NOMINATION FOR WAITEMATA.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5710, 11 January 1876, Page 5 (Supplement)

NOMINATION FOR WAITEMATA.

Yesterday the nomination of a member to serve this constituency in the House of Representatives was made, at the Devonport Hall, North Shore. A good number of electors were present. Colonel Balneavis having read the writ, called for the nomination to proceed. Should a poll be necessary, it would bo taken on the 19fch January. Mr. Thomas McCaul had very great pleasure in being able to take a humble part in the present election, that of proposing to them the best .and ablest of those who would come before them— Dr. Lee. (Cheers and hisses.) Dr. Lee was the best because he was the most outspoken — he did not hold back till he saw which way the cat was going to jump ; neither did he run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, and ho was the only one they could thoroughly depend upon to follow Sir George Grey. Mr. Brassey had very much pleasure in seconding the nomination of Dr. Lee. They had all made up their minds that the forthcoming session was to bo a very important one, and that whoever they sent down must go down to support Sir George Grey. H« was very sorry to sec a feeling existing that did not look like fair play towards the candidate whose nomination he seconded ; when they got down to Queen-street wharf, and when they were going to embark upon the ferry-boat on arrival at the wharf, they found that the Bteamer had been chartered by three of the candidates, to the exclusion of Dr. Lee, his friends, and supporters. A personal explanation ought to be made by each candi-

date of his share in this. He seconded the nomination of Dr. Wallor Leo. Mr. Jouv La.mb, of Rivcrhead, in pro posing Mr. J. S. Macfarlane, had nothing to say against either of the three other candidates. 0 Whoever was sent down from Auckland would, he hoped, do his duty. What they wanted was a man who would not only attend to the interests of the country, but would see that Auckland got her proper share of the expenditure now going on tor public works throughout the country, lie was sorry* to say that hitherto members seemed to have gone not so much with the interests of their constituents at heart as to serve their own ends, and their own interests. Now, what was wanted was that the province should be advanced — and, for instance take the railways. If members did not take the matter in hand and try to obtain something more for us, Auckland would have to go on as she had hitherto gone, and that only meant being put on one side. Another thing was that the members must act unitedly, and they wanted a man who was not afraid of anyone, who would not turn round, but would stand to his guns and who would not be afraid to say he belonged to the Province of Auckland. In proposing Mr. Macfarlane he was sure he was proposing such a man. He (Mr. Lamb) had read a letter from Mr. Henderson, though, unfortunately, he had forgotten to bring it with him (laughter), in which that gentleman said he had not time to attend to his Parliamentary duties. (Cries of "Get on," "Shut up," and "Are you Henderson's proposer?) What was wanted was, that the province should take its stand against the South and its aggressions, and let them have a common purse. (Dr. Lee : That you will ne\ er get. ) Mr. J.vves Holmes seconded the nomination of "Walter Lee. Mr. James Wriglev had great pleasure in proposing Mr. Thomas Henderson as a fit and proper person to represent their interests in the next Parliament. No man was better known to the electors of Waitemata, and no man had done so much for the district as the candidate he proposed. Mr. G. S. Gkah vm seconded the nomination. He had heard that certain candidates did not comeoutandshowtheir colours, but waited to see which way the wind blew. (A voice : That's true. ) Well, that was not the case as regarded the candidate he had the pleasure to second, for they had only to refer to the opposition he displayed to the compact of 1856 to see that. (Cheers.) He was one of those who not only voted against it, but did his utmost in order to prevent its being carried into execution. He (Mr. Graham) had known Mr. Henderson for a long space of time, and he had known him as representing that district, and they would never have a better representative. Ha (Mr. Henderson) was not acting against Sir George Giey ; no, Sir George Grey was merely advocating the policy pnt forward by Mr. Henderson m 185(5. (Cheers ) Mi*. All yn t O'Neill proposed Mr. W. J. Hurst, and hoped the electors would divest themselves of all factious considerations, and that they would lay aside prejudice, and get the best man they could get. The gentleman he proposed was one of the most active men in the Provincial Council, and to him they were mainly indebted for the Kaipara Railway. Mr. Hurst resided in the Waitemata, and had been a good deal among them, and hail employed labour. (A voice : At 4s. a day ; that's what he considers good wages.) If Mr. Hurst were returned, he (Mr. O'Nedl) was sure he would give every subject Jhis most gserious consideration — (A voice: His own pocket, you mean.)