Page 3 Advertisements Column 2

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 20, 28 July 1887, Page 3

TO THE ELECTOBS or THS EAST COAST ELECTORAL DISTRICT. BNTLEMEN,—I beg to announc’d that I am a candidate for the honor of r«p*esenting this district in Parliament. In pladicjj before you the main points of thejpolicy I should sWjjbW- if elected, I desire to state at the outsdt that I am apposed to the manner in which the political party that has held power during the past three years has administered the finances, and the Crown and Native lands of the Colony. It is admitted that the present time is the most critical in the financial history of New Zealand. To re-establish the prosperity of the Colony, or prolong its adversity, depends largely upon the Government that may succeed to power after the approaching general election. The extravagance and msl-administration of public affairs during the past years have brought the Colony to an extremely unsatisfactory state.

Apart from all side issues conveniently raised by interested parties, the electors generally, no doubt, recognize the fact that unless the credit of the colony is placed upon a sound basis at Home, and an inflow of capital created, there is little hope of a change to a state of better things. A stable Government, conducting the affairs of the country, on a practical and not a theoretical foundation, avoiding experimental legislation, and exercising prudence, caution, and economy would, I believe, speedily restore confidence in New Zealand’s unlimited resources, and bring about an era of prosperity of a more abiding character than any yet witnessed. While the electors ask themselves in what way have the Governments of the past endeavoured to bring about so desirable a change, year after year the public debt of the Colony is accumulating—the last three years by more than five millions sterling—until at last a population of a little more than half a million have a public indebtedness of £37,558,553, necessitating annual interest to the extent of one million and three quarters to be sent out of the Colony. While other colonies—South Australia and New South Wales—rapidly retrenched when they found themselves involved, the Government of New Zealand, notwithstanding a falling revenue, and the increased expenditure proposed last session still further taxation to the extent of £33o,ooo—the greater part of which would fall upon those least able to bear it.

The cry is raised for capital to be brought into the country, and settlement promoted, but capital is frightened from our shores, and the settlement of the country is carried on in such a way, as to render success doubtful. Thousands of pounds are squandered in one part of the Colony in the Utopian endeavours to establish special settlements upon some visionary basis, while in this electorate tens of thousands of acres of good land are offerd to the public on such extraordinary terms, that it is impossible for them to be accepted. This present year 129,000 acres of Crown land in this district were offered to the public, but were hedged round with such conditions that absolutely no security of tenure was given. Can people be expected to take up land and improve it when the very first clause in the regulation is, that their occupancy may be determined at any time, upon twelve months' notice being given, and no compensation whatever to be awarded for the fruits Of their industry, or the money that they have expended in the land. Reference to the condition alluded to will show that the mode in which the Government sought to administer the Crown lands in this district, is a mockery, and their efforts at promoting real settlement, a delusion and a snare.

Turning to the millions 'of acres of land owned by some 40,000 Natives, who can never possibly utilize their surplus possessions, what do we find 1 By the Native Land Administration Act passed by the Government—an Act the Native themselves petitioned Parliament to repeal—large areas of Native lands are sealed against settlement. Would it be believed that in thia land of Democracy, and in this enlightened age that it is absolutely penal at the present time to a quarter of an acre of land from a Native. However desirous anyone may be to make his permament abode in this country, he must look upon all Native territory as closed against settlement. Under these circumstances, therefore—reckless extravagance on the one hand, and the settlement of the country retarded on the othercan it be wondered at that the Colony is tottering on the verge of bankruptcy ? In the hands of the electors of the Colony the remedy lies. At the forthcoming elections they have the opportunity of showing that they realise—however unpleasant the discovery—the true state of the Colony’s affairs; by exercising that knowledge to return to Parliament candidates resolved and pledged to support wise and liberal land laws and a vigorous policy of economy, together with judicious and equitable retrenchment. It is to aid in carrying out such a policy that I enter, though somewhat reluctantly, upon the present contest.

Taxation cannot be avoided. However objectionable the present Property Tax may be, I believe it would be unwise, under the existing circumstances of the Colony, to change it for a Land Tax, It should be borne in mind that a peculiar uncertainty has threatened our legislation in land matters and hovered over the financial affairs of the Colony. These and the varied utterances of Ministers on land questions generally, have a tendency to create alarm and misgiving in the minds of those who have money to invest in the Colony, and consequently capital is shut out. A Land Tax, as I will show on a future occasion, would be the “ last straw that breaks the camel’s back.” For the foregoing reasons, and recognising the urgent necessity for capital to be introduced, in order that there may be ample employment and increased prosperity for all, it does not appear to be desirable, at the present juncture of affairs, to tamper by means of experimental legislation with an established system of taxation.