose the return of Mr. Moorhouse to the House of Representatives at the ensuing election. Should this report really be true we trust that the electors of that district are fully alive to the importance of the step which they are called upon to take, and will do nothing for which they cannot afterwards give a good reason.

It must be remembered that if the election of an untried man is a great honor conferred on him by the district, the benefit becomes at least mutual if he afterwards does his duty. Not only is this the case, but, when competent candidates are scarce, it is a great and decided advantage to a district to have at their command a representative of experience in political affairs, especially if he be one who has shown himself an able member and a shrewd leader of other men.

The obligation, then, between a constituency and a working member being at least-mutual, and the advantage to the constituency of having the services of such a one assured to it being great, it follows that at a fresh election, his rejection, without good cause, is an act of both ingratitude and impolicy. We are unwilling to raise a personal question, if it can be helped j but there cannot be a question of a minute's doubt in the minds of thinking men of any part of the colony, between Mr. Moorhouse and the gentleman who is said to be coming forward to oppose him. Experience, natural ability, political character go for nothing, if the former be not preferable as a representative.

It would be no part of our duty to deal with the question at all in this stage, were it not that the choice or rejection of Mr. Moorhouse is a question of concern to the whole province—we may say to the whole colony, and certainly to the whole South Island. It is a lamentable fact that, however great our number of members may be in the ensuing Assembly, experienced leaders will be very scarce among them. We cannot afford to lose a head like Mr. Moorhouse; in serious truth, it would be better to have two seats vacant out of the nine, than that the whole phalanx should be present and he not among them. Everyman who has been in the House since 1854 would miss him, and his opponents most of all.

We should be ashamed to lay any stress upon this matter, the facts of which are so plain, were we not convinced that the ties of neighbourhood are often stronger than reason and judgment., Were Mr. Moorhouse a resident on the peninsula he might defy the wealthiest and most influential opponent; but his involuntary crime of absence will, we fear, be sufficient to counterbalance both the' interests of the province arid his own claims for long service—the service of the "Whore^Tß'ofiStttut^^ he first sat on the benches of the House of Representatives as member for Akaroa. Can there exist "in Akaroa a hostile feeling arising out of Provincial differences? and if there does, can that feeling be worked upon for the purposes of an election to the General Assembly, and can it be employed for electioneering purposes by a gentleman whose political knowledge is sufficient at least to draw a line between the functions of the Provincial Council and those of the General Assembly? We trust not. We do trust that all the electors of Banks Peninsula thoroughly understand how reasons for not wishing' to vote for Mr. Moorhouse as Superintendent are no reasons at all why they should not vote for him as their Representative in the Assembly. The two sets of political considerations are widely different: we venture to say that not one single act of Mr. Moorhouse's, or of any member of the Provincial Council during the past year, however disagreeable to the constituency, could be construed into a fair reason why he should not serve them well and faithfully in the coming session of the superior legislature. Will it be said, then, that Akaroa and the Bays will suffer their old member to be rejected, simply because a new man comes forward and the other is not at hand to take his own part? We hope not. Every elector has a right to offer himself, be he who he may, but the rest of the body are under a deep obligation to consider well before they accept the new and reject the old and tried servant.