— and if he thought it was for the advancement of the proyiuce it would have his support. He (Mr. HursL) entirely agrees with Sir George Grey and his policy. (Cries of "Oh, oh ! " and* derisive cheers.) He (Mr. Hurst) would work cordially with that gentleman, the member for Pamell, the member for Newton, and others who advocated a similar course. Mr. B. Levy seconded, and said that, although he was a foreigner, his whole stake Avas in the country, and he felt that Mr. Hurst was properly qualified to look after the interests of the constituency. The Returning Officer : As there is evidently a difference of opinion amongst you, I hope you will give an impartial hearing to each of the four candidates. Is there any other candidate ? No other candidate being proposed, Dr. Lee came forward and addressed the electors. He said there were two policies now before the electors, one having Centialism as Us object, or what was generally known by iho desire to be a united colony ; and the second was the policy of separation v. ith a Federal Government. Now, he would take the first question, thatof Centralism.andbrmgifcbefoic their notice so that they might see whac was really intended ; and they ha,l the right fiom the Abolition Bdl of last session to° take fiat as the title-deed of all thote {•Liitlcmcu who advocated Centralism. What had it done ? It certainly had taken away their Superintendent, but it left untouched the laws under which they were governed, it had done more than that : it had passed a law by which their Superintendent was to be superseded, and his place was to be tikcu, by a person nominated by the Governor, and it was well known that a peison nomiua'ed by the Governor simply meant a nominee of the Ministry ot the day. \> T o found that all the powers and duties which devolved formerly upon the Superintendent and Ids Executiyo were to be held by this person : indeed, it reminded him of the way they did things in Turkey, for ho was there once, some yeara ago. It seemed as if they wera to have a " bashay " placed over them : they had to consult the interest, not only of those hore, for it really came to this, but of the gentlemen of the South. He had a return before him of the lands let out to the pastoral interest^ and he found the following rather curious figures. He might say, however, that he was under the impression that there wore no Crown lands in the Province of Auckland let on pastoral leases ; but he found that there were 93,390 acres of Crown lauds, which produced the magnificent rental of £60 per annum ; in Hawke's Bay there were 1S1.754 acres let at £1S3 14s. 2d. per annum; in Nelson, 607,510 acres let at £2,460 3s. Id. 5 in Marlborough there were 1,035,589 let for about £4,700 a year; in Can tei bury there was au estate of 4,839,463 acres, at an annual rental of £1,096 3s. lid.; in Wtstland 155,000 acres fetched £418 lls. Sd.; and in Otago they found 0,464,218 acres let at an annual rental of £63,692 lls. Sd.; and, to conclude with, in Southland there were 847,823 acres of pastoral lands, let for an annual rental of £6,843 2s. 5d. Now, deducting the lands of the province of Auckland and the other provinces of the North Island, it left, roughly speaking, 14,000,000 acres for the Southern Island. If these facts were true (and it was an official document ho received by the last mail that he was quoting from) they would easily see, that with the question of a Central Government and the unity of the colony, there would arise the question of security. If it were possible to bring about an amalgamation of interests, did they think they would he able to do it by the proposals of the present Ministry ? He would next refer to the question of Separation. Some of them would remember that in tho years 1854, 1S55 and 1856 that question was agitated by the removal of the seat of Government. At that time tho matter had become a question of numbers, not of argument ; and that was one re/uon whey they should not always blame their membora in case of failure. There was a resolution presented to the Governor in July 1S56, recommending toH.M Government the desirability, if the scat of government wcie removed, the province of Auckland should bo erected into a separate colony, and that in such a case the province would mike provision for a Governor to bo appointed by the Crown. A despatch wa% received by the then Secretary for tho Colonies, Mr. Lvbouchere, and amongst other things he commented upon the removal of tho scat of Government fioin Auckland; and if such a thing weie to happen, he was disposed to agree in the absolute necessity ot having a chief of the Executive established in the Noith Island ; it might become very necessary that Parliament 3 should be consulted at a place in proximity to the seat of native affairs. Dr.

