The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MAT 31, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1259, 31 May 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MAT 31, 1870.

Mr Wood's reply to the requisition calling upon him to resign his seat in the G-erieral Assembly appears elsewhere in our columns this morning. That the hon. member has declined compliance with the expressed wishes of, his constituents, will not surprise any who consider the fidelity of unionists to the Jesuitical dogma, "The end justifies the means." When it is further remembered that Mr Wood enjoys the privilege of having a master of sophistry ,as chief counsellor, it twillalso appear quite, natural that the refusal should be based upon unsound premises, -and be bolstered up by quibbles. — Seeing that Mr Wood is determined at all sacrifices to maintain his seat; that his influence in the House will be small indeed afterf what has taken place, arid that he has promised — candid gen tleman-r\ to tell in his place how stubborn he has been, we might have let the matter rest, but for two statements which-, however convenient and satisfactory they may have appeared to Mr Wood, are so entirely fallacious and baseless as to merit animadversion. Mr Wooi> says the number of votes given to the leading candidates on the respective sides at the recent election, were nearly equal, and therefore doubts if a majority of the electors are against re-union. We have; on a former occasion, shown that i thenumber of voters appearing on the electoral roll is no criterion of the real electoral strength of the town, and remarked that, after each party putting forth its full strength, the whole number who voted at the recent election was 250, and that of this number 105 was' the largest amount of votes that could fairly be placed as the highest re-union score — Mr Caldeb having received — on personal grounds — a large number of decided anti-unionists' votes. In further proof of this, we may now inform Mr Wood that 21 of those who voted for Mr Caldeb have attached their names to the requisition,, as anti-unionists. This! fact may help to solve Mr Wood's doubts. . Mr Wood continues, "It is gratifying to me, both in a political and private sense, that so many of the 154 electors who then recorded their votes in favor of an anti-union candidate refused when solicited to sign the requisition." Here Mr Wood assumes that the whole 154 electors in question were asked personally to sign the requisition, and that the balance, after deducting the 76 who signed it, refused to do so. The facts we believe are simply as follow :— Ninety only

of the whole number were asked to sign » 1 the requisition ; 14 of these 90 refused, s but in no case on the ground of having l changed their convictions. In one case a refusal resulted from the party having no ! very decided views either way; in the others, from a dislike to express their political opinions in that public manner. ■ The balance of the 154, viz., 64, were never asked at all. The principal movers : in the matter did not put 'themselves to ■ the amount of trouble Mr Wood supposes they did, else, beyond a doubt, many more names might hare .-b^BM attached to the document. All *^JH aimed at was to produce an empteitfW protest against Mr Wood OTW-represent-ing this town when the union question comes before the General Assembly, and in this they have succeeded beyond cavil. Why did not Mr Wood's friends get up a counter-requisition ?