MR SEDDON'S TEXT.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 653, 6 December 1899, Page 2

MR SEDDON'S TEXT.

(To the Editor.) "Trust the people."—B. J. Sbddow, P.0., L.L.D.

Sik, —The above test is the one from which the Right Hou., the Premier, has beea preaching to the electors from every political platform, in the Colony. The value of a preacher's utterauces are usually guaged by the life he leads. He is' expected to carry into everyday life the principles ho advocates, or to put it in othei words, to practice what he preaches. From the Hon. the Premier's utterances, one would natuially expect him to be at his post on duty at the centre of govornment, attending to the affairs of the state, and calmly trusting the . people. Instead of this we find him frantically rushing round the different electorates, apparently afraid to trust to the people intelligently exercising their privi lege to vote as their political consciences dictate. The iaAV has presumed tkat every person in the oolony, male and female, above the age of 21 years is intelligent enough to be able to record his or her vote, and the law has al«o provided the elaborate machinery necessary to enable every voter to alone and secretly record his or her vote, as he or she honestly and intelligently deems best. Surely in the face of the above to x t nothing further is necessary. Trust tho people! Special trains to every centre between Palmerston North and Xajjier (provided at the expense of t'lo taxpayer) cannot be necessary to enable the Premier to dictate to the electors how they are to vote. He j must be doing this only as a joke, or perhaps he is having an outing at Government expense. Then the fact of taking the Government steamer Tutanekai off her legitimate work of tendering th-e lighthouses of' the J Colony to .enable the Premier (at a cost to the taxpayers of about £200 per diem) to dictate to the electors of the Bay of Plenty that it; is their duty to vote against the present member, Mr Herries, must be only another joke, or is it a fact that in the Bay of Plenty the Premier does not trust the people. Then again we must presume the other members of the party believe in the text their great preacher preaches from. If so, surely the electors of the Ohhmemuii electorate j should not be singled out as people who. cannot be trusted. They are' j ust as intelligent, honest, and upright as any other community in the Colony. They have as much right as any other community to exercise their votes indepedently of outside pressure, and have the necessary intelligence to do so. Are they to be allowed to exercise their votes as their conscience dictates ? No! We have the recent disgusting episode of a self-consti-tuted body calling themselves Liberals dictating to the candidates for this district a pledge that they will retire in favor of the candidate selected by the League The people, according to I this League, cannot be trusted to intelligently select a candidate. This seems to be also the opinion of the Hon. the Minister of Mines and Railways. He cannot trust the electors to select a candidate, so he selects one for them. To hearken to the speeches of this candidate one would thiok that | the mantle of Elijah (Cadman) had fallen on Elisha (Palmer). It is a sorry sight to see a Minister of the Crown descend from his estate and take up the active duties of an election tout, but I hope the electors of Ohinemnri will be true to themselves and to the trust that the law has placed in their hands,- and at the forthcoming election vote for the candidate their principles and intelligence point out as the best man, and not in accordance with the dictates of any person or selfconstituted body, bearing in mind the words of Shakespeare: " This above all things, To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not be false to any man." I am, etc., An iNDErEXDKNT Elector.