The Star. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1896.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5735, 1 December 1896, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1896.

A triple electorate, a triplicate of " tickets " and a triplicate of candidates for each ticket. That is practically the position in Christchurch in connection with the general election. Of the eleven candidates who have been nominated, two — Messrs T. J. Partridge and It M. Taylor — may be eliminated from the list, since, though they may unfortunately take away votes from other men whose prospects are better, they have not the ghost of a chance of being elected, even should they save their nomination fee. Nine candidates are thus left. Three of these, Messrs Beswick, Donnelly and Lewis, have been selected by the National Conservative Association as out-and-out opponents of the present Government. Three others, Messrs G. W. Ell, T. E. Taylor and G. J. Smith, are the choice of the Prohibition League against all comers. Tbe remaining three, Messrs Collins, Cullen and Marciel, represent the Liberal and Labour Societies in so far as these. have not been " shredded off " by the confliction of an unfortunate side issue. With regard- to the Conservative candidates, the progeny of the National Ass, they have arrayed themselves for the time being in the garb of the Liberal lion, and are making a grotesque profusion of promises that in the aggregate would make them more Liberal than the Liberals. Of their own policy they Lave not a scrap, save freetrade in land. "Wait," they say in effect, " till we are elected, and then we will tell you what our policy really is." If our readers will refer to a pithy article in this issue; entitled " The Government Policy: the Land for the People," they cannot fail to realise what tremendous issues are involved in this matter of freetrade in land, and how utterly opposed the tactics of the Conservatives are to the maintenance of the heritage of the people inviolate. And again, we have the local Conservative candidates \putting forth " dodgers " that run thus : — " Do you want equal pay for equal work ? Do you want fair play in obtaining work ? Do you want free pensions when pastwork ? . Do you want the , half-holiday preserved ? Vote then for Lewis, Beswick and Donnelly." Why, such a plea, coming from such asource, is nothing more nor less than a gross insult to the intelligence of the people. Here are these men, professing, on the one hand, to admire and to swear by Liberal measures, and on the other hand pledging themselves up to the hilt to do their utmost to destroy the authors and the builders up of the Liberal policy. Well may the electors laughingly makes use of an old Dorset rhyme in answer to these political hypocrites : — Promise, indeed I a likely case, Wi' thie broad grin athearc your face. And then there are the men put forward by the prohibitionists — put forward, not' for the advancement of Liberalism, not to uphold the existing administration, not to champion the cause of the people against tho greedy monopolists bred and trained in a Conservative atmosphere, but to promote a craze, to ride a hobby-horse to death, to make that one question of prohibition the. be-all and the end-all of their political existence. Of these three men, one of them has time after time expressed, himself in language that has shocked the sensibilities of the community, speaking of a man who has striven hard for the well-being of this country as a " PriDce of, Liars," insulting the women of the community who chose to differ with him in a manner that is painfully remembered, and branding people infinitely better than he is, as the scum of society. Because he has the drag on him just now, are people likely to forget these .things, or to pronounce Mr T. E. Taylor a fit and proper person to represent them in Parliament. VVe make no such charge against the " respectable " Mr Smith or the immature Mr Ell, but they have bound themselves hand and foot to the Isitt-Taylor craze, and if they are, from the electoral standpoint, estimated by the company they keep, that is a misfortune which they could scarcely fail to anticipate. We come now to Messrs Collins, Cullen and Marciel. Of the first of these it is scarcely necessary to make mention, for hehas proved himself true and trusty, a champion of the equal rights of the sexes, an upholder of morality, a Liberal of tho Liberals. Of .Mr Cullen we have spoken on several occasions in terms of the warmest commendation, as a genuine worker, a man who knows all the ins and outs of trade unionism and Labour legislation, a man of inherent refinement, with a political faith based upon close study and deep-seated conviction. Captain Marciel has demonstrated in his platform speeches that he possesses in a marked degree the characteristic outspoken honesty of a British sailor. He has flinched from no point, equivocated in no degree, but in plain, unvarnished terms has declared himself to be an unswerving champion of the programme adopted by the advanced Liberal Party. In the circumstances of the present contest, then, we prefer to stand by the triple Liberal ticket, and declare our preference for Messrs Collins, Cullen and Marciel.