The Westport Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 451, 12 January 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1869.

The apathy which at present prevails with regard to the maintenance of Provincial institutions in this part of Nelson was am ply illustrated by the circumstances under which the nomination of a member for. the district took place on Saturday. Up to the hour of nomination it was not even possible to guess|the name of a probable candidate, or that there was tbe slightest intention on the part of the electors to exercise their political privileges. It would, indeed, have required very little eloquence to have persuaded the constituency to ignore the election altogether, and to realise in name, as well as in fact, the absence of any intimate relationship between the district and the Government of the Province. It was only, as Mr Tyler said, the simple fear that some undesirable selection of a candidate might be made, through the exercise of the unaccountable motives which prompt people on such occasions, that the nomination of a gentleman of respectability was at all contemplated. It was from no beliei that the office would honor any one, or that any one could honor the office by fulfilling its duties as a conscientious person would desire to do. It was under this fear, and from no feeling that it was imposing upon him extraordinary honor or duty, that a selection of Mr James M'Dowell was made ; and that there was anothercandidate proposed, in the person of Mr John Crate, was undoubtedly duo to feelings of personal friendship, and to the naturally amiable characteristics of his proposers. Neither of the nominations cau be said to have the slightest political meaning. Even by the proposer of the first candidate there was a distinct warning given to the Nelson Government that the nomination must not be assumed to express any degree of political sympathy, and it was apparent from the whole proceedings that if it is only apathy which now exists, a very gentle agitation is all that is required to displace the existing apathy by an active spirit of opposition to the maintenance of Provincial institutions, and to the preservation of the present sham relations between the people of the West Coast and the Government of the Province.

Stripped as the election is of even average importance, it is scarcely necessary to canvass closely the merits of the two candidates. There is so little involved in the return of either one or other, so far as the interests of the district are concerned, that it might well he a matter of indifference whether the duties of the office fall to be fulfilled by Mr M'Dowell or by Mr Crate. In saying this it must not he accepted that we reflect upon the desire or capacity of either of the gentlemen. "W"e refer simply to the possibilities of their being able to do anything, despite the most magnanimous desires or the most magnificent capacity. But if there is little duty to be performed, there is just a shadow of honor still atta.hing to the position, sufficient to induce the constituency, to consider how they should bestow it We question much the likelihood of their bestowing it upon anyone residing in kelson. We question more the probability of their bestowing it upon Mr Crate. ]Sbt that Mr Crate is bristling with faults, or is so incompetent as to be altogether unworthy of consideration. He is an ardent political He is an admirable theorist. Ho takes an anxious interest in the affairs of "Westport. We believe he would be a perfect Don Quixote in the Provincial Council. He would assail that once magnificent, but now tottering fabric, Provincial Government, with very serious determination. He would shake the pillars as Samson did those of the temple ; but we fear that he would also suffer somewhat like Samson. If anything, he is too ardent as a politician; he is more than admirable as a theorist —he is positively astounding; and we fear that his assertion of Westport's interests would be more eager than effective with his bucolic colleagues in the

Council. The reasons for a preference being given to Mr M'Dowell may, like the expression of his own opinions, he stated very briefly. He is locally resident. ,He is sufficiently shrewd and intelligent to have made his local residence profitable to himself, and not unprofitable to others. If his political experience is slight, he has had sufficient opportunities of becoming acquainted with the requirements of tbe district, and, free as he is for the time from active concern about private business, he has leisure to improve that acquaintance, and to give attention more fully than most people to public affairs. That he will do so conscientiously and thoroughly, if quietly and with little of outward demonstration, we do not doubt; and he has, we fully believe, other estimable qualities, which are known to those who have made him their choice, and to many more in the district. The short address which he publishes in another column, so far as it goes, sufficiently reveals his opinions to show that they are in accordance with the views of the majority of the inhabitants of the district, and disavows any desire to act otherwise than as a representative member, or more as a medium of communication between the constituency and the Council than the advocate of any notions or nostrums of his own.

The poll takes place to-morrow, and we have little fear that the contest, if contest it can be called, will be carried on with thoroughly good temper on both sides. It is to be hoped that, while this is the case, sufficient interest will be taken in the result to induce everyone who may possess the qualifications of an elector to exercise his vote, and especially is it to be hoped that this will be the case anions the mining community, w T hose interests are peculiarly the interests whieh require and deserve the attention of any gentleman who may be returned.