POLITICAL OBSERVANDA.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 19, 22 January 1881, Page 185

POLITICAL OBSERVANDA.

LETTER, No. 1. (To the Electors of New Zealand.) " Men at some time are masters of their fate : The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." — Cassiut, Gentlemen,— Believing, as I do — especially in view of its present financial condition — that the future prosperity of this colony depends almost entirely upon the wise administration of its Government ; and that you — the real source of all legislation and administration in this colony, for vox populi is essentially vox dei under one representative, constitution, — have been most suicidal in what you have done in the past, I, as a resident in the colony, make no apology in pointing out some of your past errors ; in the hope that you may recognise, avoid, and profit in the future. Probably most of yoxi are prepared to admit the unsatisfactory political character of some of your representatives, especially of those sent from the northern districts of the colony, and also the most unsatisfactory administration for some time past of the affairs of the colony ; but few of you probably realise that you solely, individually, and directly, are immediately responsible for, and chargeable with, all this. And until you do realise this, the hope of reform is vain. In other words it is absolutely essential that you clearly realise that the Government of this colony means only the government of each of you by men directly appointed by you, and that each one of you is benefitted or injured in your persons and property by wise or unwise government. It is your ignoring of these facts

that has contributed nrach to your past mistakes. If you always bore your personal interest in view, the result would inevitably be : (1.) That you would take every care to elect such men as your representatives, as if the responsibility and the consequence of such election rested xipon, and would concern to you personally ; and (2.) That you would take equal care that the duration of Parliaments should be such as would allow those men, whose election proved to have been a mistake, to do little harm ; or so provide that an unworthy representative might be ousted on the happening of certain contingencies, which, at some future time, I may more particularly indicate But until you recognise the all important ego factor in political life, that is, the realising of personal advantage to you, in electing tlie best men, these results are not to be expected. Were it only for the reason of making you feel this acutely, it would have been an inestimable boon that the property tax should reach all of you, and thus teach you who have been the direct cause of it, by bitter experience, the inevitable results that flow from foolish expenditure, extravagance, and waste. For in political matters (as in all others) nothingteaches like bitter experience, and direct taxation is a very wholesome bitter. Of course it is not to be expected that the majority of you .know much of economic laws, or of the principles that should underlie all legislation, and it is therefore not to be expected that you can act as monitors to your representatives m many

questions that must necessarily arise, and the decision of which involves the happiness of yourselves and your posterity. I therefore it becomes doubly advisable that your choice of men should be sound. Had you a ship with yourselves on board, you would be very sure to recognise the ego factor there ; and, if the election Avere with you, would take every care to select a man to guide that ship, versed and experienced in the science of navigation. But to command and guide the destinies of your ship of state, involving not only all your lives, but also all your properties— incredible as as it may seem— you have been in the habit of selecting men as your representatives avlio are neither versed nor experienced in the science of governen*~wllo S ive you no evidence whatsoever of their knowledge of political economy • some of whom were reputedly needy or hungry men, avlio had scarcely a recognisable stake in the country ; avlio had every temptation to serve themselves before you; and Avho Avere ready to promise anything and give any pledges, in order to be elected. And from such men forsooth you expect profitable legislation and administration. What wonder if, under such circumstances, your ship is stranded, if not Avrecked. It is, in vieAV of this, quite irrelevant and futile to talk of the extravagant administration of native affairs, the monstrosities of the Civil Service, of the unwarrantable expenditure on unproductive public works, .of political jobs, and of other kindred subjects. The cause and remedy are Avith you— you only are to blame. "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." As a reply to all this, I am Avell aAvare it may be said, " But Aye can't get^the best men as repre-

sentatives ; we must take such as we can get.' This, however, is mere sophistry. In the first place democratic communities (such as yours) as a rule, whilst theoretically advocating the election of the most superior man, are inclined to avoid electing them, because in such democratic communities jealousy is one of the most powerful of the undercurrent influences at work; and apparent superiority is somewhat distasteful to those classes, of which a majority of the electors is composed. But, secondly, and mainly, because the best men, that is, the men most fitted in a democratic community to be representatives by reason of their social position, education, and culture, are frequently not only reserved in manner, and have sometimes a certain degree of hauteur in their demeanour — not pleasing or conciliatory to the public — but decline to be elected at the sacrifice of their independence or by degrading themselves in giving humiliating pledges. And, further, not unfrequently such men have not the glib tongue — even if they had the inclination — to tickle the palate of the superficial thinking crowd, of which electoral meetings are most frequently composed. Thus, at the last general election — at least in the Auckland Provincial District — you preferred to reject thoughtful, studious men, reputed for ability amongst those who personally know them — men who possess the confidence of those whose opinions are worthy of respect, with a substantial interest in the country — and elect as the majority of your representatives for the electoral district of this provincial district men whose main qualification seemed to be that they would

