ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 952, 20 January 1876, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

to mi: editor.

he.vAn imjtarti'iVv op*n. wt do not I*6l/1 ourselves renponaibie for tht opinion* exjn-essed blj our correupdndbttx.

Sir, —It ni'iy hot be out of jilare to .draw the attention of tile general public Uj a-statute.rela* tive to Bill3 of Sale passed lust session, and which it i< v«My T necessary should be, aware of iud attend to. The Act in question provides that Bills of Sale filed or registered more than five yeftrs previous to thfe first day of April next shall, unless renewed before the first day of April next, be in the same position as if they iiad never been filed or registered; and that all Bills of Sale shall be renewed every five jrears from their first filing or registratien subject to the penalty of being held void. , - , ■ The process of renewal provided by the Act is simple and inexpensive.—l am, &«., Wm- Johnson, Solicitor. Queenstown, 18th January, 187 G. ♦ . // THE LATE ELECTION. If . Sir, —The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Witness informed us lately that the people of New Zealand could form no conception of the state of political degradation to which the House of Representatives in Victoria had descended, but the result of the late election in the Wakatip district" bids fair, in my humble! opinion, to allow the,, ensuing Parliament at; Wellington to lay claim to the same doubtful honor. If the old adage, that " Vox populi, Die" is to bo taken for g"spel it occurs tO me that there must have been a large amount of dust thrown in the -eyes of tho " gods," or dse their reasoning and' perceptive powers became blunted to an extraordinary degree in allowing Mr Manders to be returned by such a' majority to represpnt this important' district for the period of five years. Sir, I may be vefy obtuse, but since the eminent distinction has been conferred on that gentleman I have been racking my brains in vain to discover those qualities and virtues which are-supposed to adofn the chosen one of the people, and which—though he has flaunted before them in nearly every electron which has taken place in this district for the last ten years —have never been discovered until now. But Stay; I beg Mr Manders' pardon, he was elected for the Provincial Council, whetl, through there being no one against him he had a walk ovor, while he would have gained more credit had he refused so doubtful an honor when the last knell of a moribund, institution ha^ sounded. His stewardship; there brought, 'nought but ridicule and contempt upon himself for displaying those pandering qualities to the squatting interest, which culminated in that immortal motion he tabled, viz.< " The Rabbit nuisance." Now, it is an Old saying, That a prophet hath no honor in his ovfrn countryand here the old saw was verified, for until lie made his debut in the Council we were in utter ignorance of his debating powers in reference to small game, but to the Southland squatter members bis talents glaring, for they at once go him—a goldfields member —to do what they were ashamed to do, and which, according to his own confession* earned hjm that which was denied him previously* viz., recognition and toleration.. ,

With Mr Manders' private character I do not wish to interfere, for as he has resided in this district for a,long period, and in a small, community lite ihis a man's' adtions, principles and general character become a study. But as he has been elected and we must' bow to the majority the question arises—'How came life to be favoredso suddenly with so-strong a'snppdrt f' 'i'he answer presents itself as readily: by the dverwhelming weight of tho block vote being cast in his favorhtrtbe last moment. Now, Sir, iifc does not require .a vast amount of perception in any man to know that the block vote is never' bestowed on any candidate with the leaders of that party having received adequate concessiods and the candidate having held out certain inducements to secure it That Mr Manders did receive their suppoffr is now no secret, and I defy him to deny it; but as he avowedly, in his speeches, declared for secular education, and has received the undivided support of the denominationalists, the ugly truth, forces itself upon us that the secularists who voted for him have prepared a rod for their own backs. However, whenever that unportant question, education, crops up in the House we have the satisfaction to know that it is a question that cihnOt, be shirked or evaded, and hon members daiiflot steer a .middle course but must range JthCmselves on one side or the other. Hansafd't pages will be perused from this out with more diligence than ever was displayed befotej iitid ' the conduct of the hon. member for - the Wakatip closely watched. ' 5 ;/ > I certainly must compliment tbe denominationalists on the able organisation', and on the determination they have chsplayechat any cost in this election, not so much to put Mr Manders in as, to keep Mr Bradshaw out, he being, as they well knew, a dangerous opponent to their views, and whose well-known ability in Parliament they were determined sho'jld not be used against themselves. Mr Cope's ignoble confession, that he had received a large sum of money to keep the -field and" split the Arrow votes against Mr Bradshaw, confirms the precept laid down by them, " That the eud justifies the means," and alio the assertion onee used in the Tablet, " That ifrfiot- -strong eilough to pot a member of their own in . they could always manage .to keep a dangerous man out.. ~, Well, Sir, Mr Manders' return may give satisfaction to many fwlio, Having no stake in the country, are reckless-,as to consequences, but to men, .who have a large interest in the colony and kbow that never since New Zealand has boasted of a Parliament Ji been such import-, ant questions at issue\as will be settled by the aboutto assemble to have a political greenhorn as. their member is a disaster of which they haVe a right to complain. At a time when the ablest debitors and financiers are wanted to watch over ithe actions and projects of one -of the shrewdest and most unscrupulous men who ever held power in the Southern Hemisphere—on whom o'evolve the responsibility of watching that our children in this colony shall not inherit a curse-, instead of a blessing. At- this important crisis in our affairs Mr Manders ha 9 been elected in preference to a gentleman lite Mr Bradsh&w who has had close on fourteen years experience in politics, whose reasoning and debating powers are a household word, and whose abilities as a financier rose him to tbe honorable and onerous office of Provincial Treasurer, and drew from 'his Honor James Macandrew the eulogy that he Was the most able financier he had ever had as a colleague. Had, however, Mr Bradshaw arrived in our midst one week earlier so as to have been able to visit all parts of the district personally, or the polling day been three days later so .as to have allowed a better organisation amongst his supporters, a different result would have ensued, and we should have the satisfaction of knowing that we were being represented by a man of undoubted ability and integrity> Apologising for having taken up so much of ypar valuable space, I remain, yours, &e.\ Skippers Creeks '