Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7819, 13 December 1886, Page 4

The electors of Waitemata have done ■what was to be expected of them, and have returned by a very substantial majority the better of the two mea who sought their suffrages. There 13 no need now to contrast the two men because we have no desire to speak harshly of a defeated candidate, and one who has fought the contest fairly, But we may say that Mr. Monk is to our mind a typical colonist. He wag , brought up in New Zealand, he hag been identified all his life with one of the chief interests of this part of the colony, he is a practical farmer ani country settler. He is indeed familiar with every phase of life here, including commercial life. It was quite absurd for any sympathy to be given in the election to his opponent, Mr. Farnall, on the ground that he is a poor man. He is so by his own will, and whatever he is entitled to for that, it surely cannot be that it gives him a claim upon any constituency. If there is any man in the whole country who is entitled to be called a working man, it is Mr. Monk, for with his hands and with his head he has toiled hard from his youth up, coming in contact every day with the workers in the forest, on the farm, and in the city, while, so far as we have seen, Mr. Farnall has known chiefly those specimens of the working man. who may be found at meetings of the unemployed, if any are to be found there. This is by no means the first time that such a thi\\g has happened— that "working men" have supported one who is not a working man, against a candidate who has been emphatically of their own order, and who has won a foremost place by talent, and especially, by industry. We need not dwell upon the inference which might be drawn from this. In England the "by " elections are closely watched, in order that it may be seen how the tide of public opinion is flowing, and it is to be hoped that the Government will take note of the Waitemata election in this respect. Mr. Monk's watchwords are—economy in administration; no increase of taxation. Qn these subjects he has dwelt most forcibly. We have every confidence that with him the cry for economy will not be, as it has frequently been with members, absolutely meaningless—crying out for economy in the abstract, while practising extravagance. Economy, like charity, should begin at home, and our legislators might commence their efforts in this direction by reducing the honorarium and cutting down the Legislative Council. It can scarcely be said that there were defined political issues in this contest, and in all probability it was mainly decided on personal grounds. But what theGovernment should take note of is this, that Mr. Monk came forward because he felt that economy must be the chief care of our politicians if our credit is to be maintained ; that he has preached that doctrine through the electorate with acceptance; that he has specially censured the present Ministers as e Government inclined to big speculations in public works, and that they felt that they had no chance to run t man against him.