NOMINATION AND ELECTION FOR NEWTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4405, 25 December 1875, Page 3

NOMINATION AND ELECTION FOR NEWTON.

Thb nomination for the retnrn of one member to the House of Representatives for the District of Newton was held in the district school-room, Newton, at noon yesterday. The Returnc-o Officer (Colonel Balneavis) read the writ for the election, and the advertisement of the nomination. There was oDly a small attendance. Mr. Holdship said : Mr. Returning Officer and electors of Newton, —1 am here to-day to perform what is to me a very plsasing duty, and, I believe, one that will be heartily endorsed by the electors of the District of Newton. That duty, gentlemen, is to propose William Swanson, Esq., as a fit and proper person to represent the electorate of Newton in the next Parliament of New Zealand. As there are so few persons present, and as it is not necessary I should say anything in favour of the candidate, I will refrain from giving expression to the very strong opinions I hold in favour of the candidate I have to propose, and so will be satisfied with proposing Mr. Swanson as a fit and proper reprecentative for the District of Newton in the next Parliament. Mr. Masefield said: Mr. Returning Officer and Gentlemen,—There being no opposition, I shall not detain you by making any remarke. I simply second Mr. Swanson's nomination. There being no other candidate, Colonel Balnea\7s declared Mr. Swanson duly elected.

Mr. Swanson said that there were very few electors present, ami he did not like to make a speech to empty benches, but still at the same time he accepted that as a very ' great compliment. His constituency was one of the largest in the colony ; he thought nearly the very largest of the constituencies, except a mining one which also sent only one member, and he thought that all his constituents had accepted him, or else they would have been present and there would have been opposition. He considered it a very high compliment to be put in the position in which he had been placed by them, and it was very gratifying to his own self-esteem to know that he had satisfied them, considering the disadvantages which he had to contend with. Candidates at their nomination were expected to say something, and, as what was said would be printed and go abroad in that way, he would allude to one or two subjects. The first that came to his mind was the subject of taxation. He felt that increased taxation was coming; but, in the meantime, he did not want them to become alarmed, and he thought the people were to some extent prepared for it, They saw that the spending of the money could not always be continued, and that when it ceased, the liability would have to be met, and this knowledge would, he thought, soften the fall—men would be prepared for it, and it would not be followed by the same results as the stoppage of the war expenditure, when people had to go into the swamps, and having got hackles as a charity, to work at the flax. Hitherto his opinion had been that people who had derived large incomes, and even people whose incomes were not very large— incomes from £300 a-year could stand something, and certainly all over £500 per yeav ought to contribute something towards the taxation of the country. He was not so perfectly clear about the tax upon property, unless the property was of a reproductive kind. When it was reproductive it ought to pay taxes, but when it was such could not be utilised he would not go in for taxing it. There was another question. There were a lot of large runs clown south and the gentlemen taking up these runs— they and their agents were abolitionists to a man. As it was now, the provinces were their landlords, and the Jfrovinoialists and the squatters were sworn enemies. The Provineialists want settlement, farms, and population ; the squatte-s want a wide extent of country, a good shepherd, and some dogs, good sheep and fleeces, and sharp shearers at the sheep-shearing time, and that was all. They could see these interests were materially at variance. The sqnatters called themselves tenants of the Crown, and. if they became supreme in the lower House as they were in the Upper House they would be able to get the runs at whatever they chose to give. He quite agreed with Mr. Clark that these runs ought first to be assessed, divided, and put up to auction some time before the leases expired. Sir George Grey, in speaking of reforming the Upper House expressed exactly his opiuions; but this would be a very hard thing to do, because the Upper House could negative anything they liked, and he could not see how it was to be done, or how they could be touched at all. This was a tremeudous misfortune, but if they could be brought to at all, and it was in his power to help, what ho would do would be something in this directiou. These men were supposed to represent property, so there should be a property qualification in the House, and .they should be sent there lty men with property qualifications—men with some stake in the country. As it was now they did not represent property ; they merely represented the Ministry that puts them in, and which may be of a very ephemeral kind. The Ministry may be turned adrift on the following day, but the men they had nominated retained their position, and were independent for life. He thought it was during the first year he was there, a bill was