West Coast Times. AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. FRIDAY, JANUARY 27.

West Coast Times, Issue 1662, 27 January 1871, Page 2

West Coast Times. AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. FRIDAY, JANUARY 27.

Though we regret the result of the Election for the District of Hokitika,

we cannot say it has taken us by surprise. Mr White had a numerous and influential body of suppoiters in town, and at the poll they did him good service. Their numbers alone were not to be despised, and their influence | in obtainiug country votes was of equal Jif not greater value. Ou the other [ hand, Mr BarfF's supporters did no fc

come forward as they should have done, and we believe this arose, in some mea-

sure, from the mistaken notion that bis f election was certain. We are a wave o^ £ many individual cases where this presumption operated in deterring 1 voters from taking the trouble of leaving their daily avocations and exercising \ the franchise. However, be the cause ' what it may, the result is the J same, Mr Barif is out, and* Mr White reigns in his steadThat being the case, it will be i our study rather to strengthen the ] hands of the new member than to s endeavor to make occasion for fault- / finding. In the House of Keprcsenta- ' tives if Mr White has any really good s stuff in him it will be brought out, 1 whilst we may be certain that he could not go to a better school to teach him ' the advantages to be derived from calm- ( ness in debate, and an avoidauce to the ( 1 utmost extent pos&ible of personalities < aud imputations of unworthy motives to those against whom he may find himself opposed in the political arena. . When Mr White has learned this lesson, and has made himself acquainted with the questions which are occupying the Colonial mind, and those which more immediately pnnwn tv A»t«. uv f his own constituency, especially when he has acertained the wants of the great mining industry of Westland, i there will be hope of his usefulness in the position to which his fellow-citizens have called him. We believe him to he an honest painstaking man, and noc without ability, ' but to trumpet forth either the one or the other on the floor of the House of Representatives will be the certain method of debarring 1 himself from obtaining that modicum of influence to which he would be otherwise entitled On a small scale our Colonial legislature resembles the Parliament of the old country in this respect as in many others. Modest merit will surely be appreciated in the long run, but honorable members by no means like to be taken by storm. They prefer finding out a man's worth for themselves. It may he thought that we purpose damming with faint praise the gentleman who has just achieved so marked a triumph — for the great majority by which he headed the poll makes , the use of the word not inappropriate. Such is very far from being our intention. We only say that if Mr White does his best, and there is no reason to suppose that he will not, ■ he has a fair chance of succeeding, but ' that if he does not master the faults we have pointed out, and devote time aud earnest attention in getting an acquaiut- > anco with the business in which he has embarked, his share in the political movements of the day will be neither 5 honorable to himself nor of value to his constituents. We shall be prepared to , give him a fair field, and shall certainly find it a more pleasurable task to praise than to blame. The rejected candidate has appealed to the voters of the new Electoral District of Totara, which is merely a small portion of the old district of Weslland South, which he formerly represented. We firmly believe that the electors would c be doing no unwise thing by j, returning him ; but he is strongly a opposed. Mr Tribe possesses much d influence as a local uiau, and one of • great intelligence ; Mr Hoos has many t supporters, though it is said that Boss will have nothing to say to ljina ; Mr Carreras is recommended by his knowledge of the requirements of tho raining QQflWUimty anc\ tyij GxpsrtynoD }n the

routine of political business ; and Mr K'cogh, though, as h« stated on the hustings yesterday, lie is inakiug bis first plunge, into tlio troubled waters, will secure many votes by tlio baro facts of his social standing, and his unblemished and most amiable character. But he has other claims which will not be likely to be overlooked on the day of polling. He has a considerable property stake in the mines of the Totara District, and has quite as good a knowledge of what the constituency requires, and quite as clear an insight into Colonial politics as any of his opponents. As a son of the " Emerald Tsle" he is likely i to be a favorite with a race who rarely forget the ties of country and creed. We will not hazard an opinion on the result of the poll ; but this much may be said — some good and sufficient reason should be shown for deserting our old member, who we maintain ha? done nothing to forfeit the confidence of the electors. If there is no such reason Mr Baiff ought to be elected.

The Couniy Council met last evening for the despatch of business . The notice paper contained a large number of motions, but none of them were considered, as the Council went into committee on the subject of tolls, and which occupied them the whole night. The Council meet again to-day at two p.m., when amongst other matters, Mr Button's motion — '' That no honorarium be paid to members," and Mr Barff 's motion respectiug the election of the County Chairman, will come on for discussion. The man Betts, who recently cut his

