THE FORTHCOMING ELECTION

Tuapeka Times, Volume VIII, Issue 520, 11 December 1875, Page 2

THE FORTHCOMING ELECTION

The following article was communicated to us by a correspondent who describes himself as " A Registered Voter." An announcement made in our advertising columns will show that Mr. Brown haa not, aa our correspondent assumes, relinquished the idea of seeking re-election :- —

No candidate has, as yet/ put in an appeatance for Tuapeka. Mr. Brown we judge from his continued reticence does not intend to seek re-election. That determination is no doubt due to a sense of the utter want of ..unanimity on vital questions shown to exist between him and his late cdjastituency. We expected such an understanding would have been arrived at as would have enabled Mr. Brown to present himself once more at the hustings. While regretting that he has seen fit to adopt the extreme views of an ultra-provin-cialiat, we can not but admire the firm and unflinching spirit by which he ia actuated, and which has led him of his own free will and accord to sever a connection that can no longer be maintained on the footing of a good understanding. Had Mr. Brown found it consistent with the duty he owes to himself to have again come forward, personal considerations alone would have carried a larga number of votes in his favor, and it only proves the magnanimity of the sacrifice when, in the face of that fact,

we find him thus gracefully retiring from the field. We have heard it hinted that he will seek a constituency elsewhere. If so, we trust he will find one more in consonance with his own views ; and, on, the other hand, we can assure any such constituency they will find in Mr. Brown a good, useful man. Of course, this new aspect of affairs ■will be bound to put the Tuapeka eleV tors on their mettle. Parliament has been formally dissolved, and writs returnable in sixty days issued. These, if "we are not misinformed, are already in the hands of the Returning Officers. The sixty days' grace expires on the 2nd February, so that action will have to be taken forthwith. One or two names h*ve been mentioned as probable candidates ; but we do not believe that any of, them are likely to come to the Bcratch. In the meantime it is of the very utmost importance that the nominations for this place should be delayed as long as possible. The telegraphic announcement that the writs had been issued conveyed the further information that, while the 2nd February was fixed for their return, the various officers might, if they found it convenient, return them within that date. We judge from that fact alone that they have a certain amount of discretionary power in the matter. In the case of Tuapeka it is necessary that power should be stretched to its utmost limits. Ewything in tha way of preliminaries jmmdn to be looked after, and we impress this fact too strongly 'on the mind of the officer. Unless such a concession is made, Jan objectionable man may, and very probably will, start up at the last moment and make ■what is known as a "walk over." A contingency of that sort is even more than probable unless sufficient time be given to the • district to make its arrangements. So far as we know the mode of procedure provided for by the wiits,itisnotindispensibly requisite that the nominations should be fixed for a day earlier than the middle of January. If a poll be demanded, all the polling places are conterminons to Lawrence — Waipori being the most remote. In that case the result from each can be had within a short time of the hour fixed for closing, so that no delay would arise in getting the returns forwarded to head quarters. Be that as it may, it is absolutely necessary Tuapeka should be one of the very last places, and we have little doubt but that the Returning Officer will so far consult the circumstances in which the district is placed, by fixing the nominations accordingly.