Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established Quarter of a Century.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1898. WHO ARE TO BE OUR REPRESENTATIVES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 6086, 12 November 1898, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established Quarter of a Century.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1898. WHO ARE TO BE OUR REPRESENTATIVES.

♦ The Obristchurob Press asks the above question and in doing so says, " The Houso met at tlio end of June, ■ nnd tbo time spent, therefore, will be four months and a half, The results are poor. Yet not many farmers, manufacturers, merchants, or professional men can afford to be away from their homes even for four and a half mouths every year. Who then aro to be our representatives ? It is clear that if the sessions are to last, over four months wo shall be , reduced to only two classes of possible representatives, the professional politician, which means often tbo professional agitator, or 1 the well-to-do retired business man or settler. The latter class is small in number, and in tbo present state of political opinion not very successful at tlio polls. Wo have, therefore, ' if the sessions continue to last about five months to look forward to an increase of the professional politician class, to whom tlio honorarium and the picking up of other unconsidered trifles are of great importance. There seems to bavo been ever since the sessions became so prolonged nnd the honorarium was increased, a steady declino in the character of our representatives, and unless there is a shortening of the sessions of Parliament and also a shortening of the hours the House sits we do not see any chance of improvement. Five months of a man's lime is too tnnch to ask for parliamentary duties, and when there aro added the heavy sittings till early morning , day after day, few men can stand the physical strain. Tlio question is, wo assume, addressed to the electors of the Colony, who are alone capablo of giving it a practical answer, and we fear that in many instances the reply will be an unsatisfactory one. In country electorates perhaps there may be some encouraging response, but we almost despair of tbo electors in our chief towns. Do we not find that in what are termed our cities, thousands of presumably intelligent voters, if asked to choose between a scamp and a man of honour, deliberately prefer the former. They make ovil choices, and this with their eyes open! How is it that they sometimes prefer n man of straw to a ninn of substance, a man of no principle to a man of high principle, an immoral man loa moral man, when they are choosing their Parliamentary representatives. The answer probably is that the astute electors of a city want as their representative a man whom they can bend to their will, a, member whom they can lend with a halter or tether with a leg-rope. To them the interests of the Colony as a wholo aro n small thing; lo them the honor of its legislature is as the dust in a balance; they have their special axe to grind, and lo do this they must have a tool, and to it will sacrilice all New Zealand. When we come to ask who are to bo our representatives, wo have to face this difficulty, and to be prepared for even a worse set of legislators in tbo near future than that which has put up a sorry record during the recent session. The Labour Unions rule Nw Zealand to iv large extent, because they are organised, and the real settlers of the Colony who produce its wealth and pay the bulk of its taxes are averse to organisation. Perhaps there is one hope for us, and that is the young New Zealaud party which year by year grows larger, and, wijicb, if it choose.? to

assort ilsclf, could curry nil before it and put down l-lio professionnl politician. Wo do not, look lo oilhoi' tlio Premior or to liia collonffiius for n ranedy.forwilh them pnrty interests comu lir.st mul coluiiinl inlciosls second, and their patriotism is scarcely to be distinguished from cupboard love. Tlio young moil born mul reared in New Zealand aro to n very groat extent bard - bended sonsible people, who, ns a rulo, dislike polities nnd nblior politicians, Jint a lime conies when they may have to Iny asido this indifference and to iiilervone in their own interests and for l-lio sake of tbo Colony wliioli is their lmtivo laud.