The Southland Times PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1875.

Southland Times, Issue 2247, 27 December 1875, Page 2

The Southland Times PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1875.

Tin-: election for Invercargill has had an unlooked for issue. Mr Cuthbertaon has been rejected by the constituency he has served so well, and Mr George Luinsden has been chosen in his room. We record the oveut more in sorrow than in anger. It is siid that in the present contest, measures (judged wisely or otherwise) and not men, are guiding the choico of constituencies. Some principle, certainly, that takes no account of personal ( qualification must have ruled the decision of Inveivargill. In her exchange of representatives she has taken a step that has lowered her at once in the eye ot the colony, and tin: full issues'of which it may tike her some time to realize- As far as represents tion in t he General Assembly is concerned, ehehas relegated herself, with out hope, to political obscurity. That Mr George Luinsden should be able to plead for her with any weight in the House of Representatives is an expectation that no one who has ever listened to him will find it possible to indulge. With regard to the sentiments that he will endeavor to express, we can form some judgment from his appearance in the Theatre on Thursday night. A more painful exhibition of contempt for the laws of Political Economy, of rancorous feeling agaiust wealth and social influence, and the inevitable impress of iheseou political institutions, could not well be conceived. Mounted on the old Chartist stump.be arrayed class agaiust class,denounced the holding of larsre properties, and did his best to create hatred and bitterness between rich and pool 1 . Probably ho has sueeeiled too well, and a community that has hitherto worked in hirmony and in mutual respect is already showing the effects of the wretched mob-oratory that Mr Lumsden has inaugurated. For our part, we wish to say farewell to all the bitter feeling that has been generated, and to yield respect to the decision of those who were competent to give it, however much they have been misled. Pop ul its vult decipi, et decipiatur- We simply wish to protest against the method taken to insure success, and against the falseness of the issues that were placed before the public- Mr Lumsden has gone in, equally by unworthy weapons and upon a false cry. True popular influence and popular advantage belong, not to the system that he is pledged to resuscitate, but to that which he has misrepresented and decried- If his influence and that of others were to be effectual in reviving jProviucialism, InrereargiH might well sit in sackcloth and ashes. But the benefits of Abolition will be thrus upon us in spite of ourselves. As Mr Cuthbertson well said, in the moment of defeat, aud with true patriotic feeling—those who sympathise in this great movement of national reform may coneole themselves that Mr Lums den's return will not retard the success of that movement by a single hour. Many among us will live to see the day when this fine district and the noble harbor that belongs to if, freed from the curse of a real centralism and endowed with true independence, will prosper with a new life. We can confidently wait for a reversal of the decision of last week. Long before the present Parliament shall have expired— -if it ah.-ill live to the natural limit of its existence — a change will have come over the minds of those who have been striving to bring us again under Provincial thraldom. They will alter their tone too when they witness the action of those whom they have been taught to distrust, in regard to the great question of settle ment on the land. We are persuaded that the nest Parliament — a Parliament, as we believe it will be, containing a majority of the class that Mr Lumsden vilifies— will pass the largest and most liberal measures in regard to settlement, both on agricultural and on pastoral lands. These men will be ' pi'epared, as far as appearances iudi- . cate, to tax property and to lighten ( the incidence of fiscal burdens ou the j

masses of the people. They may b ; trusted to refute by their political nction thfi calumnies that have been heaped upon them. We outreat the working men tit" Invercargili to watch for tho next few years the course of those whom they have been tutored to regard as tlieir enemies. If t!iey do so, they will be loss disposed to throw over men whoso worst oft'jnce has ■jeeu that they hnvo brought to bear on national legislation and on the promotion of local iuterust.s, the influence of higher culture and position, as well .-is tho sterling qualities of statesmen.