THE WAIMEA ELECTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 6439, 2 December 1881, Page 4

THE WAIMEA ELECTION.

“ What an inferior set of men are the majority of the candidates standing for the House,” is an expression heard daily as the elections progress. Men of intellect and ability seem disinclined to bring themselves forward, and demagogues, political charlatans, it hoc genus omne, form the majority of those offering themselves to the electors. Sometimes an electorate, blinded by personal and local feeling, will reject a man of colonial fame to elect some candidate of local popularity, but ignorant of the first principles of political economy and government, and, outside his immediate district, unknown. To an unprejudiced person looking on from a distance, it is impossible to conceive that the electors cannot see the unfitness of returning that worthy auctioneer, Mr John Stevens, in the place of Sir William Fox ; and people smile at the temerity of such a person as Mr George Hutchison attempting to displace the Hon. Major Atkinson for Egmont. But the instance which we have under our immediate notice is the contest for the Waimea, between Mr J. C. Richmond and Mr Shephard. From a colonial point of view, it seems incredible that a man of Mr Richmond’s standing should find any difficulty with such an opponent, and j et Mr Shephard will, no doubt, command a considerable number of votes on the polling day. An election like this shows the advantages of Hare’s system, for we venture to say that if a poll were taken for the colony Mr Richmond would poll at least fifty votes for every one recorded in favor of Mr Shephard ; and yet, as we say, Mr Shephard appears to have considerable support under the present system, by which the influence obtained in the area of a small district, through family and business connections, may be sufficient within that particular district to outweigh the claims of a colonial reputation. As to who and what Mr Shephard is, we are somewhat at a loss to tell our readers. He i. a man of mature age, respectable aspect, and voluble utterance. He has been elected to the House for some years; but, until last session, he made no prominent figure there. He has held as much aa any man in the House the unenviable reputation of being counted among the “ deubtfuls ” and “ unreliables ” on the whips' cards. He is staunch to no party that he joins, and has “ ratted ” on several occasions. He is a. wearisome and unprofitable speaker to listen to, talking nonsense with an air of wisdom, and dealing out platitudes with an assertion of originality. Last session he once more changed his party, and became one of that small band of obstructionists who endeavored to impose by force their views of what true representation should be against the will of the colony and the forms of the House, I Mr Shephard has possibly endeared himself by these proceedings', to a small section of his constituents, whose limited vision prevents their comparing the loss their district has suffered with the gain made by the colony as a whole by the passing of the Representation Act; but to the mass of the public outside Nelson Mr Shephard made himself merely a laughingstock. He is, then, to sum up, a man of mediocre ability, of political opinions chameleon-like in their changeable variety ; a man who never has, can, nor will ever make his mark in the history of the country. Mr Richmond, on the other hand, possesses all the qualities that his opponent lacks. He, like Mr Shephard, is no raw hand at politics ; bat, unlike Mr Shephard, he has proved his title to be considered a politician. A member of a family in Which genius is hereditary—a family whose name will ever be closely connected with our political history—and a civil engineer by profession, Mr Richmond has, since his arrival in the colony many years ago, devoted his services to the use of his adopted country, and studied its politics with a master mind. From the time of his first election to the Hou-e, during the whole time he sat there, Mr J. C. Richmond formed a prominent figure even among the able politicians then in Parliament. Twice he held office, first in Mr Stafford’s Ministry in 1836, and afterwards in Mr Weld’s Ministry in 1864, and acquitted himself with honor and ability. For some years Mr Richmond has been absent from the colony, «nd during a great part of that time he held the appointment of engineer to the French Government for the formation of the Algerian railways. He is a scholar, an artist, a philosopher, and a politician ; and would bring to the House a mind trained to the duties of political life, well stor=d with a knowledge of oar political past, and fitted to form and guile its future. Particularly would his professional training be of assistance in criticising an 1 advising on the progre.-s of our public works. Onr Wellington readers, knowing the enormous difference existing between the two cm d dates, will wonder at our doubting the certainty of Mr Richmond s return. But, as we have said before, there are people who, carried away by purely local and personal views, cannot, unless it is plainly pointed out to them, see the advantage to be ganed by returning as their member a man oi colonial reputation, who migh f , any day, be found a member Jot the Cabinet, instead of an unknown, uniuflnential, and in every way unsati.-fact >ry candidate like Mr Shephard. We do not (or a moment suspect the electors of Waimea to be so obtuse, prejudiced, and blind to the r own interests as to reject Mr Richmond's candidature ; but we wonld remind them that they would confer two benefits on the colony by ejecting him—first, in that they wnnld be placing Mr Richmond’s

great ability and integrity once more at the service of the colony ; and they would be taking from the House one of its most useless and unreliable members. We trust, therefore, that on polling day the electors of Waimea will return Mr J. C. Kiehmond by a handsci nc majority.