ELECTION ITEMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6036, 19 September 1887, Page 4

ELECTION ITEMS.

The Christchurch South Contest.

[From the Lyttelton Times.] "We regret extremely that two gentlemen who call themselves Ministerial tandidates for Christchurch South

liaye shown themselves quite unable their own ambition to *.-what they profess to believe the country's interest. Messrs Ayers and George intend, we are sorry to hear, 4o go to the poll. We can only hope that the electors of South Christ--church will read them such a lesson -on. the gross selfishness they are -showing as to be a warning/ not only to them, but to many others. It was aever proposed that they should retire without enquiry in order to make. way , "for Mr Perceval. What they were -masked to do was to submit to impartial This is what they have bought shy of doing, and have now finally refused to do; this is what i;liey ought to have done, and have

not done. Mr Avers has talked much about some imaginary duty owed by liim to his friends, which talk may be -taken for just bo much as it is worth. Mr George, for his part, seems to have become greatly excited over some

-suggestion that his candidature is not T^rbiat.he likes to call " genuine." To prove this he has deposited a cheque -with a Bank manager. Mr George, we should say, has drawn on his imagination as well as on the Bank of New Zealand. Nobody supposes that his candidature is anything but a genuine outcome of sincere egotism and a whole-souled disregard of everyl>ody except Mr George. We do not suppose that many electors will throw away their Totes on him, despite what practical jokers may have led him to expect. The danger to the Ministerial <aide comes rather from Mr Ayers. What ought to be clearly pointed out to jthe electors of Christchurch South is that every vote they give to Ayers is really a vote given to Thomson. Mr Ayers has not a ghost of a chance of ""being returned himself, but it is just wildly possible that he and Mr George between them may take away enough votes from Mr Perceval to let Mr Thomson in. We do not think this probable, but there ought to be no jpesaibility of it. The electors of iSouth Christchurch. ought to take the .matter into their own hands, and make up 'their minds to disregard personal feeling, and vote in a block for the strongest of the three Ministerialists. Without a shadow of a

doubt, the strongest of the three is Mr Perceval.