Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail. WEDNESDAY, OCOBER 7, 1891.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 5098, 7 October 1891, Page 2

Daily Circulation, 1500. The Oamaru Mail. WEDNESDAY, OCOBER 7, 1891.

Tub Maniototo Farmei-s' Club, we learn by telegraph, have unanimously resolved to respectfully suggest to the Government that Mr Vincent Pyke should be called to the Legislative Council on account of his wellknown liberal views on the land question, and his great services to the colony. The Maniototo farmers have thus given their representative (Mr Scobie Mackenzie) a second "nasty jar." The first was administered when they expressed approval of the Hon. John M'Kenzie's Land Bill, and, therefore, disapproval of Mr Mackenzie's opposition to that Bill; and the second snub to their member has been given by their prominent reference to the liberal character of the views held by Mr Pyke, Mr Mackenzie's opponent at the last general electi on. But we are not particularly interested at present in Mr Scobie Mackenzie, and can leave him to the tender mercies of his outraged constituents. They may be relied upon to deal with him effectually. Our present purpose is to offer our congratulations to the Maniototo Farmers' Club upon the act of justice that they have done to Mr Vincent Pyke, and to express a hope that when the Government do add to the roll of members of the Legislative Councillors they will not omit his name. If we are to have a nominated Chamber, then certainly men who, like Mr Pyke, have served the country for a long series of years 111 the House of Representatives, are entitled to the first consideration. But Mr Pyke is deserving of special consideration. He is not only one of our oldest politicians, but he came to this colony with a reputation already made, having been Minister for Mines in Victoria at a time when the mining industry was one of great magnitude, and when a Minister of Mines required to be a man of exceptional capacity. Not even excepting Mr Seddon, there is no politician in the colony who possesses a more intimate knowledge of mining matters than does Mr Pyke, nor is there any man who more thoroughly sympathises with the industry and those engaged in it than he does. As'the mining industry is not represented in the Upper House, Mr Pyke's elevation to that Chamber would be an act of justice to that great national department as well as to an old servant. Ifc must not be forgotten, too, that Mr Pyke s exclusion from the Legislative Council was due to a scurvy trick on the part of Mr Scobie Mackenzie and the Otago Daily Times and other papers under the Mackenzie influence. In order to secure the election of Mr Mackenzie, the electors were assured that if Mr Pyke were rejected it would not injure him in the L?asi/ degree, as he would for a certainty be called to the Legislative Council as a recognition of his long service in the Lower House. The electors were given to understand that by acting upon the advice of the schemers they would thus obtain a more potent voice in Parliament. The contemptible device succeeded, and Mr Pyke was beaten, but his rejection was not followed by a call to the Legislative Council.

The schemers chuckled over the success of their ruse, and their party proceeded to call to the Council a number of men without the semblance of a claim to recognition. Mr Pyke was dropped and his long service left unrequited, and the hoodwinkedelectorswere left to repent that they had been unthinking participants in the meanest political dodge that has ever been perpetrated in the colony. It is now in the power of the Government to in some measure repair an injury done by their opponents to an old servant. Were they to appoint Mr Pyke to the Council, they would perform a graceful act that could not fail to meet with approbation.