The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 205, 16 December 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1876.

*' Words arc tbinss. and a drop of ink falling upon a thought nay "produce that which makes thousands thinfe."

It is somewhat singular that notwithstanding the very great benefits which were supposed to accrue to the country by Abolition and the initiation of the Counties system, such culpable apathy has been exhibited in the matter of electing the governing body. For this state of things th*j General Government should not be held wholly blameless, for it cannot be denied tl.ai the time set down for the nomination and return of members from the day of notification was most unprecedently short. Exception has been taken very properly by a portion of the Press to the fact tliat the cond'.ti ns of the Act were not complied with in not allowing fourteen clear days' notice before the day of election, bat although the law officers of

the Crown appear by some process of reasoning or lrgic known only to themselves to rest satisfied that the spirit of the law had been carried out, there can be no question about the impolicy of the step.' It is quite apparent that the electors do notsufEciently understand the proposed working of the system to trouble themselves in the selection of the uiost suitable persons as the instruments thereof. In this particular County, however, the candidates themselves, or, more correctly speaking, the lack of candidates, has saved the electors any great txercise of judgment. U]s to the moment of nomination, as far as we know, and as far as the public outside of the individual ridings are aware, but two gentlemen have been found anxious to be the instruments for inaugurating and carrying out the new order of things. In the important ridings of Awamoka, Ctakaike, Otamatakau, Ohau, Waiareka, Papakaio, and Hampden, as we before said, for all we or the public at large throughout the County know to the contrary, judgment has been allowed to go by default, and the Act is. to all intents and purposes, .a deed letter. Of course, it is just possible that the ridings mentioned will return representatives, and, at the eleventh hour, Tom, Dick, or Harry may be trotted out, and formally declared elected without opposition ; but we ask is such a course calculated to give the electors an elevated opinion of the Councillors, or of the Act which was to have been such a blessing and benefit to the community 1 We do not mean to say that, because a man does not come into the field at the outset, it nuist necessarily follow he will make an indifferent representative. Far froin *"t, for we have a distinct recollection of the late Premier owing his introduction into political life by a most fortuitous circumstance ; and beini' returned for a contituency for whic'i, ton imnutos bjfo*2 the returning officer declared him elected, Sir Julius had not the remotest idea of standing. The facts are t':ose : Wiien attached to the Times staff, Mr. Vogel attended a certain nomination, and when he arrived he found, with the exception of himself, the returning officer, and a brother Press-man, there were neither candidates nor proposers. Improving the occasion, the wily reporter, with characteristic astuteness, saw his opportunity, and determined to seize it; so rushing back to the office lie quickly reappeared with one of the staff, and before the clock chimed the hour of noon, Mr. Vogel had been nomina'ed, proposed and seconded, and declared duly elected with out opposition. Our memory is at fault as to whether it was for the Provincial Council or the Gen end Assembly to which Mr. Vogel was returned on the occasion to which we allude ; but, however, it was the first step in that brilliant career which lie afterwards carried out for himself. O course, there are not many Sir Julius Vogels, and it by no means follows that because that which was the mere force of circumstance, should have turned out so gloriously, the precedent would be a wise one to take. We find by our exchanges from the different portions of the Province that the experience of Waitaki County is the same as other Counties, and that there is a remarkable hesitation all over tile country in candidates seeking to have the new honor bestowed upon them. The Lyltclton Tunes referring to the county elections, says, out of the thirteen ridings of which we have, so far, received news, nine have returned members without opposition on nomination ; one does not care for a member at all, and only in three are there to be contested elections. The attendance of electors cannot be described as magnificent. Tlio accounts vary from •' a few persons " to a concourse of two. Tiie people do not seem to be frantically enthusiastic about the establishment of the county system. We could perfectly understand this lukewarmness and hesitancy if the first County Councils had but a short existence ; but the sixty-fourth section of the Act says that the first general election of the Council shall be held on a day to be appointed by the Governor, and the second general election on the second Wednesday in November, 1878, and every subsequent general election the same day in each third year thereafter. From this it will be seen that the representatives now elected would hold oilicj for the two next year.-. It is quite evident that in the haste with which

the elections have been hurried on so as to have all the candidates in office by the 23rd instant, the Government have been influenced by a wish to allow the first councillors a clear two years tenure of office before, in conformity with the Act it became necessary to elect their successors.