PENSIONER SETTLEMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1163, 6 August 1867, Page 4

PENSIONER SETTLEMENTS.

NOMINATION FOR THE HOUSE 07 EEPEESENTATITES. Yesterday at noon tlie Electors of tlie Pensioner Settlements met at Panmure for the purpose of nominating a fit and proper person to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Colonel Do Quincy. F The Betuknino Officer (J. J. Symonds, Esq.,) said—lhave convened this meeting to give you an opportunity of nominating or electing one duly qualified candidate to serve in the Hou,se of Kepresentatives for the elec'toral district" of the Pensioner Settlements. Ho then proceeded to read the writ, after which he said it only remains for me to beg that you will give both candidates and their proposers and seconders a fair hearing. Mr. Quinn then proposed John Kerr, Esq., as a fit and proper person to represent their interests of the Pensioner Settlements in the House of Kepresentatives, and in doing so he would say that they all knew what he had done for the furthering the settlement. It was his home and the home of the principal part of those present. He had shewn an example to all by doing his endeavour with his colleague, James Poley, in getting the bridge across the Tamaki. He had done all that was in for bringing a van from Auckland to Panmure. He had also done his part towards putting the road in thorough repair. Ho had been instrumental in getting from £500 to £700 towards the making of tho road. The run would have been taken from them but for his exertions, and if lie was put into the House of .Representatives, he would not forget the interests of those who lived where his home was. (A Voice: Wo he will not.) He could not do any good for himself without doing good for those present. He was always on the spot, and whatever was in his power he would do for them and for Howick too. The Howick people, too, ought to be grateful to Mr. Kerr. But for him the Bridge would not have been built. He had a claim on their suffrage for they could now go into town without waiting an ; hour or two for tho punt to bring them over. Everything being considered he believed Mr. Kerr to be tho right man in the right place and if it caime to tho poll he hoped to see him sky high at the head of the poll. , Hogan seconded tho nomination of iVIr. Kerr and said he was confident there was no man in the province more fit forthe seat than John Kerr, Esq. They all knew what he had done for all the Pensioner settlements and not for one alone. They would have been denied that run hod it not been for his exertions. They who were trusting to their one cow as a means of I support would have lost all they had had it not ] been for him. He had devoted his time to get- i ing them a good scoria road and had collect- i ed money for that purpose to the tune of £600 ] or £700 and had made d practicable road from 1 Auckland to' Panmure and Howick. He had < great pleasure in seconding the nomination of s John Kerr, iEsq., as a fit and proper person to ; represent the pensioner settlements in the House ' of Representatives. ,

