CITY EAST ELECTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4406, 27 December 1875, Page 3

CITY EAST ELECTION.

To the Editor of the Herald. Sir,—Since I have been before the public as a candidate for the suffrages of the electors of City East, it has again and again been advanced by my opponents that 1 am a supporter of the present Government, that I am the Government candidate, and that I am opposed to Sir George Grey and his party. Those statements I have distinctly denied, and still they are repeated ; their refutation is to be found in my speeches, but as many of the electors have not time to go back on long speeches, will you be kind enough to give a little of your space while I state our relative position as briefly as possible ? For some time back it has appeared to me that, with the exception of Separation, there was no practical difference between the policy which Sir George Grey would advocate, between the measures which he would introduce and what I would be prepared to support; and now that Separation has almost been left ont of the question, we are agreed upon every important point. Sir George Grey, in his speech in the Choral Hall, merely spoke of Separation as something to be thought of, and Sir. Reader Wood considers ifc altogether impracticable. I have expressed myself prepared to support an Opposition with the view of turning out the present Ministry on the ground, even if there were no other, of their maintaining the localization of the land revenue, thus perpetuating that gross injustice from which Auckland has suffered so much ; also, on account of their reckless expenditure regardless of the votes of the House, and of the corruptness and obstructiveness of certain portions of their administration. I shall be glad to have an opportunity to enrol myself under Sir George Grey's banner to fight for the formation of a new Ministry, with the following as the main features of their policy :—The unity of the colony, and one purse, not in name only, but in reality ; the land fund of the colony to be made colonial revenue; railway extension to be continued until the main centres of population in the North island are connected ; education to be made a colonial question, and to be provided for out of colonial revenue; the incidence of our taxation to be readjusted to make it fall on the people in proportion to ineaas, and the endeavour to carry out reform in administration and retrenchment in expenditure. That is something like what I believe the great majority in the North Island and a portion of the South Island want, and it is what Sir George Grey and the bulk of his party, always excepting those from Otago and Canterbury, really mean. Some for their own purposes have raised the cry, Separation and Sir George Grey, but Sir George Grey does not join in the cry for Separation, and if that word is left out, we may be said to be at one/To bring the question now to the election of a member to represent City East, Mr. Rees says that he approves of the policy o£ Sir George Grey, and will support him, but not unthinkingly, not servilely, and leaving out Separation, admitted now not to be a practical question. That is precisely what 1 say; the issue is therefore narrowed to one of personal fitnees for the position, and that issue I leave to the judgment of the electors. I take this_ opportunity of correcting a misapprehension under which Mr. "Wood his address to the electors of Parnell he said that I snnbbed Mr. Rees for' having stated that the deficiency for the quarter ending 30th September last between estimated and actual revenue was ±'80,000, whereas it is only £62,000. It was not so j I did not know that Mr. Rees had made a mistake. I accepted his figures, but made them do duty in supporting my argument that Separation would be disastrous to the North Island, and this they do, whether the deficiency is £80,000 or £62,000. —I am, &c, J. M. Cube. Remuera, December 25, 1875.