A RENWICK VIEW.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 139, 21 September 1887, Page 3

A RENWICK VIEW.

To tiie Editor. Sir. - Political warfare is waxing warm in this peaceful hamlet, and the merits and demerits of the candidates have been discussed at considerable length. Mr Dodson’s decline in the political market, ss far as I can gather, is due in a great measure to the prc\ arication of the Standards, but more especially to his remarkable conversion of recent date to the necessity of a Land Acquisition Bill, of which, when speaking here, he made no reference wherever, although ho declared himself opposed to the Land Acquisition Bill, ilis elasticity of opinion in the former direction has exceeded any of his previous flights in political inconsistency, and has shaken the slight remnant of confidence reposed in him before he immortalized himself by making his memorable leap from the Fourth to the Sixth Standard, and pleading in extenuation that the Fourth Standard was not the same as when he was associated with educational matters, thereby showing an amount of ignorance to be deplored in any aspirant for political fame. We should not be surprised to see him, having swallowed one Land Acquisition Bill, fully equipped with Mr Ballance’s Land Acquisition Bill, and disgorge the Major and his parasitic satellites at the same mouthful. The candidate who has no fixed opinions regarding such an important matter as a Land Acquisition Bill cannot be held responsible for his whimsical idiosyncrasies, and therefore is not competent to have a voice in the Government of the Colony. If he can make it convenient to trim his sails, beforo going to Parliament we may reasonably expect the same treatment from him as our representative. Let him play the part of Captain Trimmer at his own expense. The constituency has suffered sufficiently, without paying for a repetition of his versatile freaks. A comprehensive description of “ Irresissistible George’s ” unpopularity would necessitate too much encroachment on your valuable space. But as there are a few here who maintain that his legislation, as a member of the Education Board, has been attended with beneficial results, therefore he is entitled to priority as a candidate for our suffrages. I will briefly dispose of this egotistical platform for political honors, and then show without fear of reasonable contradiction that, so far as Ilenwick school is concerned, his part in educational legislation has been attended with a detrimental result, diametrically oppo ed to bis nauseous whine of sycophantic Liberalism and utterly devoid of the shadow of equity. Briefly summed up his political platform is comprised in the followin<r dialorruo : “ Tn-

quisitivc Urchin Fitch is the lion, and vitch is the bear, sir 'i Showman —Yitehever you likes, my little clear, it’s of no konsekense to me votsomhevor ; you pays your money and takes your choice.” So it is with Mr Henderson and the electors. He is, to quote his favorite simile, “sitting on a railwhether he jumps right or left is a matter of no importance to him. To his benefioient and prudent educational legislatation we are indebted for the constant change (for which lot us be thankful) of assistant-teachers at the Renwick school: and lam sure he will take it as a kindly action, recallingpleasant memories of the past—if I recapitulate the prominent, liberal, and equitable battle he fought for the weak and needy, when he stood forth as the chief factor in the redistribution of the salaries allotted to the Ren wick staff. The salaries were, at the time to which I refer, -Head Teacher, £IOO and residence .Assistant, £BO and no residence. As the Board considered the staff too costly they proceeded to retrench, and adopted the laudable method of making an example of the weaker vessel of the two by reducing the munificent salary of the Assistant to £GO, thus leaving her with £6O and no residence, and the Head Teacher with £l9O and residence—a most glaring and inequitable disparagement, Mr W. Sinclair, then a member of the Board, protested against it, pointing out the disparity; but, alas! for the rarity of Christian charity! the most Liberal of the three candidates now before the electors descended on the appeal for fair play and swept it from his path. Liston to the most Liberal candidate advocating the cause of the oppressed at a meeting of the Education Board, reported by the Marlborough Express of September IG, 1881—“ Mr Henderson said as Mr Sinclair’s motion was not seconded, and as there was ap opportunity to effect a little retrenchment, he would move that an assistant teacher be advertised for at £GO.” The result of the motion is felt to this day. The remuneration is not sufficient to permanently secure the services of an assistant teacher, hence the constant change. And he lias the cool effrontery to ask us to confer upon him the honor of writing M.H.R. after his name. “ Not for Joseph, if he knows it.” No, George ; you are wasting your substance on a fantastic impossibility. Be. advised and retire; retire and avoid the harvowing remorse of another defeat ; for to parody the soliloquy of the immortal “ Squeers.” “The coat of arms of the Hendersons is torn, and their sun has gone down in the ocean wave.”—Yours, etc., Fair Play. Renwiek, September 19, 1887.