THE Otago Witness.

Otago Witness, Issue 482, 23 February 1861, Page 4

THE Otago Witness.

Donbdin, Saturday, February 23, 1861. We are on the eve of an election to the office of Superintendent of the Province of Otago. Dr. Knight, the Commissioner appointed by his Excellency the Governor, to examine into the evidence upon which the Provincial Council based their Memorial for the removal of Mr. James Macaudrew from that office, has completed his task and departed for Auckland ; and the return steamer may be expected to bring either the removal of Mr. Macandrew, in accordance with the prayer of the Memorial, or notification that his resignation, which is now in the hands of his Excellency, has been accepted. We do not, for one moment doubt which of these alternatives will be adopted. It is grievous to th nk of the ugly blot which will appear upon the annals of Otago at so early a period of her constitutional history ; but, we cannot look for deliverance from the taint which has been eating its way, like a foul disease, into the vitals of our little commonwealth, corrupting our weaker members, and making us a spectacle for our neighbours, until the remedy of removal has been applied. It is incalculable how much evil is wrought in our midst by such an example in high places, and it is not easy to reckon the damage to our reputation in the eyes of our neighbours, which must result from such an exhibition. Our first step is to rid ourselves of the cause of the evil. Our next should be to make it known that we regard the thing with abhorrence, and so wash our hands of all participation in it. It is unnecessary for us to state to those of our readers whose good opinion we most value, and it may be useless to state to others, that we are actuated by no feeling of personal enmity towards the unhappy man who is the source of all the mischief. We do so state. We enter upon the subject with a feeling of naujsea, hut we are impressed with the conviction that the time has come, if indeed it did not come long since, for putting aside all reserve, and for speaking out plainly and unmistakeabjy. All mystification should be put aside, and every man placed in a position to form his judgment fairly upon the facts. It must not be said of the people of Otago, for it would be a foul libel upon them to say that they, or any number of those who are considered respectable among them,*! can look with complacency or*, with indifference, upon the commission of acts, the knowledge of which must fill all* honest and right-thinking men with sorrow 1 and detestation, and which should no^ fail to bring upon their -author . condign Ipunishr ment v .And .yet we have it continually' asserted, that- Mr. Macandrew has' many

sympathisers, who will be ready, when the time comes, to use their utmost efforts to replace lim in the office of Superintendent. Clearly he is himself persuaded that this is the case, for he has actually put out an address to the electors, in which he assumes the position of being a victim to political party animosity, and announces his intention to offer himself for re-election. And at the Meeting held in the Courthouse, on Wednesday, for the purpose of considering who is the most fitting person to fill the office, some of his partizans, who, to be sure, did not meet with a very flattering reception, had the effrontery to propose him formally to the meeting! We think it very probable that the number of such sympathisers is greatly over-estimated. But to whatever extent they do exist, they must consist either of persons ignorant of the facts, or of others u ho, knowing the facts, cannot distinguish between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, integrity and fraud, white and black, or who perhaps look upon all these opposites as equally useful and valuable in their proper place and appropriate opportunity. Such last-namfd persons are dangerous members of the community ; and it may perhaps be well for us that they show themselves, so that they may be known and properly estimated ; but we would just suggest to those who can find no higher rule of conduct than that " honesty is the best policy," that they should be careful of obtaining such a character. In any case, let such persons stand aside, and let them not attempt to foist upon the people of Otago the atrocious doctrine, that misfortunes or losses, or shortness of money, and dishonesty or crime, are so nearly allied as to be synonymous terms. And now, to come to the point-— What are the charges that have been laid against Mr. Macandrew ? Are they simply that he has fallen into misfortune and suffered losses, and is in consequence unable to meet his engagements? Certainly not. God forbid that any man upon such grounds should suffer persecution at the hand of his fellows ! Let us glance at the charges investigated by the Committee of Council. Of these we select one — that in connexion with the money voted for the Clutha Coal Field. Here we have the Superintendent, the man elevated by the election of the people to the highest, place of public honour, and to whom is committed the sacred trust of ordering by his warrants the disbursement of public monies in accordance with the votes of the Council — we have him pending to the Treasury, and obtaining payment of £1000 upon a warrant signed by him,- bearing upon the face of it the falsehood that the payment was for a Bill of Exi-hange for'remittance to pay for railway plant. We have him, on the other hand, going to Paterson & Co., giving them the order for plant to the extent of £1000, and obtaining from them a receipt for that sum of money, upon the false reprcsentntion that he was remitting it to be held by the Home agents for their account, and to he paid t<s their agents upon shipment of the plant. lie does not remit the money, but he applies it to other purposes, of which no account is ever rendered. We have him averring and reiterating the false* hond that the money had been remitted, although the letter from the Home agents which should have acknowledged the remittance is carefully abstracted, asaLo the duplicate per following mail, from the Government office ; and, finally, the case is made complete by receipt of advices from the Home agents, to the effect that no sucli remittance had even been made, or in any way alluded to in the letters received by them from the Superintendent. We have here falsehood upon falsehood, and the plain and direct misappropriation of £ICO3 of public money. The other ca-ses investigated by the Committee are equally vstrong, and equally marked at every point by perfidy and falsehood. But although these cases in which Government money is involved are alone taken cognizance of by the Committee of Council, it must not be supposed that they constitute the only charges against Mr. Macandrew. The town of Dunedin has been ringing from week to week with accounts of transactions of the most nefarious character. Now we have persons, misled by his ostensible position, placing large sums of money in his hands for investment in land, which, when their backs, are turned, are immediately appropriated to his own purposes ; and now we have ships and goods consigned to him, and every farthing of the freight and proceeds of goods similarly treated ; trusting friends who have stuck by him through much evil report, are induced to put their names to bills and then left to pay them, and so defrauded, without remorse, of the amounts. Occasion is taken upon an official visit to Lyttelton, to obtain a large sum of money from a mercantile firm there, by means of a sham lien upon wool. There has been no respect of persons, nor any of the magnanimity which sometimes attaches. to certain characters. The most trusting friends have found no favour ; and he has not hesitated to go to the public, offices and wheedle small sums of money out of subordinate employes. Such is the man who, with the aid of such suitable backers as he can find, would seek to persuade illinformed, or weak-minded people, that he is a political martyr. The spectacle is pitiable and humiliating. Would that it could be consigned to oblivion, to be never heard or thought of more ! But, that cannot be. Mischief has already been done which it will take many a day to repair ; and we fear that the name of-Otago has been made to stink in the nostrils of many a distant correspondent.' It only remains for the public of Otago to follow the example s*b well set by their Council, in promptly and unanimously ex presoing their abhorrence and condemnation, and washing their hands of any measure of implication in such doings, which may attach to their being supposed to view them with complacence or with indifference.