passed through the Lower House to give additional representation to the Maori race. The Waikato was to get two additional members to give to the Maoris a voice in the Legislature of the country. That was very largely opposed, not on the ground that it was wrong or unjust to anybody, but because the Maoris must come from the North Island and would vote with the North Island members. However, the bill was carried in the Lower House, but they threw the bill out in the Upper Houoe. They were able to do that—a matter which did not affect them at all—but were not able to prevent Maori members being placed in the Upper Bouse ; they had no control over the number of members in their own House, although they could do just what they chose in the Lower House. They could alter any bill but a money bill, and that they could throw out. What he thonght would be a very desirable thing to see, would be a systematic and organised attack on the Civil Service. (Hear, hear.) Those men were being banded together all over the country. Talk of Freemasonry,— that was nothing to it. It was perfectly impregnable behind its Acts and rules, p.nd even Mr. Vogel, to get any power over them, had actually to introduce a clause, in order to manage them at all, into the Appropriation Act. That was a most extraordinary place to put a clause of the sort in, but there it was. The Civil Service ruled the country, and if they got over the control of local, institutions in the House, the country would simply be at their mercy. In. the Marine Act, passed last session, there was a clause which he had resisted all he could; but the Government carried it, in spite of resistance. The clause was, " that they should have the .power over the Harbour Boards, to appoint, suspend, or dismiss every servant of every Harbour Board in the colony," so that they have absolute power over the Harbour Boards—the power to dismiss any of its servants. He dare say they would be a little shy of using thie power at first; but when elections come on, if an officer made himself inconvenient to the Government, he would, no doubt, receive a hint that he was in danger. There was another matter which he had very much at heart, and that was, the more power the Civil Service gentlemen obtained, the more important was it that the Parliaments should be shortened. There was a great deal of talk about face-to-face policy candidates -with, their constituencies, and very often the constituents were pleased with, their representatives -when they came to report progress. That was not his style. He believed more in working for his constituents than in talking about it; ior very often the candidates gave them little but flattering speeches and plausible promises. He had seen some of these things, and had felt very curious sensations, knowing what he did know, for it generally turned out when a man came oat in that Tray he

was running down his opponents and advancing himself with equal injnstice. He felt that, for a candidate to be required to report to his constituents, was a confession on their part that there had been something dark, —something that required explanation. He would make Parliaments as short as possible. He had no objection to their being annual, but did not expect they could get that; but he thought that three years would do. But, if the provinces were to ba abolished, and the whole of the power centralised in Wellington, they should, if possible, send down men every year, and then they would be able to keep the rnn of them, and their opponents would be watching them narrowly, in order to shew up their misdeeds. Another thing was, that the Ministry would not be able to bribe with office such a number of men, as there would be so many changes, and therefore the oftener they were changed the better, especially when the eyes of the public they represent are not on them. He might add, that the Government did not want to be under the eye of the public. He had heard Mr. Fox say, in answer to arguments that the Govercmeut should be shifted to Canterbury, where it could be more closely watched', "that it was most desirable to leave the members free to act out their own opinions without public pressure from without, asd that a nice quiet place like Wellington was exactly the place for the Government." That was not his style; he believed there could not be too much daylight -the more light the better, aud that was why he was desirous of having as much Local Government here as they could. While talking about this Local Government and the scrutiny of the public, he would allude to two other matters. Some time ago there was a bill passed called the Busby Arbitration Bill, and it actually passed judgment on the whole question, admitted everything, and said that a certain rate was to be paid. The General Government was to appoint one arbitrator, and Mr. Busby was to appoint one, and ;m umpire was to be chosen by them; but the province that had to pay was not to have one. Was the province to be heard in extenuation or in mitigation of damages; not a bit of it. These gentlemen had met, and the whole thing being settled for them, they had simply to make the calculation, and then they brought in the award they had made under the Act; their hands were tied behind them, and everything was legislated for them. Mr. Williamson, who was then Superintendent, was so enraged that he resisted payment of the award and took all the land