The Ohinemuri Gazette. AND UPPER THAMES WARDEN SATURDAY, DEO. 2, 1899. THE OHINEMURI SEAT.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 652, 2 December 1899, Page 2

The Ohinemuri Gazette. AND UPPER THAMES WARDEN

SATURDAY, DEO. 2, 1899. THE OHINEMURI SEAT.

/ will a round unvarnwh'& tale delivei. —Othello, Act 1, Scene 3.

On Wednesday next we have a brief choice of some three seconds, which shall prove our political fate for three years. We shall have seven names on our polling paper, Messrs Deßakker, Palmer, McCullough, Deeble, Stewart, Moss and Drurnrn, Beginning at the bottom, we say candidly that we are certain that Mr Drumm is being made a tool of, whether he knows it or not. He is evidently sincere in his convictions, and full of earnestness. But we are afraid he will never sit in one of those nice soft leather chairs. Mr Moss' attitude we have Dover been able to understand. The man in the street continually asks : " Is Moss a Prohibitionist or not ?" He says he doesn't beliove in drink, but admits that he likes a little himself. He resents the " brewers 7 monopoly," but we assert that there is no brewers' monopoly, except what the Prohibitionists themselves have created. The monopoly only consists oil those who own the licensed houses. If any respectable man was allowed to sell liquor of good quality there could be no " brewers' monopoly " at all. This means we believe in freetrade in the business. You can't expect free houses when men, perforce, have to go to capitalists, who may also be brewers, for help. Chuld any small man have ever erected such palatial hotels as we have in the Auckland Province without assistance ? Mr Moss, who lives in a good hotel, and is a, bon v/vmt virtually enjoys with his fellow boarders the good living resulting from the profits of the bar trade. No boardinghousekeeper could afford to supply meals such as a first-class hotel affords Us customers without some outside assistance.

Mr McOullougli is well in the running. He knows the district thoroughly, and is well-known by the district, too. He knows the ropes of both Houses, and is essentially a mining man. He was Chairman of the Goldfields Committee in the Upper Chamber., and we are sorry indeed he did not accept re-appoint-ment. With the exception of the Hon. Capt. Morris there are very few, if any, members of the Upper house who know anything of mining matters. Mr McCullough will be well supported, and deservedly so. Mr Deeble is purely a Prohibibitionist with a capital P. It is not, wo presume, on the grounds of statesmanship he stands. It is Deeble v. Beer.

Mr Mervyn Stewart is a reformer. He has splendid ideas of renovating this degenerated planet. Alas! Friend Stewart, let us all say, in. sackcloth and ashes, with Hamlet:

" The times are out of joint, Oh ! cursed spite; That ever /was born to set them right." When Mr Stewart is re-incarnated an roon or two ahead of this sordid century, we shall plump for him. Mayhap by that time taxes will not be necessary at all. Some future Edison may giv© us the

means of living, by extracting tlie nitrogen of the atmosphere and assimilnting it, into our organ; sms, free of charge. That would bo nice. Mr .lacks-m Palmer, for a young man, is an old politician. *He is suave and an ex<-. hent lawyer. To meet him one must like him. Affable in manner, ho is., and open always to give his reasons for what he says and does. But we do wish lie had stood for his own electorate —Waitemata ; his candidature here mixes up maiti-rs terribly. lit 1 would make a really good member. This we must admit. But surely he himself must see that a local man, everything else being equal, is preferable. The fact of his being chosen by a small section —some 400 out of about 8000, will not tend to make the 7000 or so vote for him. Still he may, under the eogis of the Government, "get home." We cannot say anything against Mr Palmer as" a politician. Had we a vote for Waitemata he should have got it. . There is no efficient typographical equivalent to describe Mr D> Bakkcr. He reminds us of theoli Smile of Fortune reef at Owharoa. lie is a mass of small stringers, and each of them have got gold in them. He has youth, strength, grit and originality, and is among the three that have the chance.

We shall be able to prophecy further at midnight on Wednesday, the 6th inst.