The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1869.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 242, 14 October 1869, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1869.

Two of the candidates Jor the Superintemiency are now absent cv their canvassing tours, Mr. Akersten having betaken himself to the West Coast, while Mr. Gibbs is "doing" the Waimen districts. Unless these two gentlemen create a more favorable impression in the country than they did in town by their speeches to the electors, their chances of success will be but small. It is just possible that Mr. Akersten's profuse promises may have some weight with that class of persons who are always ready to swallow a b i iif, no matter how poorly the hook beneath it is concealed, but, for the credit of the electors as a body, wo hope that there are few such amongst us. Ou the West Coast he will, doubtless, meet with a large amouut of support, and it is well known that if he should happen to be elected, it is that district that is to put him into office, the reason for their voting for him beiug, we suppose, that they hope to obtain more from him thau they can from our present Superintendent. But what does Mr. Curtis tell us in his address to the electors ? He says, and his statement can be borne out by figures : — "A very large expenditure ia public works and otherwise has taken place during my short term of office upon the South West GoldhVlds, at one time far in excess of the revenue derived from this district, and from first to last the expenditure within it has fuily equalled the net revenue, both direct and indirect. "I shall, if ve-elected, take care that full justice shall be done to tliat district in the future, as it has been done in the past, but no amount of pressure will induce me to sacrifice the interests of the province as a whole to that or any other district, and I shall also strenuously oppose all attempts to dismember the province, which would, lam convinced, be disastrous to all parts of it, and more especially to the South West Goldfields themselves." The inhabitants of" the West Coast districts are not content with this, and it is in the hope that Mr. Akersten will give them more than -they are justly entitled to, that they are promising him their support. Of course he will tell us that be means to do nothing more than is fair for them, and no doubt sucli are his in- | tentious at present, but his sympathies will ! nalunilly be with tliat portion of the province which tenders him the greater part of the support that he will receive at the election, and if the interests of the settled and mining districts should at auy time clash, we fear very much that the former would be sacrificed in favor of the district which had supplied him with three or four hundred votes. It is but human nature that a man should study the interests of his friends and supporters before those of his opponents, and after all Mr. Akersten is but human. Mr. Gibb3 5 speeches can hardly be expected to prove interesting to the couutry electors. He is a man of but one idea and it is by the reiteration of that idea that he has become famous. Whether the fame he has achieved i 3 of a desirable description or not we will not undertake to say — it is that which may be obtained by auy man who, h*via£ a ho'jby horsa of big

own, has the assurance to be constantly trotting it out, completely ignoring the expression of wearisome disgust that is to be seen ou the faces of the bystanders. Mr. Gibba' hobby is the reduction of Departmental Expenditure. He has a vnyue, dreamy idea that some officer or officers are getting larger salaries than they are entitled to; be knows nothing definite on the subject, but the idea has taken such hold upon him that it has become a kind of monomania which at times becomes exceedingly virulent and goads him on to making the most unfounded assertions. The fit was very . strong upon him on the day of nomination; on looking over his speech, indeed, we find that a large proportion of it was devoted to this subject, and the only occasion ou which he became at all eloquent was when commenting upon some purely imaginary figures in reference to the Land office. There was ono topic to which he might have referred, and upon which we fully expected to hear him expatiate, but it was remarkable tliat he carefully avoided all allusion to it ; it is scarcely necessary to say that we mean the speech made by him in the last session of the Council on the West Coast separation question. A great deal has been attempted to be made out of a certain vote which Mr. Curtis was accused of giving — but which he never did give — on Mr. Stevens' resolutions, and this has been urged as a rpason why he was unfitted for the office of Superintendent, but what is to be said of a candidate for the Superintenn'ency who spoke as 'follows in our Provincial Council: — "I consider that both geographically and socially, the inhabitants of the "West Coast are an entirely separate people and are much batter able to manage their own affairs."