Untitled

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 4036, 5 December 1881, Page 2

Me E. G. Weight has been elected unopposed for a portion of the old OolSridge constjtu&noj. liiis makes the twelfth

unopposed candidate. Of these, four are Government supporters, and five are stern opposition men. Messrs Swanson and Wright will, in all probability, be found among the new party that will next rule New Zealand. Who the twelfth man is we have not yet heard. There is no chance of the Grey party keeping Messrs Hall and Atkinson in office for any lengthened period after the House reassembles. Mr George McLean, the late member for Waikouaiti, does not appear among the list of candidates this, time, having possibly told the Government to call him to the Upper House. It is rumored in Auckland that Mr Brett' of the Auckland Evening Star is not only ambitious of obtaining a similar distinction, but has a well grounded hope that his calling is sure. One thing may be regarded as certain. His calling would be less difficult to achieve than his election. There can be no reason why Mr Brett should not be made a councillor. The known undetected sly grog seller is found within its walls, the man who not long since sold tobacco by the ounce, and many other detrimentals, while the Press is only represented in the Upper Honse by the many sided Dr Pollen. The Council offers peculiar political advantages • A councillor is not expected to talk but to listen. It makes no matter what his opinions are, or whether he has any at all, if he only votes straight. He must have an " intense sympathy with capital," as Jim Crowe Richmond declared Vogel possessed. It is possible that the Government, however, may have too many aspirants for the peerage. The.Dunedin ironmonger, Mr Oliver, has already been nominated ; Mr McLean is to be created a peer at the same time as Mr Curtis; Messrs Bowen and Stevens have a claim on the Hall Government to be pensioned ; and if Header Wood is beaten for Eden, he may want to find entrance into what he has termed the museum of mummies. Of course any reforms of the constitution of the Upper House will only be projected by the present Government. Another class of men will have to perform the work.