PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1696, 10 January 1874, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

A meeting was called at the Volunteer Hall last night by Messrs Wickes, Woolcock, Masters, and Fox, candidates for the representation of Greymonth in the Provincial Oounpil, for the purpose qf explaining their views to the electors. The Mayor, having been moved to the chair, called upon Mr Wickes to address the meeting first Mr Wiokes said four of the candidates had convened this meeting to explain their views on the present affairs of the Province. He had been requested by a number of real old citizens to come forward, and therefore he presented himself. He was not a P-rovinoialist, but rather the reverse, and would be disposed to assist in knocking away Provincial institutions. It was, however, advisable that Westland should take part in the general system of the Colony. He thought the people of the Grey Valley should also join hand in hand with us in order to get placed under one Government. The whole of the West Coast should be placed under one Government. There was a great deal of credit to be liad in serving the Grey district in the "Council. That district was like a thorough good blood horse which had been badly jockeyed. He would adhere to matters with which the Council would have to deal. He was , in favor of a liberal land bill, and of allowing deferred payments. It required a great deal of capital to settle the country, and we cqnjd. not be tqo libera]. Purchasers should be allowed to pay a de? posit of 2a 6d, and the balance by instalments yearly. We should then get the land settled, and 100 acres which were settled in this way would be of more benefit to the Proviuce than 1000 acres which were bought up by speculators. The question of education had puzzled better brains than his. He believed that a Central Board of Education should be established, and should issue certificates to teachers; who should not be allowed to act before they had obtained them. He would fix a certain number of pupils, without which a school should not be placed on the list of those subsidised. It should then be visited by the Inspector, who should divide the children into classes A., 8., and C, and the subsidy should be given according to the results in paoli clasj?. Jn tlje presjent position of the Province it was impossible that we should undertake any great public works Is was useless, therefore, to talk of roads and railways which should be constructed, but he thought the Provincial Council might recommend works which were of colonial importance, and that in this particular the members should go down prepared to work in harmony for the whole Province. One such work which would be of benefit to the whole Colony was that of the Greymouth Harbor Works. He had been met with the statement that it would cost an enormous amount of money, and he had talked with engineers on the subject. It was 1 necessary to show | the Government that the work would be reproductive. He had several ideas of the way in which' it might be done. H^ thought the Council should recommend that 400 acres on each side of the river should be gazetted a reserve for harbor works and reclaimed. The Government would want a guarantee and would he then satisfied to give the money. LIOO,OOO would probably be sufficient, of which the interest would be L6OOO, which would have tq be guaarnteed to the Government. ' The" different coal companies would need to enter lipqn an undertaking to rent a certain number of acres at say L 25 per annum. This for the ,4.00 acres would give LIQ,OOQ per annnm, wliipli tyould pay the interest and also the capital in $Q years. He th'gught that this would be sufficient inducement to the Colonial Government to undertake the work. He had other schemes for the benefit of the Province, and it was useless for anybody to go into the Council unless he had. He could not see why there should be a jealousy between the southern part of the Province and the Grey- distript bppause nature had been more bountiful to this district. He thought they should coincide and recommend the scheme. With regard to the coal-mine, he thought that LSOO yearly might come from it to the Boiough Council, in whose hands it was placed for river works. There were eight miles of unoccupied frontage, which might be leased out. He would not refer to any other subject at present] He had been