out of the market, for it was not the province that had wronged Mr. Busby. It was urged that the province had had the proceeds of the land taken from Mr. but then it was not the innocent holder of property, who had been made a victim, but it was the thief that ought to be punished. In Marlborough the rery same thing had been done, and in that case the money had been paid by the General Government. That was one thing done, the like of which could never have been passed in Auckland. A day or two before the close of the last seseion he had received a telegram from the Harbour Board, saying, "Do not see the Auckland Foreshore Bill slaughtered. It ie of great importance." He looked over the Order Paper, and telegraphed back— "There is no such bill; explain, as we close in a day or two." In reply, he received a telegram to thia effect, "Our bill will be read in the Upper House this afternoon." There it was, and it provided for the protection of all private rights, but there was a schedule to the bill describing private properties, that would take an auctioneer two hours to read. In that bill they were told that the plans signed by the speaker had been deposited in the Works Office, Wellington. He had never seen the plan, but he did not like to do anything, as he was afraid he might do wrong, and "perhaps stop the dock. He did not say there was anything wrong in that bill. The Busby Act was an iniquity, but he would say that anything of that sort conld not have happened here. He had often been twitted for having stuck up for peace with the natives. It had been said that his reason for not wanting to go in for war and slaughtering them, was simply for his own interest, and that he had large quantities of native lands which had been given to him. He would like to take this opportunity of stating that he had not now, and never had had, one inch of the natives' land in the country, although possibly no man had had greater chances of getting it, and, from his connection with the natives, of getting it for nothing. He hoped that would be taken as his answer, for all the land he had he had bought from individuals, or from the Crown, and he did not expect he ever should have any from them. A thing he had always tried to do was to get unity of action amongst the members of Auckland. This was an extremely hard thing to do. Nothing would go down easier than to say that they should have unity of action amongst members, but in the way of its accomplishment there were the difficult questiors of education, of Provincialism, and of Separation to prevent unity; but for all that there were questions upon which they could meet. He had always held himself out to unite with the other members. The first session that he went down to the Assembly was jnst after the great contest between Williamson and Gillies. Of course, party spirit ran high, but still he tried hard to get up a meeting of Auckland members. However, he spoke to Mr. Williamson, and the thing was done ; and amongst the first things that were done was to say that it was hoped that the majority were not going to rule the minority, because they could not think of getting the independent opinions if that was done. He did not want to see them, he said, go on in this manner, but wished them first to ascertain the points upon which they could agree, not those about whieh they would quarrel, as they would find them out quick enough. After a lofc of talk, they agreed almost unanimously to attack the Civil Service. Mr' Creighton spoke to him, and said thai as he was first to take action about it, he ought to take the lead, and he asked what he (Mr. Swanson) was going to do in the matter. He replied that he was not going to do anything unless the others failed. It was Mr. Creighton's, Gillies, or Wood's place to do it, as he was an entirely new man in Parliament, and unknown. He could"have said a great deal on the subject, but thus he would have failed in obtaining any result, and what he wished to do was to succeed. The matter was ultimately arranged. Hr. Wood brought forward the resolution, and he seconded it, and the colony knew the resnlt, —that they succeeded in modifying one of the greatest iniquities in the Government. That was the result of the combination, and shewed what unity could do. There was no part that could be attacked iky any body of raen equal in strength to the Civil Service, and he took credit for the Auckland,men having almost singlehanded struck a blow at those men, and a blow which they feli, and staggered under. Hβ might tell them that Mr. Williamson was against these combinations. However, there was a meeting of members got up in his lodgings. Mr. Buckland whipped it up for him, and they considered -what could be done with t&e Ptovincial Government Bill, and to see if they could not come to some conclusion amongst themselves regarding it. The general feeling then was, that it was only one ol Mr. Vogel's surprises, and that there would be nothing more heard abont it. Mr. Jaekson thought that it would certainly come on, bnt it was refused , to be discussed. However, the whole of them come with one voice to the conclusion that one thing 'was wrong—that the price fixed upon Anckland land was too much, and would prohibit and prevent settlement, and that very afternoon Mr. Vogel was down with the bill in his hand, admitting that it was a mistake. That was what conld be done TBstfi unity. He had been asked in writing a question in relation to the sons of old colonists, whether they were not entitled to grants of land, as well as immigrants were. Well, be did not think it would be a very good thing for him to go in for that, he had such an extensive crop of sons himself that people would say he was voting land for them, but he could not for the life of him eee

