NOMINATION FOR THE SUBURBS.

The nomination of a member to represent the Suburbs of Nelson took place yesterday, at the Provincial Hall. Owing to a large portion of the electors being engaged with their harvest, the attendance was rather thin. The Returning Officer having read the writ, called upon the electors to nominate a candidate. Mr. Oxlky begged leave to propose to the electors Mr. F. Kelling as a fit and proper person to represent their interests in the House of Assembly. He had had the satisfaction of knowing Mr. Kelling for a number of years, and had always found him an upright honest gentleman, one in whose political views he had the greatest confidence, a confidence he felt certain was shared by the majority of the voters in the Waimea district. The fact of the nomination taking place at the Provincial Hall was unfortunate, inasmuch as it prevented a very great number of the electors, who were busy with harvest, being present, but the bulk of them he could say, were admirers of the political character of Mr. Kelling. He was not a new or untried man, he had already had the honour of representing the Waimea district in tho House of Representatives, and not only there, but in tho Provincial Council ; his votes had given general satisfaction, and inspired confidence in the electors. He therefore begged to propose Mr. Fedor Kelling as their representative. Mr. Ro wbotham seconded the nomination of Mr. Kelling. Mr. Alfred Harley said, upon him had devolved the task of proposing to the electors Ralph Richardson, Esq., and in doing so it was not without some feeling of regret, for Mr. Kelling, who had just been put in nomination, was an old personal friend of his. But the present matter was one purely political.and he could not conscientiously support auy candidate who avowed himself a staunch supporter of the quixotic borrowing scheme of Mr. Vogel. [Hear, hear.] A scheme, however plausable it might appear at first Bight, that would not bear the close inspection which he, and he trusted every elector, had given it. This scheme, if carried out, would no doubt for a time give a fictitious prosperity to the country. Metaphorically speaking, it would for a time pave the roads with gold ; but who, he asked, in tho end was to pay the piper ? [Hear, hear.] There was one feature in Mr. Vogel's policy, however, with which ho wholly concurred, and that was tho fostering of home manufactures. Anew country likeNew Zealand could hardly be supposed capable of competing with an old country like England ; and it was absolutely necessary that some encouragement should be given to home productions, such as the manufacture of sugar from beet, woollen and flax manufactures, and the cultivation of hops. No place was better suited for the growing of hops than New Zealand, and he was of opinion that an extra duty should be placed vpon imported hops. Apart from these protective measures, he had no very exalted opinion of Mr. Vogel ; he believed that the consummation of that gentleman's policy would be the feathering of bis own nest. [Hetr, hear.] He was one who went in to lose the horse or win the saddle. It was a capital time for place-hunters, and from these he could not exempt his friend Mr. Kelling, for he feared if he were elected the offer of an agency for bringing out German immigrants would prove too seductive for his political honesty [Cheers and laughter] ; and this was one of his main reasons for opposing him. He regarded Mr. Richardson as a straightforward, and independent gentleman, not possessed of an overwearing amount of self-assur-ance, like Mr. Kelling, but one who, though seemingly diffident, had plenty of pluok and determination to carry out what he knew and felt was right. [Hear, hear.] Mr. Mackay came forward to second the nomination of Mr. Richardson. He was not going to detain them with a long speech. He agreed with Mr. Oxley that the Hall waa rather an inconvenient place for the electors to meet in at the present busy season. His friend Mr. Richardson was a young man of considerable attainments, and had taken his degree of M.A. at the University ; and for his part he did not like listening to candidates who were in the habit of clipping the Queen's English, In Mr. Richardson they would find a thorough, honest, straightforward gentleman, one who could not be bought. It was said that every man had his price, but he did not believe that Mr. Richardson was to be bought over at any price. The present Ministry were lavish with their bribes and offers for support, and men had been regularly pitchforked into billets. It was a great pleasure to him to support a thoroughly independent man, one who had no friends or hangerson to provide for, his only object being to serve the electors. It had been objected to him that he was a lawyer, but he maintained that without lawyers it was utterly impossible to get on in the Assembly. No other candidate being proposed, the RETURNING Officer called upon Mr. Kelling, who Bttid that there was one advantage in having recently addressed the electors, which was, that it would not be necessary to occupy much of their time on the present occasion. He had expressed his views at some length at Richmond and Suburban North, and they had been fully reported in the newspapers. Since then he had read several articles and speeches against the Government, but they had not in the least induced him to change his opinions, and he should give Minister his support. Indeed there was no argument whatever made use of. All the cry was, that the money raised by tho loan would be squandered, and for a time everybody would be as merry as crickets. The real object was, to turn the present Ministry, which he considered to be a liberal one, out of office, in order to put in one with more conservative tendencies. He had already fully atated his views with respect to the Immigration and Public Works scheme, and he certainly looked upon it as the best that could be devised for the development of the country. Mr. Harley had stated, that if he (Mr. Kelling) were returned, he would be sent as an immigration agent to Germany, but upon what grounds he made this assertion he was at a loss to discover. He did not know Mr. Vogel ; he had not even seen him ; and there certainly could be no understanding between them to such an effect. Dr. Featherston, while in Europe, had inquired into the best means of bringing out immigrants from Germany, and should he ever be appointed as agent, he would have no occasion to go to Germany, as he was agent for a large shipping firm there, and a letter from him would be sufficient. There were a number of Germans in the province, and it could not be denied that they made good settlers ; he should like to see more coming, for he felt that they were no disgrace. As regards railroads, he had said before that he thought tho Government were going too far ; they were planned to run through districts thinly populated, through mountainous and poor land, and where, in fact, they could be of no benefit at all. The. step was premature ; it was like putting the cart before the horse. The line of the greatest importance was that from Nelson to tho West Coast, which would be sure to pay, as it would develope the resources of tho country, and open up our auriferous and coal districts. On the subject of protective duties, ho had before spoken at great length. One new feature had been introduced since then, namely, the plan of awarding bonuses, in preference to protective duties. Ho did not consider that this plan would answer so well, for it would be only a small number who would receive the prizes ; the greater portion would be disappointed. He considered protective duties a far more honest and equitable mode of encouraging industry. A gentleman had expressed his approval of Mr. Richardson because he