J Mr. Evas McNeill proposed Mr. J. J. 1 I Jackson as a fit and proper person to represent i the pensioner settlements in the House of Repre- 1 scntatives. Ho had no further remarks to make. ! Tliore had been so much said about what Mr. ' Kerr had dono that it would require a Dan O'Connel to speak for Mr. Jackson. Mr. John Loed seconded the nomination of Mr. Jackson, when the Peturning Officer said ' he could not find the name of the candidate on the roll fop 1866 and 1867. In the roll for , 1867-8 which would not come into operation until the Ist September, the gentleman s name would appear. Therefore he could not see how he cofild allow Mr. Jaekson to be nominated, 3eeing that he was not a duly qualified person. By the Constitution Act he would require to be legally qualified as an elector, and as he was not on tho present roll, ho was not legally qualified; therefore he was sorry to say that he eould not allow him to be nominated. Mr. Jackson said he was labouring under a mistake in the matter. There being no other person nominated, Mr. Keek came forward and said : Ho would briefly give them his ideas on two leading subjects of tho day, viz., Protection and separation. But before doing so ho would read an article from the daily Herald, of Saturday last, and as many there prosent had probably not seen it ho would read it, and then explain his principles afterwards. The following is the letter To the Editor of the New Zealand Herald. Sib, —It seßms wo are to have a contested election and if so, lot it bo contosted to some purpose. I don't soo why on tho score of dilay, any man Bhould be allowed to walk over tho course. What matters three days? Tho nomination takes place on Monday and the election, if thoro be a contest, three days afterwards. Are three days of such vital importance? Why tho man returned on the Bth, would go down to Wellington in the very same boat as the man returned on tho 6th ; so where would be tho advantage gained? Now, I certainly should like to see some one returned for this impoitant and flourishing district_ who will assist Mr. Williamson in oarrying a Bill through the Assembly to make law of the Was to Land -.Regulations approved by the Provincial Council in its last session. Will Mr. Kerr pledge himself to this among other matters. It is said that he is identified with Mr. Oarleton, and the Brown and Campbell party, whoso object it is to thwart Mr. Williamson in his endeavour in this respect. That party is naturally the supporter of the General Government and opposed to Provincialism. Jt sees that if it can cripple the Provincial Government and strengthen tho central Government at Wellington it will, in its character of a land monopoly company, be able to make tho most of direct purchaso and obtain a real monopoly of the land yet unsold by the nativos. Is Mr. Kerr, then, I ask, a staunch Proviucialist ? Will he in the Assembly support the wish of tho Counoil in regard to tho proposed alteration in the Waste Lands Act ? ' The electors must look to those matters. They must ■ tako pledges, distinct plodges, from every candidate 1 now. —I have, &c., Otahuhu, August 1, 1867. Eleoiob. | Ho would now tako tho first of tlieso questions. Will Mr. Kerr pledge himself to this amongst ■ other matters ? In the Provincial Council he. ' had voted against tho continuance of the forty- ' aero system, believing that, although for a time 5 it had worked well, the time was now como to ; 1 do away with it.. They had enough men here ■ 3 who could not get employment, and to tax the j people to buy land to give away was a system • he did not believe in. He had therefore voted; • against it, and he was of the same opinion still. • The majority of the Provincial Council had, 3 however, decided otherwise, and he bowed to ' their decision, and in the General Assembly, " neither directly or indirectly, would ho attempt 3 to undermine that decision. It was for the 3 Auckland party, of which Mr. Williamson was ' the head, to carry it out, and he would not directly or indirectly oppose them. • A Voice: Will you oppose it. J Mr. Kerb : No! ho would bow to the, majority. (It is a pity you were not in that majority.) Tho letter went on to say that he £ was identified with Mr. Carleton, and the Brown and Campbell interest. He wished to ' say a few words on that. Ho denied entirely that he was now or that he had ever been iden- ' tified either with Mr. Carleton or with Brown ' and Campbell, and every one that know him 1 would believe that Mr. Carleton would never ? lead him against his own judgment. Ho would f exercise his own judgment in the House of 3 Representatives as lie had done in tho Provincial • Council, and not be blindly led by any man let - him be ever so clever. The last matter in the c letter ho would refer to was—"tho electors J must look to these matters. They must take pledges, distinct pledges from every candidate." , Ho had no hesitation in giving that pledge. If his votes were not in accordance with tho wish of the majority of his constituents, and if they asked him to resign he would do so immediately. Every constituency ought to exact that pledge. He thought it the more necessary seeing the lino of conduct that Colonel Haultain had seen fit to pursuo in the General Assembly. The electors of Franklyn were virtually disfran- ' chised, and not represented at all, while Colonel ' Haultain retained his seat in that House. On ' that account every constituency ought to have a distinct pledge that their representatives would ' resign when they wero called on to do so. He ' himself now distinctly gave that pledge. The > next subject he would refer to was that of Pro- ! tection. It was a subject that had not yet been thoroughly discussed : it had only been mooted. I At the agricultural dinner at Otahuhu it was to I have been discussed, but they fought shy of it. He himself did not exactly know how to tako it. L He could not see his way ; but at present he was not for protection, for several reasons ; but per- ■ haps when the matter was thoroughly ventilated ■ and discussed he mig;ht have to change his i opinion. To his mind it looked too muck like r class-legislation—that was to say, one law for 1 the rich, and another for the poor. They had • enough of that in tho old country.. It was difficult there, when once it wao adopted, to get it i erased from tho statute-books again. Besides, he thought it a retrogressive policy: it was going backwards; and besides, it would bear very heavily on the poor man—the labourer—the mechanic—to have to pay high prices- for the common necessaries of life. They were high, enough as it was, without making them higher. No one would come to live here were all the necessaries of life, at a very high price; they would go to another colony where provisions were cheaper. It would drive away the poor man were protection to rule. All they wanted was peace and cheap government.- They wanted to reduce tho taxation of the country —to reduce tho numerous officials that wero preying on the country. Tho country was actually official ridden. The time would soon como when, if they went on at the present rate, tho revenue of the country would not suffice to pay the salaries of the officials. This was what they wanted, instead of protection. And now as to Separation. He would state distinctly that he was not a separationist—either provincial or insular. For provincial separation he did not believe in at all, but he would take insular separation. Conditionally—that was to say, if the South wo'ild . take upon, them all the expenses; incurred in suppressing the native rebellion—then he would i tako Separation . and npt before. The South had an immenspi. revenue from their goldfields ] and other sources. It was their statesmen who. 1 had urged on the war and incurred the expenditure of the £3,000,000 uselessly. He would 1 not give in to linancial separation without terrj- : 1 tonal separation, and the South to take the 1 whole of the debt incurred in the native rebellion on their own shoulders. Hp considered that they had been saved from the consequences 1 of two particular blunders. ... First,. provincial a separation as propounded by Mr. Whitaker; , and secondly, financial separation as proposed s b y r> Vogel—that is, financial separation * without territorial separation—and these two '