throat at the Waimea, is progressing satis-

factorily in the Hospital. He will likely be fit to appear before the Resident Magistrate at Stafford by the end of next week. Mr Greenwood, dentist, has arrived in town, and may be consulted at his surgery on the second floor of Temple Chambers. The nomination of candidates for a seat in the General Assembly, to represent the Totara district, took place yesterday at the hustings outside the Resident Magistrate's Court House. On tbe Returning Officer, Mr FitzGerold, asking for nominations, Mr Dale proposed Mr Carreras, Avhich was seconded by Mr Lynch ; Mr Meyer and Mr Holmes proposed and seconded Mr Hoos ; Mr Burton and Mr Pitcher proposed and seconded Mr Keogh ; Mr Zolirab aud Mr Lynch proposed and secouded Mr Tribe ; Mr Dale and Mr Zohrab proposed and seconded Mr Barff. A show of hands was then taken with the followiug result :— Keogh, 1G ; Can-eras, 15 ; Hoos, 15 ; Barff, 13 ; Tribe, 7. A poll was demanded by Messrs Dale and Lynch on behalf of Mr Curiums, which will take p!acc on the Bth February. The various candidates then addressed the assemblage. A vote of thanks to the Returning Officer terminated the proceedinge. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday there were no ciiminal cases brought forward. A nutnler of civil eases under the Extended Jurisdiction were adjourned, owing to the nominations for the Totara DistrictJudgment was given by default iv the case of Barrett v. Smith— a claim foivC/i ls_CdAnderson v Y&*w'- •"'" :l claim 19s, for work done as a shipwright to the schooner Garibaldi. Judgment was consented to. The Court then adjourned. The whole of the returns from the various polling places for the eloci ion of a member for the Hokitika District in the General Assembly have came in. Mr John White has a majority of 134. White— Uokitika, 212; Kanieri, 97; Ilau Ilau, 53; Blue Spur ; 21 ; Stafford, 88 ; Arahnra, 4 ; Fox's, 32 ; Goldsborough, 25; Chesterfield, 22; Callagan's, 25; total, 583. Earff— lTokilika, 117; Kanieri, 44; ILu Ilau, 20; Blue Spur, 17; Stafford, 84; /rahnro, 1G; Pox's, 18; Goldsborough, 1 0 1 ; Chesterfield, 8; Callaghan's, 15. Total, UK On the 14th inst.,lfr J. G Smith, coroner i for the Clutha distrst, held an inquest at Waitapeka, on the o>ly of a niun named Duncan M'lver, who vas found drowned in he Waitapeka Creek on the previous day. It would appear from the evidence that ho had got into the creelin a state of temporary insanity; for some d.Ts previous he labored under Ihe impressio that Detective F.arrell and Mr Cotton, f Dunedin, "wanted " him. We learn that Mr Thomas Wilson, from Waikanae, reports lmng discovered, on the beach at that place, vthin the last few days? a panel door, appamtly part of a ship's fittings, and a piece r a hatch. Speculation will ho busy until uriher information is received as to whethc fragments of fittings indicate some mam disaster that may account for the presoie of so many bodies thrown on the beach.

A telegiam from amilton in the Argus states that a series of rery melancholy accidents has occurred nir Dartmoor. A boy, the son of Mr M'Que^ a farmer, went into the swamp after dv«, and got drowned. His two sisters in trpg to save him were drowned also. A inrried Avotnau named M'Lellan, seeing the pition of the children, attempted to rescue thu, and she met with a similar sad fate. A kroner's inquest was held on the four bodit when a verdict of " accidentally drownedwas returned. At Auckland, on theßfch instant, Mr Hall took with him to San Fncisco a signed contract for seven years, ! th the A.S.N. Co., for a service to alternat«-ith the Suez line, to commence on the edration of the present contract. It is bked by Victoria, New South Wales, am Queensland. His' object is to get an Amerin subsidy.

It will be rememberethat, on the 30th June last year, Mr Sta>rd moved in the House of Representative for " a return of the names of all perso who have been drowned iv each year >m Ist January, 1840, to the present da, in any river or stream in New Zealaud-'Thc return to the order of tbe House has In prepared, aud the role is a sufficiently gltly one, although a memo, by Mr Cooper, tlUnder Secretary, allows that, from the impect state of the records, it is far from ng tin accurate statement of persons draed in New Zealand rivers. Namea of none aster tainea* to Jiryp been, cloned jiqrhoyfl, wplj^

waterholes, swamps, and the sr a. have been ; excluded from the repot f. The number of , persons drowned in the various Provinces aud the total are as follow : — Auckland, 22"; Tavanaki, 17; Hawke's Bay, 10; Wellington, 105; Nelson, 102; Marlhorough, 48; Canter- ' bury, 135; Otago, 170; Southland, 37; Westland, 174; giving a total of 1115. This 1 ing list embraces people of every »valk in life, of both sexes and ages. The great I majority of these deaths have occurred in ' attempting to ford or swim streams left unbridged, and not furnished with any other ' means of cross' i g.

The natives in Opunake district, Taranaki, are somewhat unsettled in 1 heir views relative (o Ihe law of vivntn ft team. They say, il. appears, that if the (JoverninenJ do not. before the end of January, pay them for the loss of the sheep taken by Tito Kowaru's people in October last, or send 1 hem protection, that they intend taking the law into their own hands, and to sieze any property of Tito's that may come in their way.