THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1887.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8061, 23 September 1887, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1887.

In commenting upon the political contest in the city constituencies, it may be expedient to state more explicitly than we have yet done the principle on which our criticism is and has been based, and which, in town and coantry constituencies alike, ought to guide the electors in recording their votes. The desire of the colony is to get rid of the Stouc>Vogel Ministry, who by their extravagance have placed it in financial embarrassment, as also to get rid of all those members who have encouraged them in their reckless career. An appeal has been made to the country to reverse the condemnation which the House had passed on their ruinoue policy ; but the people have, as a rule, made up their minds to confirm the sentence of the House, and to return representatives pledged to the removal of the Ministry as a preliminary step to tha forming of an economic administration. Such, beyond doubt, is the general feeling in this part of the colony, as also in all other parts of it ; excepting, only those places whose vitality, and even their existence, depend on the monetary favours which it has been the corrupting practice of the Ministry to dispense as the reward of allegiance. This being the state of the case, as regards the cause and end of the present appeal to the country, the course which the electors have to pursue in selecting the candidates they should vote for is exceedingly simple. In every instance the candidate who was a member in the last Parliament and acted with the Opposition in imposing a final check on the wasteful policy of the Ministry ought to have the preference over all competitors. In constituencies where there are candidates identified with or who supported the Ministry and voted with them on the lata no confidence motion, the preference should be given to the candidates opposing them. And, finally, in those cases where no member of the last parliament is in the contest, the choice of a candidate must be made on the ground of superior fitness, care being taken, however, that no candidate shall be returned who has not unequivocally pledged himself to the overthrow of the present Administration. That is the clear and decided policy we have advocated, as the one which the issue at present before tho country renders imperative, and which the electors, in duty to their country, ought uniformly to carry out.

Applying now the afore-stated principle to the contest in the Ponaonby constituency, the result in which it ought to terminate becomes abundantly plain. In the field there are three candidates, one of whom is the former member, and on the basis of selection indicated it is on him that the choice of the electors should fall. After a careful survey of the position we have come to the conclusion that the contest will really lie between Mr. Peacock and Mr. Wright. The supporters of Mr. Cooper are likely to be limited to those who, for some undefmable reasons which do not come within the scope of practical politics, are averse to Mr. Peacock, but do not aee their way to voie for Mr. Wright. The number of these, however, is comparatively small, and the prospect of success attending their action is faint. As for Mr. Cooper himself, there is nothing distinctive in the position he has assumed which could at all be regarded as constituting a claim to the general favour of thw constituency. He professes nothing which had not been previously included in Mr. Peacock's programme. On the subject of protection of native industries he has, in deference to a mere election cry, been purposely more pronounced, but the much greater merit belongs to Mr. Peacock of having embarked his savings in the promoting of local industries, while at the same time he holds himself ready to adjust the tariff with a view to their encouragement. But, indeed, to do Mr. Cooper justice, he doea not pretend to hold any differentiating principles which would entitle him to the preference of the electors. He contents himself with saying that he has an

ambition to enter Parliament and u willing to travel aloug the lines which the constituents might ayprove. This ainbU turn may be legitimate enough and the cherishing of it is not to his diecredit but rather the reverse. The time selected f" an attempt to gratify it, however, is some. what inopportune. At a crisis such as th« country is now passing through, it U raea of tried ability and experience that ar« needed to take part in the counsels of the State. A serious responsibility is them fore incurred by those of the PoneonbV electors who, by the ineffectual encounter/ raent they are giving Mr. Cooper are exposing the electorate to a possible risk of being, at a critical period, ren re sented by one deficient in political kno*-,. ledge. With regard to Mr. Wright it miut be allowacl that he appeare to represont som* thing distinctive, and that something j> labour as opposed to capital. But, none the less, his position is a fallacious one lor labour and capita! are the complement* of each other, and no man can attempt to place them in antagonism, or even to separate them without inducing both social and political disaster. That, however, is an abstract question which ij not now before the country. Ttie necessity of the hour is to have the finances of the colony placed on a sound foundation by placing its expenditure on a permanently lower basis, and to determine whether th Ministry that has destroyed its credit and paralysed its industry is to be entrtiated any longer with the administration o f j t . affairs. That is the practical issue not? put before the electors; and, w;th all deference to Mr. Wright and his friend and without meaning the slightest offen-. ' he is not the stamp of man who at th , ' time can render the service the cuumneeds. The men who are best fitted for the work .now rendered imperative are those who Lave already employed thei strength to arrest the headlong p ace a( . which the country was being driven tr wards ruin ; and, if the semees of th are now available, it is the duty of the electors to .secure them in preference to any others that may be offered them On this ground alone, oven if th ere were no other, we are conducted to the conclusion that Mr. Peacock is the candidate best qualified to represent the Ponsonby electorate at the present tinie He has done his Parliamentary duty weli and conscientiously iu the past. Hβ has retrained from putting the couutry to the txpense of printing in Hansard half a volume of nonsense per session, such as some of our garrulous members waste the time of the House in uttering. Hβ does not speak often, but when he does he speaks to some purpose, and is listened to respectfully by the House for the simple reason that they know that he doea not make a demand on their attention except when he has really got something worth the saying. He is most attentive to any matters brought under his notice by his constituents, and does not content himself with informing them that they are being attended to, when they are not as is the manner with some, but earaestly takea them in hand, and sees them carried out to a satisfactory end. Finally, he is loyal to the party he is identified with refusing to be seduced therefrom by the temptation of office presented by those to whom he is politically opposed. By this consistent course of action he has acquired a place in the respect of the House which is acknowledged even by his opponents, and is thus enabled to render a service to the North Island, and specially to Auckland, which, at the present crisis, we simply cannot afford to lose, if, therefore, the Ponsonhy electors possess the wisdom and public spirit wMch we cordially credit them with, they will elect iheir former member, Mr. Peacock, as their representative in the ensuing Par« liament.