South Canterbury Times, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1883.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3315, 16 November 1883, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1883.

A very comfortable and pleasant gathering was that of the electors of Gladstone at Pleasant Point on Wednesday night, to meet their member, Mr Sutter. That gentleman delivered himself of an entertaining address, displaying not a little ingenuity at times, and occasional facetionsness ; the audience were willing to be entertained and furnished a representative who contributed even more to the enjoyment of the evening than the parliamentary representative did. Mr D. Anderson had something quite dramatic about him ■, his air in handing up his “ questions ” was inimitable, silently extending the open paper to the Chairman amid profound silence, be looked round upon the assembly with an air of triumphant expectancy, and a smile that said, as plainly as possible—“lTl put him into a corner, now.” It was a pity to see high art so ineffective. Mr Anderson is no match for Mr Sutter. He did not quite know the man he was trying to “ corner.” However, the audience were willing to be tickled, and they were tickled, and Mr Anderson no doubt experienced the sensation known as “ bursting with enjoyment.” Mr Sutter was aware that people wanted to know how he justified the turning of his political coat; and he seized that bull by the horns, forthwith. And did’nt he make out a case for himself ? In our humble opinion he did. He persuaded bis audience that all the liberalism, the uprightness,the wisdom of the colony were consentrated in the Ministry, of which Major Atkinson is the most prominent figure ; that the condition of the colony was sound and encouraging, the outlook rather rosy than otherwise, and the prospect of an additional £d in the £ clapped on, quite exhilarating. With a few slapdashes of bis brush, this political painter furnished a fine Parliamentary picture. The mention of his own virtuous independence and sense of duty was touching ; his horror at Mr Dargavillo’s treatment of that paragon of Treasurers, Major Atkinson, the god of his idolatry, was most edifying. Wc could not help observing and admiring the diplomacy and tact of the member, and the skill with which ho eluded those who thought to put him down. At the same time, while we cannot help being thus amused in a good-natnred way, we are bound to say Mr Sutter if he did, as some say, desert the ship he signed articles for, worked might and main for his constituency ; and wo feel sure, that though a more brilliant and ambitious man might bo found to represent Gladstone, not one more really useful could be got. No one in the House worked more honestly for his district than Mr Sutter did, and that without speech-making. Oratory is the least effective weapon with which a politician now-a-days can be furnished. It will soon be like old armour—useless altogether. It is in the lobbies and the Club rooms that the business is really done, and the

best lobbyist is the rising man of the day. Now in the lobbies, Mr Sutter has very few superiors, he understands how to move the strings that set the figures in motion. We are painfully aware that the remarks made by the member for Gladstone about the Opposition had a great deal of truth in them. What we have all along felt, is that the Opposition failed to accomplish its own excellent purposes simply because it had no policy marked out, and cautions men naturally declined to join in the work of pulling down existing institutions until they were prepared to supply their place with something better. It is solely to the lack of policy and plan of action on the part of the Opposition that the Government owes its continuance in power, and it was not unnatural that a member who went in avowedly for the purpose of doing something for his district should have preferred courting the party in power, the one that had the purse, to identifying himself with a party wanting in cohesion or defined purpose and unlikely ever to succeed without them. The electors of Gladstone made a good choice, and they have profited by it.