v member of the first improvement Comnittee, and had been Mayor of Greymonth in 1870 and 1871, although he had been out of the Council for the last 10 months. He had devoted his time for the benefit of the place, and he trusted, if he was elected, that when he returned from his labors in thd Council, the electors would have reason to be satisfied with what he had done. . Mr Cqe made some remarks, which, were inaudible to the reporters. Mr Girdwood asked with respect to the Tramway Company's judgment how Mr Wickes would propose to pay off the amount. . ■'■ . . Mr Wickes could not exactly explain how Treasury Bills were worked, as he had no experience in that business, but he would endeavor to get the debt paid off by the best means possible. The Chairman -then called upon Mr Masters to addres? the meeting. Mr Hamilton read the following telegram which he had received from Mr Masters: — "My calculations as to time of returning being upset, I think it just' to the electors to retire from the contest. I have been informed that dissatisfaction is expressed at my absence, which is perfectly natural. I now find; I cannot return until after the election, and am of opinion that it is unreasonable to ask to be returned without first meeting the electors, although in the present instance I consider doing so a formality of little value. I should be sorry to jeopardise the positon of other gentlemen in the field fully as competent as myself, and must ask you, therefore, kindly to read this telegram at first public meeting to prevent mistakes. — E. Masters." Mr Hamilton said that it must be evident that Mr Masters only came to think of retiring under, the impression that there was Home dissatisfaction in consequence of his not being present to-night. He was of opinion that Mr Masters was sufficiently well-known for the electors to judge if it he was a fit person to represent them, although he was unable to be present, and it was possible if he found ( that it was the wish of the electorate might even now stand, and perhaps address them on Monday. He knew that Mr Masters was willing to devote his time to the business of the Council, and he would appeal to the meeting if it was not worth while to try aud induce Mr Masters to contest the election. He (Mb Hamilton) wished to see him, elected, and if the meetinsr was of the same opinion he believed Mr Masters might yet be persuaded to come forward, and there wer«j certainly not many better men amongst us. Mr Woolcock next came forward, and was well received. He SE^id he carn^ before the elegtors qf Qieymbuth witn. no particular plea to make. He could not come making statements as to what he had done for the public, or as to the ability he had displayed, or the boons he had conferred upon the people, he simply came before, them as a' citizen of Grey-? mouth, seeking their suffrages for the honor of representing them in the Westland Provincial Council. As he was new to them as a politician, and as they knew very little as to his political views, if he had any, it might not be out of place for him first to touch upon a few topics, although they might be irrelevant to the present election. The first was that he was in favor of relieving labor in every possible way from burdens, and imposhig the necessary taxation required fqr goyeijn,mental purposes on luxuries, on' property and income, which he considered would be advantageous to all classes of the cqin,munity, and would facilitate the increase of material wealth. In this respect an anomaly existed on all the gold-fields, and especially on the West Coast. The miner was a heavy consumer of dqtia^ble, goods, ar;d' wag tRe only, 'class, su.b-. jected to direct taxation. Landholders might have their thousands of acres of land, thousands of sheep, and have an income of thousands a year, and there was no direct taxation on their income, but the miner who obtained an ounce of gold not only paid 9-10ths of it on dutiable goods, but had also to pay a direct tax on his gold. That system of taxation was unjust, and he should like to see it removed, and something mote, equitable substituted in its place; 'He would say at once that he was an antiprovincialist. He held that whatever might have been the advantages of Provincial institutions in the past, they were no longer necessary for the good government of the Colony. He could not understand why they should still be perpefuated, au.d a small Qqlony lilje. this; "with. }ts small population, could ncfe be governed from one centre, especially in these days of telegraphic and steam cotn*-rs munication. If we must have Provinces then, he said, let them be as large as possible, because the revenue at the disposal of the Provinces would be large in. proportion, and they would be in a better condition to go into the money market to borrow. If Westland must be a Province and gould not be a large one, then they must be satisfied with its heing a. small one. In looking at; it, xt^. looked puny and delecate, but ! liebetieved it had' a constitution .which, if taken care of, would yet grow into noble manhood. Certainly the new Province was not in a flourishing state, revenue was d§: clining, and the nopulatiori was slowly but' as" surely leaving 'our shores. (Ko.) Well, they might say so, but the revenue was certainly declining, and the great question for the new Qonncil to consider was how to stop that decline,, a.n4 1 establish a permanent revenvie. . He knew of no other means than that of providing remunerative employment for a large mining population. A great deal had been said as to setting a large population on the lands, but he diflferea from many on this poinj;. If men would only take a dispassionate view of the character of the land in this new Province, that to attempt to settle an agricultural population with* out having alongside qf it a consuming population, would be to put down in the bush a few unfortunates to pine away in poverty ; therefore he held that the settlement of an agricultural, without a consuming population, would be unsatisfactory. As to ways and means, it must be admitted that in order *o maintain a large mining population, there would require to be a considerably outlay. Where was the money to come from 1 The General ' Government was now prosecuting tjiat grand borrowing scheme, in the benefits of which we were now participating amd there was a ray of hope. But he found that in carrying out public works the General Government did not intend" to do all ; they would confine their efforts to

the construction of main lines of railways, roads, and water-races, to join which the Province could make a net-work of works of a similar nature. He then referred to the Provincial Loans Bill of last session, and said he was in favor of borrowing if the money was to be invested in reproductive works. With regard to education, he was in favor o£ the national system, but he would' also subsidise denominational schools in accordance with their seoular results, as reported upon by the Inspector. He was in favor of levying an education rate, and the question was whether it should be a house tax or a tax on rateable property, He t was in favor of the latter, and not a house tax. Another question was that as to an Executive. If they were to go on as at ' present, to do the best they could nth the small means at their command, he was of opinion that there was no need for an Executive ; but if the Council saw fit to go in for a really progressive scheme - and large borrowing, then an Executive might be necessary to assist the Superintendent in administering the affaire of the Province. He did not come : before them with the usual cry of retrenchment. He did not believe in keeping half-employed servants ; let them be well worked and well paid. In conclusion, it was usual to make promises, but he had none to make; If they believed he was not a fit and proper person to represent them in the Provincial Council, then by their Fatherland, and for the sake of their adopted: country, he hoped they would not return him ; but if they thought, he would properly reprer. sent them, then he hoped that oh Tuesday'next they would do their duty as & «* KoneiFmen "and' "good^citizens. (Applauße.) ; ; ■■ : v' \ '■ A number of questions were askea, and ; - answered satisfactorily. > /iff i ■ -.. . Mr Fox was called upon, and, stated that there had been some misunderstanding as to his addressing that meeting. S ( uch was; not his -indention. He had accepted the* invitation of his colleague, Mr Lahman, to appear on the |platform : , r, with , him -on , , Monday, night, - ; when he "would'address the electors. Mr R. Nakcarbow moved— "That this meeting has; every confidence in Mr Masters, and that he be requested to stand his election." : Mr H. H. Lahman seconded the motion. • Mr f J. Kerb moved , and Mr F. Hamil- '' "ocW seconded a vote of confidence in Mr E. WICKES as representative of the district. <:•->■■. .} m „.}■;■ __ Mr' R. O, Reid moved, and Mr «T. Hamimok. seconded a similar vote in Mr Woolcock.; / ; ■ All these votes were pnt and carried unanimously. . .a I /Messrs' WiCKES land 5 WooicopK returned thanks. , _.. i r{ - TKe usual vote of thanks; terminated , the, meeting. „ .,, ,, . ; ..,.- ;