THE The Northern Advocate. " Sworn to no Master, of no sect am I." SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25,1893. THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Northern Advocate, 25 November 1893, Page 4

THE The Northern Advocate. " Sworn to no Master, of no sect am I." SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25,1893. THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Next Tuesday, November 28th, is the great day set aside for the General Election of representatives to the New Zealand Parliament. On one tiling there can be no doubt, namely, that the present Liberal Government will return to power wMi ample fighting power, though of course Sir Robert Stout with a fair following will be a disturbing element in our colonial politics. Sir Geo. Grey too is an unknown quantity, but notwithstanding the great mass of the peoj)le of New Zealand will be found at the back of the Seddon Government — the only truly Liberal Government we have ever had in this countiy. Their administration — the laws they have passed, the policy they have pursued —commands the approval of the people, and no matter wliat may happen here and there to divert the current of popular opinion, the main volume of'*s"de will go down midstream and carry everything before it. Of the possibilities of the future, we see a party composed of the followers of Sir Geo. Grey and Sir Robert Stout forming in mid-stream to obstruct and sj)lit the main current, and lower down the Mitchelson-Rolleston party will be waiting with out-stretched arms trying to catch the divided forces in a cleverly constructed Borrn^nor- trap. During- the ,:=.. .- of the new Parliament, we shuli see a new borrowing scheme proposed and earned, with probably the Betterment Bill as a twin-sister to act as a brake, and a proviso that the money be borrowed it the colony. Borrowing is inevitable, as now the whole Public Works Fund is exhausted, and not to borrow means , the stoppage of all further public works and progress. No Government can retain Dffice thatf or the want of money has to stop land settlement and leave uncompleted the public works of the Colony. ' We shall also see in the new Parliament a groat battle over the Liquor question, for the reason that the present Act is simply a burlesque and wilL be assailed by all parties. An Act that enforces on the one hand that a poll be taken at a cost to the local bodies of abouf £200 for each electorate to ascertain whether the people wish to maintain i r abolish public houses, and tn the other gives to the Colonial Secretary no matter what the poll of the people may decide, the power to issue Clublicenses ad libitum is not only worse than useless : it is an' insult to the good sense of the people of the Colony. The Marsden election happily has caused little friction' so far, and there 18 every likelihood of it passing off without any bad feoling or acuto party ■trife.

The new Whangarei County Council met last Wednesday, and after electing unanimously Mr A. H. Mason Chairman, adjourned to next next day, when a whole day sitting w.ts held. Report held over. Mr Mallabc ul was unanimously elected to represent the Council on the Charitable Aid Board. This appointment will give universal satisfaction.

THE STATE "FORKS'! S. ♦ — Tiiinu-; seems to be a peculiar misapprehension in the minds of some people as to tho valuo of the proposal that the State Forests of the North should be acquired as an endow- 1 ment for roading tho North. Some thoughtless peoplescem to think these State Forests are agricultual land and that the proposal is to put : them up and sell them for that purpose. At both of Mr Harrison's Whangarei meetings he wasasked (1) " Who would buy the forests until roads were made to them?" and (2) "Would not the people who bought the land want the money to road it?" Snch questions will appear grotesque enough to people conversant with our kauri forests and the working of them, and we certainly were astounded at the ignorance of the persons asking the questions, but the fact remains that there is great misapprehension in regard to the matter. By " State Forests" is meant the timber reserves made by the Government : the great kauri bushes chiefly. The land itself is of no particular value ; it is the timber that is valuable. There is no land (or rather timber) in the Colony so valuable as the best kauri forest : it may be worth from £-20 to £200 or £.300 an acre ! That is the land wo want to get hold of as an endowment to road the North. How will it road the North ? The timber companies are at present cutting- away from their lands the timber as fast as they can, to the extent of £3,000,000 wcrth evory ten years, one-third of which is exported. Presently, these Crown timber reserves will become very valuable and are estimated to produce during the next fifteen years at least £1,000,000. Any timber that tho Wasto Lands Board sells fetches on a minimum 20/ per tree, and from 6d to 1/6 per 100 ft for standing timber. The timber in Puhipuhi alone — estimated at three hundred million feet — would be worth on the 1/ basis £150,000! But if it were only one-third of this it would go a long way towards roading Marsden. Fortunately too, forest reserves require no expense for roading as the timber is in nearly every case driven out by water with the aid of dams. When once the timber is sold the purchaser has to make his own driving and bullock roads.