Wanganui Chronicle, AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH, 1876.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 3178, 27 September 1876, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle, AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH, 1876.

Axbeet Cbacropt Fookes is irrepressible in his efforts to attain popularity. His letter which appeared in the 'Herald' last night, aud a copy of which he read the night before to the Wairoa meeting, has been abundantly answered in the account of the pro ceediugs as reported elsewhere.. We fear that all the special pleadings aud misrepresentations of the Wairoa agitator will fall short of the mark. The presumption displayed by Mr Fox's censor is almost equal to that of Mr. John Morgan in contesting the election, and we can think of no more telling analogy. Very amusing are the queries and theories put forward by the defender of the . people's liberties, the upholder of their rights, aud the champion of their cause. A. Cracroft Fookes is no toady, no tufthunter. Has he forgotten the part he took during Sir Julius Vogcl's candidature ? How contemptible has been his vacillation, how extravagant his hero-worship, and how ludicrous his frequent changes of front. Mr Fookes has had his day, but his prestige, such as it is, and what is of it, is rapidly on the wane, oven in Wairoa; as was abundantly proved atothe meeting on Monday night. His generalship appears to have been sadly at fault. He ought to have known that his influence did not extend beyond a radius of a hundred yards from his late place of business, where in the days of yore the Native question was discussed and the feelings of the people excited by the ostensibly disinterested dissertations of the quasi-patriot. Played out, will now be the verdict, and doubtless Mr Fookes regrets as much as Mr Morgan does that he was foolish enough to take part in a contest which must inevitably involve defeat,

"We are taken to task by our facetious contemporary for alleged inconsistency in reference to the local political question. Very feeble is the satire, however, if we can dignify the futile thrusts by such a term. Our own quotation from the ' Post ' is hurled at us, but the shaft is innocuous. Did nut we at the time combat these erroneous premises and baseless rumours, which had their origin with the ' Post.' It is a new thing for the , ' Herald 'to quote the ' Post ' in support of a waning cause. ]t is but a day or two ago that the phials of its terrible indignation were emptied to the dregs upon the sinning journal. But that course is characteristic, and therefore no further analysis is necessary. The ' Herald ' would fain get up a cry against Mr Fox because he is an " Honorable" ; because he is an ex- Premier ; because lie is a fit and proper person to occupy a seat in the House of Jie/pveseutatives ; because he is older now than he was some years ago ; because it is alleged that he is a sadly changed man ; because he has been extensively talked about ; because he is a consistent advocate o£ I temperance principles ; because it is assumed that Messrs Fox, Bryce, and Ballance would not row in the same boat and wiih the same "sculls." Now, here is a category of offences. Is not such puerile faultfinding contemptible iv the extreme ? Surely our contemporary has been playing the traitor, and recommending the candidate instead of denouncing his unfitness for the responsibilities which the constituency is anxious should devolve upon him. Truly, such is a pitiable effort to malign. We wonder will the electors to-day refuse to admit the superiority of Mr Fox's claims to Parliamentary honors for the reasons assigned above. We imagine uob, Which of these alleged unworthy qualifications can Mr Morgan claim as his attributes ? Who will answer? Mr John Mokgan has spoken, and the burden of his speech was that lie being on the spot had the better right to aspire to the honor of representing this constituency in tke House of Representatives. We know a live quadruped of a certain breed is preferable to a dead one of the greater carnivera, but as Mr Morgan does not happen to be an ass, nor Mr Fox a lion, we cannot admit the former's claim to the seat on the ground that he is here, and Mr Fox absent. The last named will be here in November, and the session being moribund no great harm can be worked bj leaving Mr Bryce to protect our interests single-handed for another week or two. He did it for years, and no ill effects ensued. Let us briefly review Mr Pox's claims on our suffrages, and contrast tlieia with those of his opponent. Mr Fox has been the most pei'sistent advocate of State sshools based on purely secular principles. It was lie who years ago brought about the establishment of the present grammar school (West's). True, he was enabled to do so by the liberality of many of the leading citizens of the day. Now, the education question is one of the most important of the day, and yet Mr Morgan only mentioned it incidentally when referring to the distribution of the land fund. If we retain Mr Pox we know we are sending a man to the House who will deal with the question in a thoroughly intelligent and comprehensive manner. If for no other reason than this we think Mr Fox should be returned by a largo majority. To Mr Fox ive ovre the boon of cheap land transfer, as he it was who gave us the pivsent Land Transfer Act. It is to his ready appreciation of the wants of this coast we arc indebted for the roads and bridges North of Wanganui, and the mail coach service to Taranaki — no small boons the settlers on this coast will admit. His ready appreciation of the demand for land for settlement at the close of the late war led to the sale of large blocks of confiscated lands, a step which is already bearing good fruit, and "Wanganui is benefiting largely therefrom. Surely the people here remember the disastrous state of affairs in New Zealand when Mr Fox re-entered Pai-Ka-ment last time, and how lie, gathering to his side such men as Sir Donald McLean, Sir Julius Yogel, and others, assumed the head of the Government and put an end to a struggle which was ruining the country at large and this district in particular. We are sure we have but to refer incidentally to these services to ensure their legitimate recognition. In or out of New Zealand Mr Fox has never ceased to interest himself in its welfare. His appeal to British capitalists in the speech lie delivered lately before the members of the Colonial Institute in London contained a masterly sketch of the history and resources of the colony, and rendered it a most valuable service. We will nob dilate further on his past services, but will now turn to Mr Morgan. That Mr Morgan is a good and energetic settler we quite admit, and that lie has honestly served his ffillow settlers both in lioad Boards and the Provincial Council, we are also aware. Contrasted with Mr Fox's claims, Mr Morgan's shrink into tho microscopic. The bulk of those who attended the meeting convened by Mr Morgan last night were evidently of the sanio opinion ; as, out of one hundred and fifty persons present thereat, but some fifteen or twenty held up their hands to pledge themselves as favourable to Mr Morgan's return. Mr Morgan was vaguely in f.ivour of retrenchment, but did not carry the meeting with him when he stated that as a practical mode of curtailing expenditure he would bo favourable to the discontinuance of the San Francisco Mail Service, He was also in favour of doing away with the expenditure under the head of "AgentGeneral's Department." He thought the laud fund ought to bear the cost of opening up the lands, and possibly lend assistance to education ; and that land ought to be sold on the system of dc- | f erred payments, at an upset price of not loss than £1 per acre. Taken as a whole, the speech was flat and spiritless, aud contaiucd no features of special u tores t, failing to carry tho sympathies of the bulk of the audience with the speaker. Surely Mr Morgan saw in the scattered uplifted hands iv his

favour, that lie is not the man for the present vacancy. Just now the Government need Mr Fox aud the country also needs him, therefore Mr Morgan must not Le supposed to be surprised at his defeat. We understand a telegram was received in town by one of our leading citizens (not Mr Watt) from Major Atkinson, in which the present Premier expressed tho hope that Wanganui would elect Mr Fox to fill Sir Julius Vogel' s place. The result of today's poll is fraught with the greatest interest to ~No\v Zealand, therefore every elector should weigh well the respective merits of the candidates, and vote for the one whose talents best fit him for the vacancy; and that the Hon. Wm. Fox is tho man, wo have no misgivings, in which expression of opinion, we imagine, a large proportion of tho constituency will entirely coincide with us.