ECHOES OF THE WEEK

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1293, 10 December 1896, Page 23

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To ran amuck and tilt at all I meet. Pope.

BY SCRUTATOR.

Heigho, hero I am back again in my old place, thanking heaven that the Christmas number of the Mail is out, that the 'double double toil and trouble' of the elections is a thing of the past and that I can once again indulge in my customary weekly gossip.

Not unnaturally much of this week's space must be devoted to election matters, for although the fight is over the echoes of the heavy firing are still with us and the combat still continues the chief topic of conversation in Wellington, as I make no doubt it does, in every city, town and township throughout the colony.

My congratulations to the Government and the Liberal party come of course somewhat late in the day, but they are none the less hearty. Some good men and true went down in the big struggle but on the whole the position of the Government is stronger. The mischievous so-called " Independent " section of the party has almost disappeared and the Premier now knows what his exact majority is and that he can safely count upon it 3 being faithful. The House, as a House, will be much superior to what it was in the last Parliament, the debating power on both sides being greatly improved. "Scobie" is back on the Opposition side and will enliven the House once more with his merry jibes but it is unfortunate that Mr W. P. Eeeves is not with us, for Beeves on " Scobie "and "Scobie" on Eeeves contributed much to the delight of the galleries when both were formerly in the House.

" Scobie," of course, may be expected to contribute his usvia] arguments on points of order wherein he wast wont at times to tangle up, the amiable but somewhat weak William Jukes in such a Chinese puzzlelike inextricability, but if Sir Maurice once more assumes the chair, as I hope and trust he will, the diminutive but brainy littla senior member for Dunedin will strike a snag if he tries on old game of " heckling the Speaker,"

Good old Sober Sides, Mr Eolleston, replaces Mr "Eicketty Eussell. This is a party loss, but Mr Eussell brought his fate upon himself by the extraordinary vagaries in which he was pleased to indulge in his role of " Independent." Mr Eolleston, I notice, has confessed himself a convert to the Lands for Settlement principle, and I hope he will prove true to his newly acquired, fai,th t

I am sorry Mr W. W. Collins, of Christohurch, is among the slain. An honest little fellow this, a man with no humbug about him, and a good, useful working member. That he should have been replaced by Mr " Tommy " Taylor, of Prohibition notoriety, does not say much for the intelligence and patriotism of the Ohristchurch electors j but at the same time it must be remembered that outside Prohibition Mr Taylor is a good stalwart Liberal. Who knows but that three years in the Ho\ise may convince him that true temperance does not lie in the nostrum to which he has been so staunohly faithful in the past.

As to Wellington, I need hardly say that although I should have "rejoiced'' and been "exceedingly glad" had the "whole ticket and nothing but the ticket" been successful, nevertheless the Liberals of the Empire City have done remarkably well. Mr Charles Wilson is a political youngster and can bide his time, and I can answer for him as to one matter, namely, that personally he is highly and amply satisfied with the result and deeply and sincerely grateful for the very large and generous support he received. In Mr Hutcheson I feel convinced we have got a good man, one who will be staunchly true to the Democracy and who at the same time is no revolutionary. He recognises the fact, I am sure, that once elected, he represents not one class alone but the whole of the electors and I look forward to his proving a vigilant and careful advocate of all proposals calculated to be of value to Wellington, from whatever side or party such proposals may emanate. He has a fine future before him and we shall all watch his political career with the keenest possible interest.

As to " Our George," after -what Mr Seddon said last Saturday night and said so sensibly, so generously, I need add little in my own account save to wish Mr Fisher a full return to his old brilliant debating nowers. May he always remember to he owes his return to the Hou3e in which he has achieved so many triumphs and may he be practically v grateful. I think he will.