Leo then went on to refer to the equitable adjustment of the public debt As had boon pieviously shown it, had oorne to tin-,, that I we were not only paying our portion of the debt, but that we really shonld bo in a state of affluence. Our revenues were ample, if they were not so heavily drawn upon by other sources of expenditure. Here we had on our own railways only -£1 spent in compaiiaon with the £10 for i'l that was spent down South. He had visited the Kaipara railway, and he had never seen a greater abortion in his life. Why, the very ballast was only clay ; and when they came to the other en d they could not even find a wharf, when the expenditure of £1,000 or so would have made one. He still thought it -would be necessary to carry that railway into Auckland. He (Dr. Lee) was one of the first to bring Sir George Grey out, and they ought all to feel proud of him and his policy. Mr. Lamb wished to know whether Dr. Lee was in favour of an extension of the suffrage ? Dr. Lei: was in favour of manhood suffrage. Mr. Staines wished to know whether the candidate would endeavour to check the system of attacking unprotected citizens by the police, and whether they should be undei' local or General Government control ? Dr. Lek did not like systems as carried out in Auckland. He thought there should be a night justice. Mr. T. Henderson, jun., wished to know whether Dr. Lee would accept the appointment of Night Justice if it were put in his way .' Dr. Lek said he was already a J. P., and would not require to be put on the justices' roll. In regard to the question of education, he went in tor education, get it how you can. At the same time, he drew a distinction between education and religious instruction. (Hear, hear.) Educate your children as highly as yon can and religious instruction will not be lost sight of. Mr. J. S. Macfariane said that first of all he might explain the ferry business. Mr. Heath had asked him to take a share in the expense of a ferry-boat across, and to this he agreed ; that was all he knew about it. Mr. Macfarlane then went into a lengthy enumeration of what he considered the omissions of Mr. Henderson in fulfilling his duties to the district and the province of Auckland, and he was sorry to say that he found Mr. Henderson, instead of invariably forwarding those interestSjhad sometimes sadly neglected them. The speaker then went into the various items in which he considered Mr. Henderson had done injustice to his constituents. These consisted of the claims for compensation of Mrs. Forbes, of Onehunga, and the Meurant family ; while it appeared that during the last year Mr. Henderson himself had received a sum of £S00, and 3,000 acres of land, for a claim which was settled — equitably settled — 30 years ago. He (Mr. Macfarlane) would not have blamed Mr. Henderson so much if he had taken up these land claims in conjunction with his own. These two widows had laid their land claims before the House, and Mr. Henderson had never taken any trouble at all about them. Neither had Mr. Henderson taken any trouble at all about the Kaipara, or any other railway. He (Mr. Mactarlane), when he was at Wellington, saw other members fighting for their railways ; but he never saw Mr. Henderson lighting for any railways. Had it not been for Mr. Henderson's action on various questions in the House of Representatives, he (Mr. Macfarlane) would never have offered himself as a candidate. (Cheers and hisses.) Then, coming to Separation, they must have one Government for each island: that was the only way they could do it. He had been called a pai tisan of the Government — a Government man ! Well, at one time he had a very high opinion of the Government, but he believed that they had bsen very extravagant. Still, he had avery high opinion of some of them yet. In relation to immigration, its management was simply infamous, the office in London was very expensive, ami old Dr. Featherstone was not the man tomanageit; itdidnotseem to be understood that the class of immigrants required in Otago or Canterbury, principally the labouring classes, were not those required here — here we require persons of capital. In relation to the San Francisco nittil oorvioo,— it wan on hoo pondcrocra ic~ scale, and the sum of £45,000 a year was a monstrous sum to pay ; to put such large boats on that service, when boats of l,0U0 tons would have done as well, was like putting on the ' Hero ' from Devonport to Auckland. Mr. Macfarlane thought that members Ought to bo satisfied that the honour of representing citizens in Parliament would bo suHicient, and that, therefore, the hjiioturmm to members should foe done .away with. He did not like the 3j3fcem of pensions either ; these were far too freely granted, for he was suro that no judge in New Zealand had dono so much, in the past 35 years as ho had. In conclusion, the expeu diture could be cut down, and if members instead of passing two months out of the whole session in the consideration of a bill such as the Abolition Bill, weio to spend their time in consideration of the Estimate3,they would find it would be much more to their advantage : and ho was sure that they might have saved £100,000 quite easily on the expenditure of the present year, and one of these things ought to be the Mail Service. The blame lellected far more on their representatives than it did on the Ministry. Mr. Siatxes repeated I113 usual formula as to unprotected citizens, and the brutal assaults of the police. Mr. Macfarlane thought the polic» might be better under local control. Mr. Lew wished to know whether Mr. Macfarlaue favoiucd the American system ot immigration, and the system of 23 years deferred payments.