blunders they wero sayed from, not by themselves, but by the South. • Having said so much, that he was not for Separation unconditionally, , he might, however, state /that he believed in local, self-government. That might seem con- : tradictory. He would explain it. Ho believed in a mayor and corporation for tHe town, and ' road boards and highway districts for the country. By that means they would get a fair share of the revenue, and it would be judiciously expended. If they had Provincial Separation, they would have saddled upon them a House of Lords and a Ho.use of Commons, ' together with their attendant staff of officials, as at present was the case in the General Assembly. These would have to be paid, and that in itself would have been ruinous. If they had got what they asked for at tho time, all the other provinces in the North would have had as good a right to demand it as we had. The Bay of Islands might have claimed it, as well as Taranaki, Tauranga, and other places. What a state of things that would have been; but luckily they had escaped it. They were saved, not by themselves, but by the Southern members. For that they owed the South a debt of gratitude. He thought it a pity they could not get their best men in the General Assembly. As for himself, he only put himself down as third-rate. What they wanted was such men as Mr. Russell, Mr. Whitaker, Mr. Buckland, and Mr. Creighton. These four had done them good service beforetime, and could do it again, and he was sorry they were not now in the Assembly. Other good men there were in the province, but they would not come forward. There was an immense amount of talent and debating power in that House from the South, with which the North was not able to cope, and for that reason he would like to see better men than himself in tho House. He wished now to make a few remarks in regard to his Howick friends. He had not the least ill-feeling against any of them who had come forward to support Mr. Jackson; and when this election was over, there would not be the least bitterness between himself and his friend Mr. Jackson. But he could understand how it was. Howick ; was a sporting community, they liked a bit of fun, and so they said to themselves we will not

let Mr. Kerr walk over, so they brought Mr. Jackson over to Panmure to contest the election, and he was sorry Mr. Jackson had no chance. Thanking them for the patient hearing they had accorded him, he concluded. Mr. White : Will you support local selfgovernment ? Mr. Kebb: Yes. Mr. White : Will you support vote by ballot ? Mr. Keeb : Yes. The Retubnino- Ojficeb said: It now remains for me to deolare J. Kerr, Esq., to be duly elected to serve in the House of Representatives; for the electoral district of tho Pen-, sioner Settlements. After a vote of; thanks to the Returning Officer, three cheers were given for Mr. Kerr, three cheers for the Returning Officer, and three cheers for the Queen, after which the meeting separated.