The Suburbs people have done well for the Liberal party, and Mr Wilford must be congratulated upon the

triumph which has now attended his long and plucky efforts to win for himself an opening in political life. He has youth, good speaking abilities and undoubtod cleverness on his side, and with modesty, energy and straightforward endeavour ought in time to prove a very able and useful member of the party with whom his political fortunes are allied. There was a lot of mud throwing in the Suburbs election, and some very dirty and despicable tricks were resorted to by a section of the Opposition supporters, but slanders can be lived down and rendered foolish and innocuous by a man of good moral grit, and let us hope that this will be the case with Mr Wilford.

Poor little Newman! The cherubic countenance was, I fear, hardly wreathed in smiles when the numbers went up on Friday night, but the doctor will be all the better for a little " political rest. In Mr Field, a practical, sensible farmer, a gentleman with a wide knowledge of the distinct and its requirements, and with an experience of local government which will be of much value to him in the House, Otaki has, I feel sure, got hold of a very good man. He must be very active, very alert in paying attention to local matters, as indeed, I believe he will be, and he will then establish himself very firmly in tho esteem of his constituents and be even better equipped to meet the doctor at the next election than he was during his recent maiden campaign.

Mr Buchanan won the day in the Wairarapa, but his inana has received a very rude shock. Mr Hornsby made a wonderfully good fight. Beset by the most miserable misrepresentation, the vilest personal slanders—slanders so completely contemptible as to reflect permanent and indelible disgrace upon those who gave them currency—Mr Hornsby, although quite unknown to the electors, actually got within 300 votes of his wealthy and influential opponent, and has achieved a moral victory, whioh at the next election will be succeeded by a real and practical triumph.

All the Ministers are back, Mr Seddon's friends administering a well deserved smack in the face to the pretentious, but—as results have proved impotent Mr G-rimmond. Mr Cadman, most unostentatious of men, is in again by a sweeping majority, Mr Hall-Jones made mince meat of his opponent at Timaru, and Mr McKenzie did the same with a person named Duncan who had the temerity to challenge the valiant "Lan's" on his native heath of Waihemo. As for Mr Thompson, he heads the poll for Auckland, and the genial " Timi Kara" is still first favourite in the political affections of the East Coast.

All good Government men and every man jack of a journalist who knows the press galleries and the lobbies will be unfeignedly glad to know that the popular " Charley " Mills has got the best of it in a tough fight, on what for him was largely new ground, and will be back again next year to act, I hope, as of yore, as one of the Government whips. Mr Mills is very popular in Wellington, and although it was unfortunate, that, owing to the change in the boundaries, Mr Buick should have to go under, his opponent had a big claim upon the people of Marlborough, and long and honest service has been justly rewarded.

Up in the Manawatu my good old friend, Mr "Jack " Stevens, has "pulled it off" —to use the sporting vernacular with which he is so familiar—but I am sorry to see that Mr Bailey has been unsuccessful in the Eangitikei. Mr Lethbridge is personally popular, and possesses considerable, and what I might call territorial influence, but still I had hoped for a different result, especially as the Government has done a good deal for the Eangititikei in the way of helpg on the good cause of close settlement.

Poor Mr Willis has gone down after what must have been a very hard fight, and Mr George Hutchison is still the member for Patea. But George's mana- must have been sadly weakened when Mr Eemington, by no means a strong candidate, could, at what was practically the eleventh hour, have polled so well. George's show is evidently waning, and next time I expect to see it extinguished. So mote it be, at all events.

Dunedin has deserved well of the whole Colony in rejecting the brassy Earnshaw, which bumptious person has achieved a record for making the most insulting speech ever delivered by a defeated candidate. This person, who, it will be remembered, has been lauded to the skies in the leading (?) columns of the Evening Post as a model member —the personification of all that which was politically manly, righteous and courteous —was pleased to call the electors a " pack of howling curs," and furthermore concluded a vicious and venomous outburst of post-election spleen by saying, "And now you can all go to

h -1." Mr Earnshaw, please remember, is—or was, for I suppose he'll be severely dropped now—the special pet of that great and good man Sir Eobert Stout, who, by the way, has himself shown the cloven hoof of combined egotism and spite in his letter to the electors of Wellington. Poor Sir Eobert!

