NOMINATION FOR EDEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4409, 31 December 1875, Page 3

NOMINATION FOR EDEN.

Yesterday tlie nomination of candidates for ttiia district was held in the new Literary Institute Building, Newmarket.'" There were only three candidates who presented themselves for nomination, namely, Mr. H. Carleton, Mr. A. K. Taylor, and Mr. J. A. Tole. Mr. J. M. Clark was nominated, notwithstanding that Mr. Archibald Clark stated that his brother declined the hononr under the circumstances. I Mr. R. C. Barstow, Returning Officer, punctually at noon, read the Gazette notice rid the writ authorising the election. He called the attention of the electors to a matter of order beforo commencing the proc- edings. He referred to the habit of asking e ululates questions. The habit had grown : "\to a serious inconvenience, notwitbstand'ig that every opportunity existed for questipniug candidates at the meetings which they held in various parts of the district Vhic'i they came forward to represent. At a previous nomination for Franklin the pro- < eedings were protracted four hours and aLalf. As every elector might claim to ask a question, allowing three minutes for the question and answer, in the present ea.se the proceedings would be protracted 1 a t'" V extent of nine or ten hours. At where there had been fifteen r nominated, the constituency also being very numerous, a period of 104 days would be required to receive and answer all the questions that might lie put. He did not find any rule of law for this : the candidate might answer if he liked. At the meetings held by candidates it was different, hut here the candidate was under the protection of the Returning Officer, whose business he thought it was to protect tlifc candidate from positive cruelty. A Returning Oißcer could not be expected to last out the *'mc that every elector should be questionthe candidate. He therefore would rule it out of order after the candidate addressed the electors, that any elector should put questions. Mr. C. C. McMillan (Auckland) came forward and proposed Hugh Carlcton, Esq., as a tit and proper person to represent the District of Eden in the House of Representatives. He spoke of Mr. Carleton a3 having by his long political career and great experience a claim on the electors of the whole colony. Mr. Carleton was a gentleman of ample means, leisure, and educatien. Tho ■views expounded by Mr. Carleton only a few nights previously would be a guarantee for his ability and fitness to serve the district, and should place him at the head of the poll. Mr. Carleton proved that the socalled compact of 1556 was no compact; he avowed himself desirous of making the public debt chargeable in the first instance against the land fund. Mr. Carleton would support a liberal measure of education, to be maintained out of the consolidated revenue of the cok-uy. Mr. Di> ! nison" seconded the nomination of Mr. Carleton. Mr. Jons* Kerr (Panmure) proposed Allen Kerr Taylor, Esq., of Morniugside, as a lit and. proper person to represent the district in the .New Zealand Parliament. Mr. Taylor, he said, was a resident of the district, a gentleman highly respected, not an untried man, but one who had represented the district; during the successive periods of three Provincial Councils. Mr. Taylor would be for an "united colony and one purse." He was a young man of active business habits, who h'd taken upon him the responsibility of important pu' He matters connected with ths district. Mr. Ballard (Wliau) seconded the nomination of Mr. Taylor. That gentleman, he said, was highly honored and respected in ;he district. The electors might rely upon t that whatever Mr. Taylor promised, that le would certai. 'y do. (Cheers.) Mr. Ba- ju-n" Ireland (Parnell) came forward and proposed Joseph Augustus Tole, Esq., as a fit and proper person, &c., &c., &c. tie caid the electors ought in the present crisis oe careful whom they elected. Questions of :he greatest moment affecting the weal or iroe of the colony for ever would be raised n the next Parliament. Auckland, *it was jrell known, had been partially disfranchised times past by the conflict of opinions in i he ranks of their own members. Therefore :t was that a leader was necessary, and that leader had been found in Sir George Grey. But there was little use in having a leader if the". k~ d not men of fidelity and political honoi and resolution to follow. Mr. Tole iveuld, if returned, be a tirin supporter of sir George Grey. Hitherto the finger of •corn had been raised against the Auckland members because of their disunion. For the rery existence of Auckland, it was desirable that the whole political body should bo repr'~ented by men who would know how to take united action. Mr. Eai'.nks" .»-okk Hill seconded the nomination of M i'ole. Mr. Angus proposed, and Mr. McColl 'both of Newmarket) seconded the nomination of James McC'osh Clark, but Mr. Archibald Clark handed in a paper to the Returning Oflicer, and stated that his brother 'refused." Mr. Caiilexo.n" came forward to address :he electors, and was received with cheers. Before coming to any claim which he might prefer to the votes of tho electors, tie would begin his address by setting out the grounds upon which he h-id : no claims to urge. Ha did not claim ; their votes upon the ground of personal popularity, because he had never practised those arts by which personal popularity was oftentimes too easily won. He had never indulged in wild promises to the electors, knowing his inability to perform them. He had therefore been generally somewhat backward in popularity. The great desire f of Lis political life was to go straight and Ipre-erve something like consistancy. He had been thirty years a colonist of Sew Zealand, { and seventeen years a member of the House i of Representatives in this colony. The ciaim / ; he did put forth was, therefore, th?.t he had experience. He came forward again because ! he knew that times of trouble and difficult}' !were looming in the near future. It v. as now a period fraught with the most important consequences. Much had been destroyed, and rightly destroyed. The time was come to reconstruct, which