why his sons should not be entitled to a grant of 40 acres as well as a Dew comer would be. Hβ would grant land saddled ■with the condition that it be in occupancy and use, and he did not care then to whose son it was given. . Mr. Duke asked if it was the candidate's intention to endeavour to get the Education Act of the Provincial Council of Auckland made a general Act, so that the funds could CO FL e °nt of the general revenue. MX. iswAKsox aa id he was glad the qnestion had been asked, although he thought he had answered it the other night when iie said that where the money conld be most easily and moat readily got, it should be obtained, but for that purpose he would not be very nice about where it came from, if only it was got. He would take it from those quarters where its loss would be least perceived; but if he had his will, the money should not come out of the general revenue. He would tell them why. In thia colony he rather suspected that the general revenue would be rather a precarious affair, and he would not like to see the fund for education a precarious affair. He would rather like to see large endowments set on one side for educational purposes. Take, for instance, Auckland. When he settled here there were very few people in the place, and supposing every tenth allotment had been set on one side, as it might easilyjhave been, for education, just imagine what every tenth section in the city would have been for an educational or municipal endowment. At the time nobody would have been the worse for this, and ultimately everybody would have gained by it. Twenty years was a great deal in the life of a man, but it was lmost nothing in the life of a nation. Endowments were the best means of providing for national education for the present, and in the meantime he would take the required funds ont of the general revenue, but would advise that wherever land was to be sold that endowments should be set aside for education, and although not occupied for a time, they would ultimately become valuable to the commnnity. Hβ thought the position of a schoolmaster should be made one very much to be desired, very hard to get into, and, if he misbehaved himsell, very easy to get out of. It ought to be made one of the most respectable of positions., as it was one of the most important, for he considered that in the brains of the boys was more wealth than in all the goldfields, and that they could not waste too much money on them. That was his answer to the question. Br. Pubchas asked Mr. Swanson if he approved of the Swedish system of providing education, so that every child who was of sufficient ability should have an equal chance.

Mr. Swanson said he would make no impertinent inquiries where the system came from. He would be Trilling to set apart a number of scholarships, like those which had been made by the Centrp.l Board. These scholarships provided edncation and £30 for the boys who were capable of winning them. If people were ignorant and uneducated they would not be able to judge of measures. It struck him chat a little more education was very much required at the present time. Mr. Masefield asked if Mr. Swaneort would advocate a better system of paying General Government aoconnts. To his knowledge, many persons who had taken Government contracts were unable to get their money for five or six months after the accounts had been rendered. People were actually obliged to draw, or overdraw, from the banks, at 10 per cent, in consequence of being kept out of their money. Mr. Swanson said, when he stood there before he promised to do what he could to remedy a very similar state of affairs, bushmen came down with orders. As they could not get their money, many of them had to sell their orders for 10s, some sold them for 15s, and most of them thought themselves extremely lucky if they got 17s 6d in the £1 for those orders. He (Mr. Swanson) would have hked that something of this sort could be done :—For every day that one of these orders was presented twice for payment, the man should be entitled to a day's wages. He tried to get it carried out, but the gentlemen who were in the Upper House, and whohadno interestinthe matter, threw it out. Itterminated inthe Sub-Contractorsßill. There was hardly anyone capable of understanding the present system of payment. It was vicious to the core. He would tell them this, that money was very scarce. The Government send evasive answers simply to secure delay in payment. Mr. Duke asked a question with reference to the Representation Bill. He wished to know whether Mr. Swanson was favourable to manhood suffrage. Mr. Swanson replied that he had always been favourable to manhood saffrage, on condition of registration, so that every man who contributed to the revenue, by smoking, drinking, or through the clothes he wore, should have a vnte. That had always been his opinion. Mr. Holdship asked Mr. Swanson's opinion of the representation of the colony whether the North Island, regardless of population, should have equal representation with the South.

