THE PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 199, 16 October 1869, Page 4

THE PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS.

LOWER WATKAU. The Nomination for this district took place on Tuesday last in the Council Chamber, Blenheim, when about 60 persons were present. John Bailey man, Esq., (the Returning Officer), having x-ead the Governor's writ, called upon the Electors to nominate two members to represent them in the Provincial Council of Marlborough. Mr. W. Nosworthy said that he had pleasure in proposing W. H. Eyes, Esq., who had enjoyed their confidence for the last ten years, and would, he felt confident, continue to do so in future. Mr. T. Davies seconded the nomination. Mr. Joseph Taylor proposed, and Mr. Nixon seconded the nomination of Charles Redwood, Esq. Mr. Charles Eyles proposed James Sinclair, Esq. In doing so he regretted that ilness prevented Mr. S.’s presence. That gentleman was the firm friend of the Electors ; he was an old member of the Council, and had neve.i betrayed his trust. Mr. J. Rose seconded. Mr. Eyes then addressed the meeting. He said he was not a new candidate for Provincial honors, as he had stood in that position on seven or eight previous occasions, and had each time been returned at the head of the poll. (Hear.) His principles and conduct were well known, and therefore he had less to say than a new member would have. All knew'the financial position of the Province ; there was little to fight about. The -one great thing he had at heart was the of the whole Province. Several new industries the cultivation of flax, &c.—were springing up, and, if properly fostered, no doubt before long the Province would be in a different position to what it had been in. If elected it would be his endeavor to do this as much as lay in his power. He would briefly refer to Mr. Sinclair’s published address, and regretted that gentleman’s indisposition prevented him from being present to reply. Mr. Sinclair leads the electors to believe that the District of Lower Wairau had not

eceived that justice from the Council it ought to have done. He had since gone into the matter, and found the district had contributed very slightly towards the Revenue, in comparison with other districts, and more money had been spent upon it than upon the others in proportion to the amount contributed. He felt it necessary to remark this much in justification of their late representatives. Mr. Charles Redwood’s address said the roads were a crying shame. He agreed with him; all knew he (Mr. Eyes) had all along advocated a tax for the opening up and support of roads throughout the Province. A permissive Act was of no use; a compulsory Act was what was required, and had we had one long ago, with proper management, better roads would now be in existence, and money would have been saved for larger works—probably a bridge would have been built over the Wairau river, and have taken the place of the present objectionable means of transit. (Hear.) With regard to Education, he saw the poor man who was living on a bare subsistence, and wi.hout family, paying his annual rate of £l, and deriving no benefit; while his richer neighbours with large families paid no more. This he would strongly oppose. (Applause.) He thought all should be rated according to their means. (Applause.) One other question he would remark upon in conclusion—he referred to compulsory drainage. An Act was passed by the Provincial Council and the Parliament which had since been excluded from the Yalidation Act. He had used repeated endeavours in the House of Representatives to have it included in the Act referred to, hut had so far been unsuccessful. He thought the Provincial Council and the people should petition the Government to validate this Act, which was a very useful and necessary one. He thanked those present for their patient hearing, and if returned he would study, not only the interests of the district, but that of the Province. One district should not be benefitted at the expense of another. The Province as a whole was the main consideration. (Applause.) Mr C Redwood said, in addressing the meeting, he felt himself a little out of place, but his friends had asked him to come forward, and he had done so. He was of similar opinions to the last speaker. A good Compulsory Road Act he believed in, where every man should pay according to his property. Much money had been squandered in the Province by making roads through clay hills and rocky gorges, to miserable sheep stations This might have been avoided under a good Roads Act. Marlborough was rich in natural resources, and he believed, was as well off as any Province in New Zealand. Things were in the ascendant ; and since flax was becoming a useful article of commerce, low-land settlers would no longer be looked down upon as miserable individuals, who lived in the swamps, but as lucky fellows with plenty of flax (applause). This again showed how useful a compulsory Drainage Act would be Owners of low lands, by an annual payment of perhaps £2O, or even less, would then be in a position to derive absolute benefit from land now valueless. With reference to Education, he had heal'd it stated that Mr. Sinclair’s canvassers had said it was his intention to join Mr. Ward and Mr. Goulter in order to encourage Roman Catholic principles. He utterly denied anything of the kind. He would as soon think of setting sail and joining Brigham Young (laughter). He thought they knew him too well for that. No; what he would uphold was a purely secular system of Education, He objected in common with nearly everyone to the present system, which placed the charge of the public schools in the hands of a few persons, who put in any kind of master without regard to his attainments, and compelled people who were dissatisfied thereat to send their children to other schools, while paying the Household rate as well. The system was a bad one. He had little more to say. His interests were identical with those of the electors, and therefore he could not go wrong ; he would support improvement and local industry in every form. He thanked the meeting for their patient hearing, and would endeavour, if returned, to support the interests of the Province in general, and the district of Lower Wairau in particular. Mr. Eyes inquired if any electors wished to question him on any subject? Mr. N. T. Pkichaed wished to know how he would divide the Road districts —whether into large or small ? Mr. Eyes said he was decidedly in favor of large districts, similar to those laid down in the Resolutions passed by the late Council. Mr. Redwood offered to answer any questions, Mr. P. Laweence, admidst interruption, asked who told Mr. Redwood that Mr. Sinclair had made the remarks he quoted, with reference to religious education ?