was always a work of difficulty. No person that he had heard , >peak appeared to have a very clear view of | what was likely to take j'lace in the future, i or to have in mind a certain outline of what ; would be desirable. To go through the whole of the important questions at that moiMggu would be impossible. He had i of the electors of the district, and snffiSi call more, when he would invite the electors to question him to the fullest cxteit. He always desired to be strongly . questioned. There were, however, one or two pints he might be allowed to revert to. One c : his primary objects would be to see the caise of education brought forward and i made, colonial question, to be settled upon a coloniil basis. They knew how he voted againa what was done in this matter by j the le-y of a partial, local and obnoxious i"X. (lear.) Even if money were to be taken | from r.ilways it was the first duty of the I Governaent and the Assembly to provide d for eduction upon a broad and permanent «sL footing. The next great question of the day .„ *! related to the land fund. He coald have ;y wished hat all the candidates had spoken .'■if out plaily on this matter. But he had no :i need to ell the electors that certain alliances T[ with tht South were openly spoken of, and not dotted by any person. That was a K- great ihlrance in the way of plain speaking. | jSvery| ian who came before the electors j shouldib challenged to a distinct expression f .of opinici on that subject. It would not do time about that, in order to see how the\at jumped. Ha feared that the time was Lear when they would have to face i attempts to. levy heavy direct taxation to meet the liabilities due to the public creditor. • % Unless the land fund of the colony be j J charged with the interest of the debt which 'j M the colony has incurred, that taxation wonld I'la be all but inevitable. They had heard of the . i iSi compact of 1856. There was no compact. !(Mr. Carleton upon this point repeated almost in the same words his arguments in the school-room on Tuesday, and at Panmure «n Wednesday). The word "compact" was used by the South, but it should be scouted /by the i.'orth. In ISSS the thing was done

by Act without a division, and an Act of Parliament was subject to repeal, revision, and amendment. It was absurd to - call it m compact. His opinions were well known to the electors, not only by hia address, but by hia correspondence with the Press. He had always kept his word, not only according to the letter but according to the spirit ana intention. He was not there to make electioneering promises. Most people knew how often such promises were broken. If any one there was prepared to cast a stone at him he was ready to meet the attack. He claimed their suffrages not on account of the past, but of his desire to be useful to the constituents, and the experience which he believed he possessed to givo practical effect to thrt desire. If the electors should place confidence in his hand bo would do everything in his power to serve them. Sir. Allen Kerr Taylor came forward, and was received with cheers. He wished to give the electors a reason for appearing before them as a candidate. A few months ago, several electors of Eden asked him whether, in the event of a dissolution, he would a'low himself to be put in nomination to represent the district. He consented upon the "ole consideration that there was a general dc-ire to that effect. Since then a requisition very numerously signed had been presented to him, embodying a similar wish. It was in response to these two movemeits, ori<jinatiug with the electors, that he came forward on the present occasion. He eonfec-jed that when the Public Works policy was first proposed he was very much in favour of it. At the same time he had misgivings that, iu the administration and expenditure of the money borrowed, there would be great extravagance and partiality. The electors would admit that such had been the case. This proviuce had not received its fair share of public works. Take railways—what was there in Auckland to shew for the large expenditure under that head as compared with those constructed in the South 1 The Kaipara railway was still a fragment whicli had been brought into working order only a few weeks ago. Even that appeared to be much mismanaged. That line was of little use unless extended to Auckland. He would be in favour of carrying out all works authorised, and completing all that are already in hand. He was decidedly of opinion that the land fund ought to become general revenue of the colony; and it was very evident if it did not become general revenue they must come to direct taxation. Then, with regard to educat : on, he believed that should be a charge upon colonial revenue. Therefore, he would go for making the land fund colonial revenue, and the question of Education to be a matter of colonial concern, supported by the consolidated revenue. He would be prepared, if returned, to go with the majority of the Auckland members, laying aside all private opinions that he might hold. (Cheers.). He thought it a matter of very great consequence to this province that there should be a strong opinion representing it in the House of Representatives. (Hear, hear.) He wonld bo in favour of retrenchment, and would never support any Ministry unless they made it a part of their policy ; for he was of opinion that the departments of Government were carried on in a very extravagant manner, and upon the public cost in this particular a large saving might be made. With regard to representation, he believed thatcach island should be equally represented. With respect to the duration of Parliaments, he thought five years too long, and representatives ought to come oftener before their constituents. He.was n resident in the district, and might be supposed to know its requirements as well as those that came from a distance. He had been mixed up with local affairs for many years, both on Highway Boards and in the Provincial Council. He had, he believed, given satisfaction to the electors. He would devote his best knowledge and abilities to the promotion of the interests of the district. (Cheers.) Mr. Tole came