was an independent man. He (Mr. Kelling) considered that there were already too many of the wealthy class in the House. Their legislation was necessarily of a clasß character, but he should like to see the burdens taken off the shoulders of the poorer classes, and placed on those better able to bear them. When Mr. Vogel addressed his constituency, he had spoken about the land laws being made uniform. When each province possessed a large land rewnue, they looked upon each other as independent states, and each sent its own Land Regulations to the General Government, but ho believed the time had now come when a universal land law was nofc only expedient, but imperative. Mr. Kelling then said that he should be glad to answer any questions which the electors might wish to ask him, and sat down amidst applause. An Elector asked Mr. Kelling if he would advocate the abolition of the Pension Act. Mr. Kelling was not in favour of doing away with it entirely. There were some officers who had been many years in the service of the Government, upon what might be termed very moderate salaries, and ho thought it would be cruel, after their best years were spent in the service of Government, to turn them out without soino provision for their old ago. Mr. Martin, after reading a long extract from some newspaper, and asking Mr. Kelling what he thought of it, inquired if he would support a petition for the removal of the present Governor ; to which Mr. Kellino- answered he was " not such a fool." Mr. Collins asked Mr. Kelling, what equivalent he would give the labouring man for tho money taken out of his pocket, by enhancing tho price of the necessaries of life by the imposition of protective duties. Mr. Kelling said, he thought he had made it sufficiently clear, that it was the labouring class that would reap the chief benefit. It was only upon those manufactures that we can produce ourselves that he was in favour of protecting such as wool and flax manufactures, of which we had the raw materials in abundance. By establishing these manufactures, the labouring population would find plenty of employment. Mr. Richardson, on rising, said he had listened to Mr. Kelling's speech with mai-ked attention, and gathered from it that he was a staunch supporter of the present Government scheme. On this point he entirely disagreed with him, as he considered it one fraught with disaster. The powers entrusted to the Ministry enabled them to pledge the credit of the colony to the extent of thirteen millions during the next ten years, and the " Public Works Act " was not (sufficient to raise the colony to that stato of prosperity to enable us to carry the additional load we Bhould have to bear in the shape of taxation. He entertained the utmost distrust of the immigration scheme, for tho bringing in of large bodies of labouring men, foreign as well as English, was calculated, in his opinion, to increase pauperism, vice, and misery. Let us first open out the country, and then introduce more settlers. He had stated before, that it was right to be just before we are generous, and we should seek the well-being of our own fellowsettlers and their children before that of the paupers of England. [Hear, hear.] He was no enemy to progress, and by no means undervalued the importance of railways and roads ; they were the principal means of opening up the country, and he should not object to money being borrowed from time to time for the furtherance of these objects. Ho was not a Protectionist in the main. He did not believe in taxing some one article to raise it to an artificial value, but he thought a small duty might be placed upon grain for the purpose of raising a revenue. Mr. Kelling had made some remark upon the property tax. Ho (Mr. Richardaou) was as anxious as anybody to see the property of the absentees taxed, but he could not see how it was to be done. A^ land tax would fall very heavy upon the farmer, ill able to bear it ; and the diggers, Maoris, and immigrants who are to be looked to for raising the interest upon tho loan, would bo let off by the reduction of the Customs duties. To tax interest paid on the loan would be to give the peoplo at home the idea that we had taken the first step towards repudiation. He considered the present state of the Bankruptcy Act was a disgrace, and, rather than remain as it is, it would bo better if it were swept away altogether. As regards the Land Transfer Act, nobody doubted that a simplification of the Act would be a great benefit. At present its working will put £10,000 per annum into the pockets of placemen. Mr. Richardson then went on to say, that ho was anladvocate for retrenchment and economy — a cry he knew that was never popular, and generally gave rise to any amount of abuse on the part of those who had friends or relations in want of Government billets. Whether elected or not, he should have the satisfaction of feeling that ho had come forward to do his duty, as a gentleman, on behalf of tho taxpayeis of the colony. [Cheers.] Mr. Wastney wished to know, if Mr. Richardson was disposed to fulfil the promise he had made, when he addressed the electors of Suburban North, of supporting the Ministry in carrying out their Bcheine of borrowing. Mr. Richardson : I never made any such promise. Mr. Wastney : lam certain that you did, and it was so reported in the papers. I ask you again will you support the Ministers' scheme of borrowing. Mr. Richardson : Most certainly not. Mr. Wastney : Will you support a property and income tax ? Mr. Richardson : I have already spoken fully upon that question, and I do not consider it necessary to repeat myself. No other questions being asked, the Returning O phcer asked for a bliow of hands, which was given aa follows :—: — Mr. Kelling . . . .11 Mr. Richardson . . . .10 Mr. Collins demanded a poll on behalf of Mr. Richardson.