Page 4 Advertisements Column 4

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4399, 18 December 1875, Page 4

Electoral.TO THE ELECTORS OF THE TOWN OF ONEHUNGA. Gentlemen,—The strenuous efforts that were made during the recent session of Parliament by the Government and a majority of members of an expiring House or Representatives to overturn abruptly a primary part of the Constitution under which we live having failed, an opportunity will shortly be afforded you of expressing at the hustings your opinion upon the attempt to strip the people of important privileges without consulting them and obtaining their consent. The dissolution of Parliament presents you with that opportunity, and I now appeal to you to justify me and to resent the affront that was offered in striving to keep the people muzzled while the Constitution was being torn to pieces. As your Eepresentative, I felt it to be my duty to co-operate with those who determined to have recourse to all the means which Parliamentary forms afford of preventing the Abolition of Provinces BUI becoming law and taking effect until the people of the colony should be heard on the matter. The attempt to filch from this Provinco the remnant of Local Government and legislative functions still left to us has been generally condemned, and it should be the duty of the newly-elected members to combine and devise means for elevating the Province from its embarrassment and depression. No lover of the Provinco of Auckland can be content with the present posture of its affairs, and every friend of freedom and independence within its bounds ought to shrink from allowing its destiny to be controlled by the hands of men Dither ignorant of or hostile to its aspirations. Through the insidious and encroaching legislation of the General Assembly we have been stripped of a due share of the revenues raised within the Province; we have been despoiled of poss-ssing the capital of the Colony. We have indeed been humiliated, so far as this could be effected by adverse influences. To redress our wrongs through the medium of the General Assembly's legislation is hopeless. And of the plans that have been propounded for accomplishing this redress, my own predilection is in favour of erecting the Province of Auckland into a separate colony, so that all matters affecting the interests of the Province shall bo legislated upon within tho Province, and uuder the eyes of the people of the Province. Should, however, the current of political thought sot unmistakably in favour of tho separation of the two Islands, I would accept that scheme, rather than longer put up with tho prostration of our Provincial Government, or bow to tho Abolition project, which tears frem us the last shreds of independence. Better live under a Eussian despotism, if impartial, than the nomineoism prepared to supplant our elective Superintendent and Provincial Council. I purpose, if you think fit again to elect me your representative, to support, in no niggard spirit, the scheme of policy shadowed forth by our Superintendent, Sir George Grey, which I have briefly doscribed; and I shall never consent to exchange the Superintendent whom the people of this Province delight to honor, for any member of tho Ministry, or the colony, or that of the two Islands—by factitious difficulties about Colonial indebtedness. Such difficulties did not stand in the w.iy of tho dismemberment of the Provinces of Wellington, Otftgo, and Canterbury, when the policy of sapping and undermining Provincial Administration was commenced by tho Centralists of those days. In all cases ef Federal Separation, Iho condition precedent is an adjustment of existing burdens, an equitable calculation of assets, aud a consideration of losses sustained through compacts that may have worked unfairly. As regards tho smaller Provinces of Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland, there is the strange spectacle presented to 113 of the authorities of those Provinces clamouring for tho abolition of the offices they were elected to fill, and at tho sumo time clinging tenaciously to the emoluments attached to those offices. I believe it would tend to arouse those portions of New Zealand from their torpor if the reins of power with regard to Taranaki andHawke'sßaywereto pass into tho hands of the Superintendent of M'ellington, and as regards Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland into the hands of tho Superintendent of Canterbury. Any savings arising from such annexation should bo dedicated as " substantial endowments" for the districts annexed. I do not profess to bo swayed by nay maudlin sentimentality about a united Colony, nor am I captivated with si:ch fumes of fancy as that New Zealand is to shoot up at once into a mighty power dominating these seas. My pretensions aro of a different colour. I desiro to promote the happiness of the greatest number; not by inculcating Quixotic ideas, but by endeavouring to ameliorate the condition of the masses, by increasing iho facilities for the acquisition of the soil, aud by reducing taxation on articles of daily use, as was proposed last session with regard to tea, flour, and sugar. If I should on this occasion be again honored with your confidence, I shall in tho future as I have endeavoured to do heretofore, hold that it is my first duty to watch over your interests; my next, to consult for the welfaro of the Province, which is endeared to us by so many ties. I have the honour to bo, gentlemen, Your obedient servant, G. MAUKICK O'EOEKF.. Onchunga, 2nd December, 1575. mo THE ELECTORS OF NEWTON. Gentlemen,—Having reason to believe that I fairly represented your opinions in Parliament, and knowing that I did my best to do so, I offer myself as a Candidate for re-election. There is nothing I can s.iy that will enable you to know more of me than you do now, as I am and have been personally kiiown for many years to nearly all of you. As to what is to be done now, T say let us, as far as possible, inanago osr own affairs. Surely we, who know, and are interested, can do so better than thoso whe neither know nor care, and whoso interests aro often opposed to onrs. If you sec fit to elect me, my conduct will bn tho same In tho futuro as it lus been in the past—an endeavour, as far as possible, to get unity of action among our Members ; to reduce wasteful expenditure; to put power into tho hands of the people—not to de prive them of it; and that all great questions should be submitted to them. SWAN3ON. ■ mo THE ELECTORS. OF FRANKLIN. In compliance with tho requisition of a largo and influential body of niy fellow-electors, I bavo determined to becomo a candidate to represent your interests in the Parliament of the Colony. I am induced to do this from a conviction that it is of tho most vital importance to the futuro Of this Province and the Colony that a united support should, at this crisis, bo afforded to Sir George Grey in his efforts to bring about legislative and administrative reform. I shall bo happy to meet tho electors and fully ex' plain my views on tho political questions of the day at tho following times and places:— ,1 ' Waiuku—Commercial Hall, Saturday, Dec. 18, at j G. 30 p.m. Mahku—Volunteer Hall, Monday, Dec. 20, at C.30 p.m. , Pukekoue East -School-house, Tuesday, Dec. 21, at 3p.m. ~.."■-. ' Pdkekoue West—School-honae, Tuesday, Dec. 21, • at 0.30 p.m. Bombay—School-house, Wednesday, Dec. 22, at €.30 p.m. . ■ ' .. .' . : WAinoA—Public Hall, Thursday, Dec. 23, at 6.30 : p.m. . . "; '■ . " ' . i The , tlmos and places of proposed meetings at Pokeno, Tuakau, P.ipakura, Howick, and Otahuhu Will bj notified in the weekly papers next week. HUGH H. LUSK.