Looking over the notes I have written I find that I have only touched on the results of a few, a very few of the elections. The rest must go by the board, sans comment in this column, at least.. Before I close, however, let me say one thing as a journalist and one who knows the value of prompt., good work in the way of telegraphing the results. That one thing is this—that the thanks of the press and public of Wellington are due to the local telegraph staff for the splendid way they did their work—very arduous work it was —on election night. Hardly a single inaccuracy in the names, hardly a figure which had to be corrected, good, clear " copy " throughout and unfailing patience and courtesy in response to the journalists' enquiries and demands. Good on you, boys, may I be present whenever any man says anything " agin " the noble army of " lightning jerkers."

Re the Otaki election, a correspondent who rejoices in the possession of a singularly quaint nomdeplume, to wit, "Belshazzar Binks," sends me the following smart little couplet : Field v. Newman. A paradox extremely quaint Wo see this contest yield : In Field we find the new man now, While Newman's all a-field. A friend who acted as a polling clerk on the eventful Friday last kindly sends me .the following stray jottings from memory about •" People who Vote": —"A polling booth is a rare coign of vantage for the student of men (and women)" and things. Especially is this the case when the free and independent are obliging enough to drop in to record their vote in a steadily flowing stream. When there is a rush, and you and your henchmen are going at it hammer and tongs to diminish the sea of faces which confronts you—then goodbye philosophy till the next lull.—By the way, why is there always a hitch just when a rush at its height ? A certain name, perhaps, is not found on the roll. The owner of the name is quite certain that it is there. So your clerks again search main, supplementary and final rolls. Ail to no purpose, and the applicant who had anticipated the joy of scoring out t'other fellows' names departs sorrowfully. Meanwhile a scrutineer rises. He would beg to draw the attention of the Eeturning Officer to the fact that the number of persons in the booth exceeds that authorised by such and such a section of the Act. Scrutineers are verily a thorn in the flesh.—The big batch is worked off at length, and the stream flows gently once more. There is the business-man, who does the trick in a brace of shakes. The " new woman " runs him a good second for smartness. She knows what she wants, and how to do it, and lets "you know, you know." —There come, too, the old woman and the old man. And very hard it is to keep tho two halves apart. Neither the better nor the "worser" half is satisfied that the other will do the thing right, and only the stern discipline of the booth avails to induce them to act "on their own."—A string of sons of toil — the country's bone and sinew—now files in. You may guess by their faces what ticket they are going to vote ; but a returning officer must perforce be as impassive as marble to-day, and sphinx-like you sit. —Then •'sweetness and light" pervade the booth, personified by a pair of pretty, well-dressed girls, prodigal of smiles and treating the voting just as a lark. Next moment the colour changes to the sombre black of a group of nuns. The touch of nature which makes the whole world kin is not wanting at the polls. An elderly couple enter, one leading the other. "The old woman has cataract," we are informed, and the Eeturning Officer takes her in charge to record her vote—sign by the way of a keenly contested election. A pause, and there enters maybe a family which does not take much stock of things political. Their hands are full of " dodgers " and bogus voting papers—they gaze around with puzzled manner, and take a deal of directing before all is fixed up j satisfactorily. A mild sensation is caused | among the Deputy and his satellites by a man marching up to the table and promptly announcing that he is "No 1." Ho looks harmless, however, with no suspicious bulges under his clothing, and is given his papers.—And still they come :

The girl who confesses " she don't know where she are," and confidingly appeals for assistance; the officious old gent, who will persist in giving instructions to those about him ; the mothers with their babies ; the people who want to know whether they must sign their voting paper ( !) ; the people who will go behind the same screen ; the inevitable individual who

rushes in wildly five seconds before the poll closes; the old lady who leaves her glasses behind her—all units in the great Democracy which is to decide the destinies and mould the Parliament of the Colony for the next three years.