THE ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1839, 6 December 1869, Page 5

THE ELECTIONS.

The polling for the Pensioner Settlements took place on Saturday last. The three successful candidates nre Messrs. Brookfield, Freer, and Korr. Tho numbers are as follows :— ? gj Z 3 3. I" E % * % ' Brookfield 20 50 30 109 £ recr 39 2G 31 90 }f™ 44 27 12 S3 Hovell 10 41 20 71 Wh 'tc 5 52 7 05 Irvine 5 Q q u The declaration of the poll will be made this afternoon at Panmure, at -J. o'clock. The nomination for Franklin takes place to-day, at the Panmure Bridge. The polling will take vlace on the 23rd iust. ° The nomination for tho Northern Divisiou will also take place to-day at the D.-vonport Hall, and the poll will be taken on the 21st iUjtant. The nomination for Parnell will take place to-morrow, and the polling on the followine day. b CITY EAST.—DECLARATION OF THE POLL. The oflicial declaration of the poll of this district was n-adcon Saturday at the Mechanics' Institute. At 12 ojclock precisely the Returning Officer entered the hall, and announced tho result of the polling as follows :— W..T. Hurst 219 P. A. Phillips 0 02 H.Ellis ;; 184 Mr. HcflST came forward and said : I thank you, electors of the City East, for tho position in which yon hare placed me. Iα doing so, I assure you that I shall use my best endeavours to do you honor by strict 'attention to the duties of that position. Mr. P. A. Pim.Lirs said he had to thank tho electors, and merely to add that his best energies would be devoted to promoting the interests of the city of Auckland and the province generally. Mr. 11. Elms also returned thanks to the electors. Now that the elections were over, ho hoped that all parties would co-operato to carry on the business of the province to the general good. A vote of thanks to the Returning Officer was proposed by Mr. Hurst, seconded by Mr. Elms, and carried unanimously. This concluded the proceedings. CITY "WEST.—DECLARATION OF THE POLL. The oflicial declaration of the result of the polling for this district was made on Saturday, by Col. Balneavis, the Ret urn ing -Officer, in ground adjoining the site of the old Supreme Court-house. The following are the numbers, as previously published in this journal: — Swanson, 400 ; Boylan, 412 ; Hill, 39S ; Dignan, 209 ; Macready, 291. He therefore declared electors Swanson, Boylan, Hill, Dignan, and Macready duly elected'to serve as members of the Provincial Council. Mr. Swanso.n- said he had ouly to thank the electors for having him in the position of their representative. He did not believe that the result was due to his merits so much as it was to tho exertions of his friends. He did not believe that so large a number could hare been got to come np and vote. He would carefully attend to tho duties of t he position, and 1 erhaps he could attend to them better from the experience he had already had. At the same time, if the electors should get tired of him ; if they found that he did not discharge the duties to their satisfaction, all they had to do was to say that he had lost their confidence, and he would then yield up tho trust into their hands. Mr. BovtiAX thanked the electors for having -returned him as one of their representatives, and was obliged, from the extraordinary political position of this province, to make some remarks on her position in the Parliament of New Zealand. He was the more anxious to do it as he saw some country settlers present. On the most important question that can come before a parliament, namely a change of Ministry—last session Auckland was represented by eight centralists and seven provincialists, consequently, she counted one vote, and this cost about £1500; even this one vote was the result, of an accident, owing to a member being absent, having paired. Had he been present, it would have been eight to eight. Thus Auckland has sunk to the lowest ebb it is possible to sink to —it is not worth the while of either Mr. Fox or Mr. Stafford to throw her a bone, she is of no consequence whatever to any Ministry, and is of less political importance than the smallest province of New Zealand. Now 5100 men have recorded their votes in favour of provincialism, typified either by Mr. Gillies or Mr. Williamson, therefore, the centralist members of the Assembly misrepre • sent us, or the 5100 men have voted against their conscience, and nre political impostors. As the latter supposition is impossible, it is the duty of the constituencies to call upon these gentlemen to resign their seats. What is the use of sending us into Council if you send members to the south to support and endeavour to bring in a minister who stated that the aim of his Government was to sap and undermiae provincial institutions. As our national interests can never be sound whilst our political condition is so unsound, it is to be hoped the country settlers will take up this question. Mr. Hill begged to return his best thanks to the electors for placing him in the position he then occupied. He had used very little effort to secure his election, and that little he hoped might justify him iu believing that he stood well with his fellow settlers. It had been reported during the election that he (Mr. Hill) was against provincialism ; but if every settler in the Province would do his duty, nono would be a stronger provracialist than himself. He had always been in favour of whatever form would give local self-govern-ment. When he saw, as they all had seen, the apathy that existed ; when they saw that the work of government was neglected, and the money absorbed in salaries, interest, and sinking fund, he felt that almost any Government would be better than the one they had, and at that time he was in favour of centralism. But if the people of this province would only do their duty, then people would consider it an honor to come forward and assist iu the public councils. (Cheers.) Mr. Hill further said he had received a letter from the United Kingdom I Alliance, asking him whether he would support a Permissive Bill where the majority of a district was in its favour. Ho could easily answer that question. He was not a teetotaller, but as this was an issue that devolved upon local self-government he would support such a measure. Mr. DiGXAX next came forward, and said that he thanked the electors for again returning him to represent the City West. He had been returned without having solicited any votes. He (Mr. Dignan) had had difficulties to contend with as a member of the late Government, for he had to bear the blame of the faults of his friends as well as of his own. He thanked the :< Old Identity" for having placed him iu his present positisn—those gentlemen who made the place what it is by their industry and their enterprise, those men who were the founders of Auckland —(A Voice : " What have the ' new chums' done ?") —those were the men who raised it from being a mere quagmire, by their unceasing exertions. But as to those young men who had voted against him, he would hope that wh-11 the election came they would be amongst his supporters. He would ask the electors again | to accept his best thanks. Mr. Macready came forward and thanked tho electors for the confidence they had placed iu him. He would do his best by evory means in his power to advance the interests of the city and the colony. TUB DEi'EATJJD CANDIDATES. Mr. Eastwood said he did not know whom to thank most, those who Toted to put him in,

or those who voted to keep him out. It had been said he was an " unknown" man. Instead of being unknown, he had opened his tongue to stop the removal of the seat of Government. When they proposed a valedictory address to ?ir George G-rov, he was one who i raised his yoiea and showed that Sir George Grey left tue Jj'~7 ,-nill an <l i u d « bt -. % had, on various occasions, raised his voice, Z defence ot the rights of the Citv and Province of Auckland. Mr. French thanked the electors who gave him an independent support. He came out at the request of his csteemcl frjend Mr. I fill. After consent ing to be nominated, lie had to go to the Thames, but when he came back, he found that the whole position bad changed, lie was told that he would not have the time to aiford that would be necessary to perform the duties satisfactorily. He replied that he would afford the time at whatever sacrifice. He believed there had been an unjust onslaught made on the rights of the independent electors. He begged to thank those free and independent electors for the support they had giver, him. Mr. Stai.ves also thanked the electors who voted for him. Mr. Staises proposed, and Mr. W. Sw.vxSO.v seconded, a vote of thanks to the Returning Officer, which was given by acclamation. Col. Balneavi.s said he was very much obliged to the electors for the vote of thanks they had siven him. There was one subject he must mention as Returning Officer. This was that he would havea better hustings against the next election, lie thought the thanks of the electors were due to the City Board for giving the use of the ground, and also to that energetic and useful citizen, Mr. Asher Asher, for giving the use of his engine-house for the polling place. The proceedings then concluded, and the meeting separated.