pledge themselves to anything or anybody, in order to be elected. You altogether ignoring that plausibility and complaisance are at aS timeatfo be suspected, whether in political life or otherwise. As a proof of this, I need only remind you that such men as the Hon. Mr. Whitaker, Mr. J. M. Clark, and the Rev. David Bruce, failed to obtain seats. Let me not be understood as advocating that under no circumstances should pledges be obtained, because I can imagine such situations may arise where pledges should be asked,* and made a sine qua non ; but, with candidates of approved, calibre, it must be admitted the question of pledges is very much narroAved ; and when given, one advantage of such candidates must certainly be that such pledges will in all probability, be kept. One of our greatest writers on Representative Government, says :— "The very principle of Constitutional Government requires it to be assumed that political power Avill be used to promote the particular purposes of the holder." Therefore, let me entreat you, if you wish to be prosperous and happy, elect men for the future whose morale, mental superiority and education are beyond question. But remember you will never do this till you realise that it is of the utmost direct importance to each of you to do it. Then, and not till then, will you be anxious to elect the best men possible. In the words of one of the most celebrated essayists on constitutional question, let me say to you : "If, when the opportunity presents itself, you neglect to do your duty to yourselves, and to posterity, to God, and to your country, I shall have one consolation left ;" that I have not only admonished you in view' of the past, but warned you in respect of th future.— l am, etc., Brutus.

It is rumoured that the revivalist preacher, Moody, is likely to pay these colonies a visit. If lie does come here, I would recommend all our local preachers to attend his services as often as possible, by -which means they may possibly xi nd out what Is the particular spell he employs to draw together and interest such audiences. I ha"*- frequently attended his services and was always much struck at the earnest attention paid to him, notwithstanding his enormous audi ences. On one occasion I was present when lie had an audience of 26,000. There was no noise nor confusion whatever, and no excitement ; but everyone, appa« rently was bent on listening earnestly and attentively to what the preacher had to say. In this there wa a marked difference to what may be seen any Sunday in our churches, where the congregations seem bent upon doing anything but attend to the service. In my opinion the " spell " is a simple one ; it is, that he is thoroughly in earnest, he speaks in plain homely but forcible language, he makes no oratorical displays, but at the same time he is eloquent. No one could hear, him, however, without being impressed with the fact that the man's whole heart is in his work. He has great physical powers, for he has for years conducted two and frequently three services daily, this when taken in connection with the large audiences he addresses and his great earnestness means a strain upon the nervous system, that no ordinary man could stand for any length of time. For some reason or another the "orthodox" clergy repudiate him, though he is a man that never says a word that could oftend the tender feelings of either the establishment or any other ism. On one occasion I heard a clergyman preach against him and his text was "A frightful and a horrible tiling hath come upon the land," and he made out that Moody was fulfilling this prophecy.

—A good story comes to me from the West Coast, where habits and customs abound which, none but very old colonists can .appreciate, a»d but few of those really enjoy. A certain lady, ', well known to the police, " to use a faniijiar reportorial phrase, who spends the majority of her days in gaol, and the remainder in preparing to qualify for that establishment, was recently released from durance vile and found herself the lucky possessor of enough hard cash to fit her person out in gayer plumage, and accordingly she made for a linen draper's shop in a leading West Coast town, and purchased an attire, complete in the minutest detail from head to foot. The shopman, delighted not only at so extensive an order, but at the reviving spirit of decency in the lady, gladly supplied the articles ; but judge of his horror and amazement Avhen she calmly proceeded to divest herself of her old clothes, and converted the shop into a dressing-room. The shopman was inured to West Coast habits and customs as a general rule— but this was too much. The money was returned, the goods taken back, and the fair customer summarily ejected. To obviate future occurrences of the sort, however, the enterprising linen draper has determined to erect a screen similar to that immortalised by Joseph. Surface and Lady Teazle in the school for Scandal. .