THE DUNEDIN EAST ELECTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7929, 21 July 1887, Page 3

THE DUNEDIN EAST ELECTION.

TO Till: KOITOII. I Km,—Then; can bo no doubt hut that (Sir | Hubert is having a rough time of it. Oni: iuccsI sunt lluml ul adverse criticism is pmiri'il upon | hi.s devoted bead by our two leading papers, j whoso correspondence columns are full »f those annoying little letters that am gleefully shown round committee rooms before insertion, nnd are made up of meanness and personal abuse. 11' the public could only realise that letters ol' the abovu description form a sort of election coinage, no harm would result; but, alas! too often thu public is—shall I say " gulled," or " led " by Iho press; and as Sir Robert has attacked the press he must expect knocks, and he gets them. 1 iln not suppose any man in this colony has made the sacrifices in liis political life that Sir Kobert has. lie has practically cast his profession on one side and neglected his business, fur what , To incur the hatred of what, I may term tho moneyed class, who now incite lo discontent and mistrust the rank and tile of the Premier's former army. Directly Mr Allen's banner was niiseil, who Hocked to It V Representatives of large investing companies, the gilded aristocracy of Dunedin East (you will pardon the expression—it has a pleasant sound), a disappointed petitioner or two, wbo all combined to start a sort of Russian intrigue against poor Sir Robert,. Misrepresentation, diplomatic abuse, the tan-ta-ra of tho drum ecclesiastic have gono; on day and night i'or weeks. There have been defections, 1 admit, But, alas ! the Opposition have made a tactical blunder, 'they have gone 100 far, and they now face a reaction. " Fair play is honnie play." The working man is not a fool, and when he sees the class of men who describe Sir Kobert as but wanting the cloven hoof and a tail, the knight of labour begins to think " if he is such a terrible bad man for you, there must be somo good iv him for me. The dc'il I know is better than the de'il I don't know, and 1 am for Stout." All the beautiful pledges, the dangled babies, the blarneyed mothers count for nothing in a Hood of common sense at the ballot box. There is yet another factor in this election. " Blood is aye thicker than water," and there is a largo section of (lour Scotchmen in Dunediu East who, 1 regret to say, would not have taken a prominent part in this election had it been judiciously worked—on thu other side. The reason they would not have taken part is because they are not blind admirers of the I'reinicr's, and they disapprove of much he has beeu induced to do, but they do not disown him ; they believe thafc he has had a lesson and that he is a man to profit thereby, and they are not going to sue their old friend snuffed out hy Mr Allen or anyone else by unfair means. And 1 may here mention tbat 1 desire to allude to the organised introduction into Dunedin East of matters tliat are usually kept in the background in a political contest.

No man i.s responsible for tho gilded enthusiasm of an "influential committee," and Mr Allen i.s, I know, too manly an opponent to descend to this sort of work, but it stands allusion to. In conclusion, I may ask why Mr Allen did not contest tho West, where the electors are tearing their hair and cursing their fate and tho political pap provided foi them. He has, I am sure, property in the West, his 32 acres of freehold land in this city in truth go North and South, and East and West. Then why East ? As Mr M. J. S. Mackenzie, Sir Robert's political opponent, says, " We can ill afford to lose Sir Robert Stout." The country does not want too many green hands at the present crisis. We educate them at our expense.—l am, &c, LOCIIADEU. July 20.

D.