THE ELECTION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1299, 5 June 1880, Page 3

THE ELECTION.

TO THB EOTOK 07 THE O AMARTT MAIL. Sxe, —Happening to be at Livingstone on the evening of Mr. Roberta' address, I thought I would like to hear what he bad to say. His opening remarks were chiefly confined what he chooses to term an explanation of the relations between Mr. Jones and himself, and bow they had been rudely disturbed. He dwelt almost entirely on the view that Mr. Jones had made a promise to him, and had broken it. His statement was labored, and far from being clear. He had evidently been trying to persuade himself that he was an injured individual, Sid had not fully succeeded. He, there.Vrtre, found it quite up-hili work to persuade his audience of the truth of the matter, of which he could not wholly divest his own mind of doubts. I heard him conversing with one of the residents on the same subject. At the close of the meeting, the question was pointedly put to him if he did not, in compliance with the express wish of ten out of eleven of his Committee, promise to retire if they called a meeting and thereat received what may be termed his official retirement, saying at the same time he was quite willing to retire, and that he left the matter entirely in the hands of the Committee. To this his reply was a very lame excuse for his after conduct, viz., that he expressed his willingness to retire provided they called a meeting of his friends to receive his retirement, instead of which they called a public meeting. Hi 3 reference to that part of the politics of the day in which his hearers were more interested than in any other—mining laws—he passed over in a manner which clearly showed that he had not studied' them at all, and, consequently, had no opinion. He adroitly got out of-this difficulty by complimenting hi 3 audience with the cheap flattery that they knew more of them than he did, and that it was therefore of no use for him to discant on them. Of course they were pleased, and allowed it to pass. His speech, on the whole, struck me as the effort of one of those who, in order to gain a point, can be "all things to all men." His programme was most extensive,: and the extent to which he will, if returned, purge the statute-book, weed the civil service, and raise revenue in the least objectionable manner, showed him (at least in his own estimation) to be a very Solon. I have come to the conclusion "that if Mr. Roberta spoke from honest conviction, and succeeded in a tithe of his promised reformations, we may safely date the beginning of the miilenium from -the day he takes his seat in the Parliament... On the other hand, as so very little is known, and as he has, as far , as I can learn, failed to make his mark in any of those positions open to men of his status, some doubt naturally attaches to his ultra Liberal professions, and hence leads to the belief that there is something behind hi 3 "extraordinary anxiety to get into the House. This, coupled with his explanation that he could go to Parliament untrammelled by any business or profession, and could therefore devote his whole time to the interests of his constituents, seemed to me to point to the idea that his.anticipated duties in the House, so far from involving any los 3, would be 1 to him a direct and positive personal gain, and a very welcome addition to what he was pleased to term his small independent income. But probably he would present his honorarium to the several charitable and literary institutions of the district, as no doubt he is as far as his means will j allow as liberal with his purse as in his professions.. I will conclude my desultory remarks with regret for his interests that he should have committed the serious c mistake of visiting a mining community tinder the wing of a member of the squatter t fcyifirnity and depart ditto. How many Hies he will lose by such an unwise step 1 it is hard to say, but his sole gain seemed to be the exuberant support of one whose proclivities are known to be decidedly aqnattocrafercaL A vote of confidence and thanks was carried by a majority (according to the chairman's ruling) of two. —I am, etc., A Tkavelleb.