Mr. Redwood declined giving any name. He had heard it from more than three different persons. Mr. C. Eyles felt bound to state his disbelief in Mr. Sinclair having ever said anything of the sort, and regretted he was absent, and so unable to refute the statement. Mr. Sinclair’s political sentiments were identical with Mr. Eyes’. A show of hands was called for by the Returning Officer, which he declared to be as follows :—Eyes, 26; Redwood, 12 ; and Sinclair, 8. A poll was then demanded for Mr. Sinclair by Messrs. C. Eyles and R. Newth, which it was announced would take place on Tuesday next, at 9 o’clock. A vote of thanks to the Returning Officer closed the proceedings. TOWN OF BLENHEIM. The Nomination for this district came off on Wednesday last, in the Council Chamber. The attendance was only moderate. John Barley man, Esq , having read the customary writ, called upon the electors to nominate two legally-qualified persons as their representatives. Mr. Dodson said he had great pleasure in proposing Mr. John T. Robinson as a fit and proper person, not only because he had sat with him as his colleague during the last Council, when he watched his votes and sayings in respect to all measures, consulting and working with himself, but because he was really apt and clear-headed upon all subjects brought under the notice of the Council; and there were few men in the late one who studied so clearly the bearing of such measures, or pursued a more even and decided course. He should himself be happy to have him again as a colleague, and believed they could not choose a better representative.

Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Emerson both rose at once, and seconded the nomination. Mr. Budge had the pleasing task of proposing Mr H. Dodson, feeling sure that while integrity and good conduct held their true value, they would never get a better representative, nor one who would do more for their interests. Mr. James T. Robinson seconded the motion. He said he had no hesitation in stating that Mr Dodson had not only his full confidence, but that of the town at large, and that be had fought for them through thick and thin. (Hear.) As no other candidate was proposed, the Returning Officer declared Messrs. Robinson and Dodson duly elected. (Cheers.) Mr. John T. Robinson said he felt great pleasure on being again a third time elected without a contest, which after all, however, he considered made it rather a tame affair. They had heard of rumours of war, and he had' thought some of those disappointed people would have at least come there and enunciated their views, if they did not get up a little opposition. They must, however, have been very few, and in the minority, or they would surely have been there to-day. On former occasions he had always been able to say what party he intended to support, but now there seemed to be a break-up of all parties, and the new Government would probably be a stronger and better one than before. Hitherto there had always been a minority of interests ruling, but these more populous portions of the Province ought and probably would be more strongly represented in it. He did not mean that he had any difficulty of saying whom he should support as Superintendent, but should continue to support Mr. Eyes as he always had done, because he felt he was always with them. Many talked of a Compulsory Road Act,, but without understanding it. Some said they would support such a measure because it would do the Province good; others opposed it because they did not want roads for their own use. He thought the main trunk lines should be under one control, and all the bye-roads under District Road Boards, and then if they liked to wade through the mud, why let them. Instancing the Wairau Yalley ; where the road was good just in their own district those above or below did not care what state they were in. He would leave the district, roads to those who used them. A Drainage Act was imperatively required, and would do more good than any other kind of legislation. We wanted one that would stop the overflow of the rivers as well as drain the low lands; and, while such would benefit the agriculturists in the surrounding country, he believed that Blenheim would also be materially advanced. The Education question would have to be dealt with by the next Council; this was also a measure in which everyone was interested. The present. system of rating was, he contended, grossly unfair. He had always felt that property should be rated for Education, inasmuch as it derived a benefit from its influence on crime; but perhaps it would be out of place, without calling a meeting of his constituents, for him or his colleague to propose auch a principle in the Council in consequence of

