The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 11th FEBBUABY, 1884.

Southland Times, Issue 4860, 11 February 1884, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 11th FEBBUABY, 1884.

Mi". Andrew Kinross is a master of the art of keeping himself before the public, and is deeply indebted to the press, which has always so goodnaturedly assisted him. The public, we imagine, would be exceedingly easy in its mind if it never heard anything of Mr Kinross beyond the fact that he was pursuing his career as a settler at Myross — a character, let us say, in which he has always been so exemplary as to make us wish that there were many more like him in New Zealand. But the weakness of Mr Kinross is that he fancies himself born for statesmanship, and is impressed with tbe idea that the capability for good of any public body has never been thoroughly tested of which he has not been made a member. Wherever there is a vacancy he is always to the front, not driven thither by the eager desire of his fellow-colonists, but prompted by an ambition that is never at rest. Unasked, or invited in that way in which invitation means so little, and ready always to seize the advantage of being first in the field, Mr Kinross is sure to be found, at every opportunity, a candidate for Parliamentary honors ; and one of the signs of a general election would be wanting if he were not seen, on one pretext or another, creeping into print. We wish we knew how to persuade him that it is just possible for the Government of the country to be carried on without his persistent appearance as a candidate, and that lie might wait at least until the popular estimate of the necessity,) for his services came within reasonable distance of his own. We are led to make these remarks partly by the symptoms we have been noticing lately of the old craving for timely notoriety, and partly because we have something to say about a view enunciated by Mr Kinross at the last meeting of the Southland County Council. It is a well-known understanding amongst the members of that body that the initiation of busine_s belonging to any riding is left, as a rule, to the representative of that riding ; and his suggestions, so long as they are reasonable, are always received with special consideration. No doubt from the fact that proposals so made are made with the advantage of locai knowledge and generally commend themselves to the other members of the Council, opposition to them is rare when circumstances allow of their being acceded to ; and there is seldom occasion for the representative of any riding to interfere by moving the Council to make grants in the riding of his neighbor. But it is quite easy to see that this convenient understanding amounts to something a long way short of an absolute rule. The care of any riding is not in truth in the hands of its member but in that ot the whole Council, and just a . the Council or any member of it may say that a concession asked for any portion of the county is too much, so may it or he say that what has been demanded is too little, and initiate either a fresh grant or an addition to one already proposed. Mr Kinross has been unable to comprehend ihe limit that the very nature of the constitution of the Council imposes, and in consequence has been delivering himself of some very petulant and foolish talk. " A protest was read " from Councillor Kinross against the " expenditure of £10 on a road in the " Awarua riding, asked for by Mr " Walsh, and.voted at the last meeting '- of the Council. He also objected to " any other member of the Council in- " terfering with the allocation of money "in his riding." There is about as nmcji bad logic compressed into this sentence as it would be possible to put in the same number of words. Arid there is an equal amount of unreasoning vanity in the further statement that " a " great insult had been put on bim (Mr " Kinross) at last meeting by money t( being voted for his riding against 'his' " wish, , . . Up represented' " the Awarua riding, and considered. " that he should be allowed to manage its " affairs." But here is the climax — " From bis point of view the motion " |>asi.e<J at last meeting against his wish

" was a great insult to him, and was really " an effort to rob him of the privileges " he possessed as a British sabject." Bravo ! Mr Kinross, you will not beat that little flight in a hurry, at least within the walls of the Council Chamber; but it makes us tremble for the heights into which you might soar, if ever fitted with the wings of a real member of Parliament. We will not stay to argue the question that Mr Kinross has raised with so little judgment. If he be right, then he is the Council in so far as any work affecting Awarua is concerned. Not less and not more than his sovereign will.; is to be done in that riding, and, as Councillor Baldey most conclusively remarked, " there was no use of them ' ' sitting there as a Council." "If Coun- " cillor Kinross's ideas were carried out," said Councillor Shank 3, with equal force, " each member would be nothing more "nor less than a despot in his owh " riding." " The Chairman read the "Counties Act to prove that each " councillor could move and vote on any "matter affecting any part of th« "county." Tbe Comroil** did credit to its good sense and sound judgment by refusing to record the protest on its minutes. Poor Mr. Kinross accused the Conncil of having attempted to "sit upon" him ; but he hap succeeded in effectually " sitting upon" himself ; and this little burst of his — the product at once of false conception and of overweening vanity — will not readily be forgotten. -