— (A voice : Did you not try to get the ISO bogus votes which were struck off, put on the Waitemata roll ?) Mr. Maof vriaxe said he did get as many votes as he could put on the roll ; but it was by giving people allotmen a that he thus enabled them to be put on the roll. (A voice : Did you pay for'thcni ?) Mr. Mvcfarlvne said that it was owing to Mr. Brooktield that these votes were struck off. Ho (Mr. Macfarlane) had brought Mr. Eroolifield's conduct under the notice of the Government, and when Mr. Brookfield was appointed ltesident Magistrate ho (Mr. Macfarlaue) had protested against it, uml in consequence the appointment was cancelled. Mr. T. Henderson, jun. : Did you mako use of the expression, " I have made Waitemata light for next time?" (Cheers and great laughter.) In reply to Mr. Staines, the candidate thought the provision for the aged and destitute was insufficient. Mr. Hehdekson said it was now a great many years since be had the honour of appearing before them in the same position he was now in. Mr. Henderson then went into a Ion" explanation of his conduct in reference to the Timber Floatage Bill, to which reference had been nude by Mr. Macfarlane in the course of his lennrks. It appeared Mr. Macfai ln.no liail issued a pamphlet ct'i the subject, containing voluminous quotations from Mr. Henderson's evidence before a committee of the House. From this pa nphlot Mr. Henderson quoted at length, to show that Mr. Macfarlano's assertions were without, foundation. The speaker referred to the Avoll-known case of Mohi, which had biou put forward as a case in point. Turning to questions of general policy, and the questions which were uppermost in the public mind at the present moment. Mr. ilondersontouched upon the compact of 1S56. a lying that ho was one of the few who at that time opposed the arrangement then made. The last speaker had also made a charge against him of having looked solelj after hi3°own claims in. regard to compensation for land taken by the Government. Now, the facts wcro those : Tho piece of land in question was in course of being bought on Government account, at a time when nafve affairs were in a very disturbed state. Tho s leaker did not want the land, bmV the Govornmont at that time had'nt got a shilling to buv land with. Governor Fitzroy camo to him (the speaker) and in reference to. the purchase then in progress, said: "For God a sake, Henderson, close the transaction.

Mr. Henderson did so, and received I a proniifco of one JiaH of the ( claim. JIc -wished them to understand it was not from the Government he received his title to coinpensatiou, but from the Committee of the House who" investigated his claim. But Mr. Macfarlane had not correctly stated the amount of compensation he (Mr. Henderson) received. It was £950 — not £800 ; but he would only have been too glad if he could have received instead one-half the money it cost in getting a title to the land and iu surveys. Then, look at the Hone Heke war. He (Mr. Henderson) had been very instrumental in restraining from entering into that war some 400 natives — fighting men— who would have joined Hone Heke had it uot been for his exertions. Was not that a service to the State? Then he had been taxed with being an obstructive. Well, he had started the first saw-mill in the colony, and had spent every available shilling he had ; aye, and had borrowed money at 20 and 23 per cent, to carry on the scheme, because he felt certain that a sawmill industry would eventually arise, and was it likely that he was going to obstruct a like enterprise now ? Then it was necessary to go away for a market for timber, no merchant in Auckland would look at it, and in many other tilings also he had had to look abroad for a market, because there was none in New Zealand. And going abroad for these markets he had made very large sums of money — there was no doubt about that — but then he did not, as seemed the custom with many, he did not spend it out of the province, but on the other hand, brought his profits here. (Cheers.) Then he could refer to such institutions as the Bank of New Zealand, the New Zealand Insurance Company, the Gas Company, and other like concerns to which lie had been accesssory ; and he would ask if they were