OUR KAIKOUBA LETTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XIII, Issue 1009, 20 March 1878, Page 7

OUR KAIKOUBA LETTER.

i {From our own Correspondent,}- ; QMS CHEVIOT SEAT. Solomon m his wisdom has said there is nothing new under the sun, yet the Cheviot electorate has witnessed a. novelty m that grand system of representation possessed by the. people of New Zealand. Mr Leonard Harper, the member for Cheviot, being desirous .of visiting Great Britain has kindly provided the constituency with a candidate, to fill the seat when it pleases that gentleman to vacate it. This is truly paternal representation and has the merit of consistency, for Mr Harper was made member for Cheviot by an Act of the Assembly, and should Sir J. Craoroft Wilson be elected, it will be entirely due to the unfair aotion of Mr Harper, m witholding the knowledge of his j intended resignation from i the electors until the candidate now m the field has swamped the electorate. The people of Kaifcoura were greatly surprised to learn that Sir J. Cracroft Wilson would address the electors on the Bth inst, as a candidate for the Cheviot seat, not having been previously informed of his intended resignation. SDR J. CBACROJT WILSON Arrived at Kaikoura on the 7th mat and on the evening of the Bth at half, past six o'clock he met a considerable number of the electors. Mr A. W. Ingles on being called to the chair said that he wished it to be dearly understood that he was not pledged to support Sir J. Cracroft Wilson. He. than called on Sir J. Cracroft Wilson to address the electors. | Sir J. Cracroft Wilson began his address by I saying the electors would naturally enquire who Sir J. Craoroft was, and ha then narrated the history of his past life (m the manner im- | mortalisedjoy Anthony Trollope) ; he also said ! that the finances of the Colony were m a very bad condition ; that the credit of the Colony was destroyed m the London Markets ; there was also a defioit of £200,000 which would have to be raised by a property tax ; that such a tax would be moat distasteful to the small farmer and would be equally, so. to the man who held 100,000 acres. There was an individual named William that he should like to be near when such a tax was announced! to him. He also blamed the Yogel Government for their great extravagance m carrying out the Public Works scheme'; iron for the railways had been ! purchased at £15 per ton, . when it could have j been bought at £0 10s, he concluded by Baying

thai; if returned he would do his best .for, New Zealand and his constituency. In reply to a question by Dr Fletcher enquiring if he would support a Property Tax, Sir Oracroft Wilson said a property Tax was inevitable ; there was no other means of meeting the yearly deficit. It was impossible to fix an Income Tax without a system of espionage whicb was hateful to Englishmen. Mr H. A. Ingles, asked if a lawyer with 'an income of £300, was not as much entitled to pay a tax as a man who owned 20 acres of laud ? tiir J. Cracroft Wilson said it was impossible to ascertain the lawyer's income. Mr A. Collins asked if ho would endeavour to get money voted for the wharf at Kaikoura, a bridge over the Waiau and Clarence rivera and a trunk line of road ? Sir J. Cracroft Wilson said that he would dp his best to obtain money for these necessary works, and blamed the Yogel Government for the trunk line of railway not being constructed through this part of the island j other parts of New Zealand had what this electorate should have received. Mr H. A. Ingles asked what hia views were on Education. Sir J. C. Wilson said that theinterference of the State was an impertinence m educational matters, but he thought it was unavoidable, for the parents would not educate their children if left to themselves. He was m favor of a Secular system of education, but m those matters he wasa cosmopolitan ; the two Hindoos a Mabomedan seven Roman Catholics and a dozen Protestants, he hated them all alike m the matter of religion; he did not think that the Clergy should be allowed to go about the schools teaching their own particular sects j he did not want a clergyman to explain the Bible to him. Mr William Smith of Ludstone asked Sir J. Cracroft Wilson if he knew if Mr Harper had resigned his seat or intended to do so. Sir J. Cracroft Wilson said that Mr Harper had informed him that he intended to resign, and that he might make any use of the information he thought fit ; on these grounds he 'had come to Kaikoura to address the electors. Mr H. A. Ingles proposed a vote of thanks to Sir J. Cracroft Wilson for his address, which was carried unanimously, and the meeting terminated. MBWABD. A requisition is being numerously signed by the electors and will be forwarded to Mr Joseph' Ward, asking him to become a candidate for the seat. It is to be hoped that Mr Ward will accede to the request of the electors for with the exception of a few of our quasi leaders* he , would obtain nearly all the votes here. In any case I trust that some local man will come for* ward m order that the electors here may have an opportunity of placing it on record that they are not to be dominated by a Chriatchuroh clique, whose sole ami is to benefit themselves at the expense of Kaikoura and other parts of the electorate. It would have been also more seemly and certainlymore honest and manly if Mr Leonard Harper had informed the constituency of his intention to resign his Beat before the electors heard his intention from the Elisha who is to inherit the coveted Cheviot seat. It appears that amongst Christchurch politicians fair play is an exceedingly rare jewel. Instead of this ! characteristic of Englishmen, we find only what' Mr Trollope calls blowing, and a' coarseness ■-. which would put to the blush the denizens of .Billingsgate. .'; '-' ' "'. -^ Harvest operations are now finished, and the crops hitve yielded a fair average. ; . . \^\ The importation of ferrets has. proved a failure; ■ only three' ferrets and two. .'weasels have been.: landed m Kaikoura, those animals probably cost' £1000, therefore the destruction of the rabbits '■■ by means of imported amimals is likely to be a very expensive affair. . . r', ', r The district shows abundant sighs of prosperity ■< In the County land is being rapidly brought into cultivation'; m. the Township handsome buildings are m course of erection; and the Bank, of Now Zealand contemplates building a new Bank. Mine host of the Kaikoura Hotel also intends to ' build a commodious hotel, which, is much wanted m the township.