recent public meeting having decided against it; but he was satisfied that it was unjust to make a man whose income was only £2O pay as much as the man with £20,000. Much had been said out of doors about retrenchment, but after looking into the question he did not see where it could be made, beyond a very trifling sum. In spite of what was said throughout the Colony our Provincial Government cost but little. The departments of Superintendent, Treasurer, Provincial Secretary, Education Secretary, Speaker, &c., only came to about £BOO a year. Some of the expenses might be cut down a little ; but be would not go there to cut down salaries till their officials could not live. Someone might be got to do the work for less money perhaps, but a good officer might save hundreds of pounds. The expenditure had been reduced year by year till it could be cut down little more. He believed something might be done towards economy by amalgamating offices, and would pay a man a good salary, but give him something to do for it. He thanked them, in conclusion, for the honor they had done him, and felt sure they would have the same confidence when ho came before them again. (Applause.) Mr. Dodson said he felt it always an honor to be elected by his brother settlers, but doubly so when there was no contest. Ever since a few weeks after he gave his vote in the last Council in favor of yielding up the Province to the General Government, he had regretted it, but especially since they had no better scheme to propose than to hand us over to Nelson ; and in the future he would seek by every means in his power to promote the permanence of Provincial Institutions—at all events, until a better system was devised for the Colony at large (hear). He was strongly opposed to the Re-Anexa-tion scheme, which would be disastrous to our interests in every way. It might be an honor to form part of a larger Province, but he did not feel it so. That we should never get justice in such case was very properly put in some remarks on the late Superintendent’s address in the last issue of the Express. It might be that Mr. Curtis knew nothing about it; but in that case he showed a lamentable ignorance of the place and people. In Nelson they looked upon us as a people wholly abandoned ; their ridiculous views were altogether aside the facts as fighting against hope, wondering why we staid here, and expected wo should one day be swept away over the Boulderbank to sea. Notwithstanding the evidence of Blue Books, and the public papers, which -wore all of no use, they would never believe any good of us, but simply as a people who once abandoned Nelson. However, he would in future do nothing which tended to bring Provincial Institutions into disgrace, but to work them to the best advantage. With respect to the roads, he held similar views to those expressed by his colleague; and considered those were trunk roads from Dillon’s Point to Blenheim, and from the Bush to Spring Creek, Road Districts should be large, otherwise rates would fall heavy on small properties in many cases; the five named by Mr. Eyes yesterday were sufficiently small to work fairly. Our Provincial monies had, it was asserted, been squandered, but it was not in paying large salaries, for he thought they were small enough for efficiency, but they had been wasted in making roads to inaccessible places and other similar projects, and he could not say he was proud of the state to which we had been brought thereby. He had reason to believe that these exceptional class interests were now done away with, and that a brighter and more prosperous future was in store for us. He still thought a better system might be devised for New Zealand than the present way in which Provincial Institutions were worked, and had lately listened with pleasure to the speech of Mr. Stevens in the Assembly upon that subject. The greatest evil unfortunately was that they promoted a number of small centres. There were a variety of opinions on the subject, but that was, he thought, the main difficulty attending the question; but one thing certain was that we could not again afford to set an example to the rest of the Colony. The only way the Ministry saw of helping us was to hand us over to Nelson, to increase the size of that Province. Better to retain our Provincial income here, and spend it among ourselves, than pay it into the Nelsoq chest, and get in return a district constable (hear). He should support the l;te Superintendent, and never thought of doing otherwise (applause). Mr. Eyes stood by this town when we needed his help, at a time when it was sought to wipe out our existence as a town. Where we had good land and many other advantages, we must increase in numbers and influence. In this district we had much to be thankful for, as there was much distress existing elsewhere, both in Auckland, notwithstanding her goldfields, and Nelson and Canterbury. He thought we had as good a future before us, despite the adverse seasons and other diffi-

ultios ; and ho looked forward to a steady and increased prosperity. He felt sure that they were not worse off now really than they were a few years ago, and this was duo to good land and the circumstances surrounding it. The present education system was most unfair and unjust; property ought to be the basis of all taxation. They had adopted the principle in the Municipal Corporations Act, and he thought it should be the same with Education ; it was every man’s direct interest to foster it who had property, and it should be supported by property, and not by head money (hear). He thanked them for again returning him as one of their members, and would do his best to serve them. He was ready to answer any questions they might be disposed to put. None offering to put any, a vote of thanks was given to the Returning Officer, and the meeting dispersed.