not a benefit ? Were they obstructive measures ? He was proud of having been one of the pioneers of New Zealand. In conclusion, he confessed his shortcomings in the past. These were caused by strong reasons. He had not had very good health, but now he was glad to say that his health was better, and that lie had not an active part to take in the business here. Indeed, it was probable that the " shop "' could now be better managed by younger heads. For these reasons he could give the electors of Waiteuiata a promise that the dut'e3 of a member, so far as he (Mr. Henderson) was concerned, should be far better and more ably performed in the future than they had been in the past. Mr. Staines again repeated his formula as to the "unoffending citizens," and he also asked whether the candidate thought a magistrate ought to sit upon the Bench after he had been " whitewashed," to which Mr. Henderson gave satisfactory replies. Mr. Lamb asked Mr. Henderson's views on the education question and inanhood suffrage ? Mr. Henderson said he had always been a reformer. Every man having any stake in the colony should have the right to vote. Education should be accessible to all. He could not say he would oppose the education tax any more than any other impost that might be made. Mr. Hurst then spoke, and said that as they had been detained so long he would not keep them so long as he intended to do. In reference to the ferry steamer complaint laid by Mr. Brassey, he could only say he was not in Auckland at the time the arrangement was made, and only bore his sharp cf the expense in ignorance that any other candidate was being excluded. Putting personal matters aside, and referring to the great political questions of the day now agitating the mind of the people of New Zealand, he would first say that a report had been industriously circulated that he was a doubtful supporter of Sir George Grey. Now, the past actions of a man generally formed a good idea of his course of conduct in the future, and he might point out that three years ago, in conjunction with Mr. Gillies and Mr. Sheehan, he (the speaker) had looked upon Sir George Grey as the only man who could do anything for the province. (The candidate then read copious extracts from Mr. Gillies' speech to Ins constituents at the Mechanics' Institute, October 21, 1Q73 > Whon Auckland had originally the voting power, bit by bit she had gonerouslygivenittothe South, and that voting power the South would wield to the destruction of this province. Mr. Gillies had pointed out that the class, of immigrants required in the South were a totally different class to those required here, and that was true. What wo wanted were moneyed settlers; in the South they required labour. We had not even had one special settlement, an<l the people we had got were most of them paupers, some of them lunatics, and all unliltcd for the requirements of this province. Tho speaker then referred to the Kalpara Railway. He was ouc of the first to advocate a Vote of £20,000 being placed on tho provincial estimates for the work, aud ho ha! also advocated the continuance of the line to Auckland, lie was in favour of free and secular education. The Southern land fund he had noi touched upon. It was clear the South had had the benefit of the compact of 1S5(5, once ifc was mails, but then, as Mr. Vogel had told thorn at the Choral Hall, they must remember tliab in a few years they would have a land fund of their own. Mr. Hurst continued his remarks at some length, quoting from the speech of Major Atkinson in addressing his constituents lately, aud other matters, which pressure on our space prevents our recapitulating. In conclusion, the candidate said the electors could send no one down to the House of Representatives who would more fully serve the colony to the best of his ability than he would, and that he was anxious to support Sir George Grey on the grand point of obtaining for the North Island aud for Anckland that justice they were entitled to. Mr. Sj'AI^es asked the same questions in reference to the brutality of the police as he put to other candidates. Mr. HuRsr thought the police should be under local control. Mr. Whig lev wished to know whether the candidate would oppose any increase in taxation uutil land revenue be made colonial reveuut ? Mr. Hurst : Most bitterly. Mr. Wriulky : Will you insist that all public works be let by public tender, and all lands sold by public auction ? Mr. Hurst : Most emphatically. No more questions being put, the Returning Officer then exiled for a show ot hands, with the following result :— Lee, 19 ; Macfarlane, 13; Hurst, 10; Uendcrcon, 8. A poll was demanded by Mr. Lamb and Mr. Holmes on behalf of Mr. Macfarlane, and also by Messrs. Wrigley and G. S. Graham on behalf of Mr. Henderson. On the motion of Mr. Huiwr, a unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to the Returning Officer for his presiding on the occasion, and the meeting then separated.