Mr. Swanson said he had a greater evil than that to complain of. He did not think that the whole North Island, as regarded population, was fairly represented. But that was not the worst feature. The worst feature was that there were constituencies which the Government could manipulate; for which the Government could get in any person they liked. When Mr. Gisborne desired to get into the House he was told that he had better take Parnell against Mr. Header Wood. But Mr. Gisborne would not fight Reader Wood. It was required that the result should be made absolutely sure by the Ministry, and he was put up for some place else. The Government had only to hold up their finger to get any presentable person whom they chose in for Taranaki. Was there any conceivable combination that could have prevented Taranaki getting a harbour. The thine was represented a3 a matter of national importance. They had recently got a central prison there. It was put np at great ex- ! pense, and all the fine strong young fellows that were sent to gaol for any length of time would go there. They would be~ sent to work—to make the Taranaki harbonr. Thns, after half a million of money had been expended, they would have, at any rate, the expenditure. And he could not conceive any state of affairs in which these people would not support a Government, though it might be against the interest of the rest of the colony. The interest of the colony might go where it liked if there were a harbour at Taranaki. Mr. Holdship asked Mr. Swangoa whether, if the Abolition Bill became law next session, he thought it possible the land fund would become colonial revenue. Mr. Swanson" said that that so many things were brought to pass he did not suppose anything to be impossible. He would be disposed, if he were a betting man, to take a-thousand to one that this could not ba. However, if it was to be got by trying, it should be got. Let them put a case. Suppose any of them had a property which th'sy had got twenty years ago, and had paid the owners what they .asked. It tamed oat to be a good bargain for them but a bad one for the others. What if it was asked to give the bargain np ? If a man spoke to a Southern member on this Bubject, he would answer "We are dealing with existing factshe would not go back to consider the matter. The Southern men even proposed to take up the rifle to defend it, so that it was clear they did not intend to part with it very easily. But he (Mr. Swanson) believed they would make very great concessions to get rid of the North, beonsse they were apt to . quarrel among themselves. That was the chance of the North. It was possible that in a quarrel we would go in with a part «f them. But he was afraid they would make common cause of this matter. The same members would not be in the next Parliament to repeat any proposals that were made. It was the policy of the South.—it had been initiated opsnly—to take every opportunity, with their majority of votes, to swamp the North Island. He asked one gentleman of the Southif he were notashamed (tor ceMfuiuatim of newt ess BtqiplaetatL)

of such a policy, which was simply tyranny, compelling people to bow their necks and " be slaves,-while other people - managed, their affaire-r-" ; Wby not let -d» go t" The reply was;;:"Oh, we will take care of you,.; you are far too good milch cows to be-parted withyet." . ..... r, •.;■ Mr. Cherry said, although IS had been stated otherwise, Mr. Macandrew was.the real author of the arrangement of the land fund in... 1856. That gentleman's name would.be found on the division-list. It was 3n arrangement with Mr. Robert Graham, who agreed that Auckland members should support the resolution brought forward, that the. land fund should be released, all but half-a-crown, whieh was to be retained. Mr. Swansojt concluded by thanking the electors for the honor they had done him. That honor was done him, certainly not for pandering to anyone, or promising anything, but simply from the conviction that they had been fairly served. He would continue to do in the future the same as he had done in the past. If his health would not permit him to do so, he would feel it his duty at once to surrender the trust reposed in him.