forward to address the electors, and was received with loud cheers. He said he made on the present occasion his lirst'appearance in politics. He could not be charged with any act of omission or commission ; with supporting what was contrary to their wishes or participating in anything that might be deemed unjust or oppressive. He could not be judged by his past career, so that he would have to rely entirely upon the cause he had to maintain for the claim he preferred to their vote. There were two subjects upon which he wished to address the electors—first, as to his reasons for coming forward. The second related to leading topics engaging presena public attention. He might say that he had been invited by a number of the supporters of Sir George Grey, composing his central committee and sympathising with him, and with whom he had been acting in concert. He believed that next session would be a most important session, and it behoved every constituency to send there men who should be as far as possible united to bring about constitutional and financial readjustments, and to protect this part of the country from the wrongs that by experience of the past were again likely to be indicted v.pon it. He therefore had adopted as his political creed the principles propounded by Sir George Grey. He trusted the electors would not regard this position as the result of intellectual impotence, but rather consider that it would have been rather presumptuous on his part were he to lay out any independent course of conduct for himself irrespective of a leader. It was that kind of attitude of individual independence which was responsible for the fact that they had hitherto sent down a divided repre- v sentation, eight one side and about tho same number on the opposite. In a crisis like the present, unanimity was wanted if it could possibly be obtained, It was to facilitate that object that he came forward (Cheers.) It is for you to send those to Parliament who will represent your views. There will be a specific objeot to be performed, and your member, whoever ho may be, should be prepared to accept |a specific understanding at a time of great difficulty. In a crisis there must be some kind of specific pledge, for otherwise what security would there be that the deepest object they had in view would find an exponent and a supporter. He (Mr. Tole) whilst holding the opinion that the Provincial form of Government was not constitutionally bad —yet, seeing that a change was imminent, distinctly declared himself an ally of that party which advocated Insular Separation— by Insular Separation meaning two island provinces linked together by a federal Government at Wellington. That would be a general legislation as affecting the whole colony, leaving to the separate states or divisions to mature their own projects of local Government. A fact in proof of the necessity of this change was to be found in the fact that there was a tax of £5 on every man, woman, and child in the North, getting comparatively nothing in return for it. How could that be ' * unity" of the colony fi the Southern provinces can jingle in their pockets £700,000, while to you are left a few coppers. It might be said that Separation could not be got. Even so, there were certain cardinal points in the policy propounded by Sir George Grey wliicn musi; recommend themselves to all the constituencies of the province. One of these was fair, as distinguished from unjust taxation. One mode of obtaining thiß was by reducing the duty charges on the necessaries of life. Sir George Grey made a strenuous effort to effcct this last session, but his motion was thrown out. The best way of doing this would be by means of a property tax or an income and property, which would enable us to get at those rich absentees who were now simply mining the country. Another point ia triennial Parliaments, and another the election of the Upper House. On this last point there is no question that some £aode of election and reform ia required. Another point was that those large runs, comprising sometimes as much as 200,000 acres should be broken up. He, Mr. Tole, would also endeavour to bring abont reforms and retrenchments in the administration of the Government and its expenditure. Education was a matter of still more importance: it was worth half-a-dozen public works and immigration schemes. He would support a colonial system, the provision for it to be

taken from the general revenue. He would do all in hia power to -vrrest the land fund from the South, so as to make it colonial revenue. As to representation, he would vote for manhood suffrage with registration, for those who paid taxes and obeyed laws should hare a voice to consent to them. He believed that members of Parliament becoming Ministers should be obliged to return to their constituents. He was a chairman of a Highway Board, and he could sympatHese with such bodies who could not get in the arrears of rates. That was owing first, to absentees, and next, to those vendors and purchasers who neglected to give any notice of sale. The consequence was that a large number of owners could not be reached or found, so that there was a sum of between £8000 and £9000 due to tnese Boards which could not be recovered. "When Mr. Swanson went to the Asseiubfy, some effort was made to bring about a remedy, which was in progress. He (Mr. Tole) | would endeavour to set that matter right if possible. He felt some delicacy in making any reference to his opponents. He had no inclination to speak of either of them in disparaging terms ; but he felt bound to strip off the scmblaiicc which covered them, . and shew them iu their true colours. Carleton voted for the compact of 1856. Twelve years afterwards (ISISS) voted in favour "of upholding that compact against eleven gentlemen from Auckland* who tried tD abolish it. [Mr. Carleton wais here understood to say that he voted with the late Mr. Williamson.] In speeches made by Mr. Carleton, he said, lt We must have only one Government" ; again, "the Customs should be reserved for the sole use of the General Government"; again, (< he (Mr. Carleton) never joined in the poor man's cry" ; again, "he never believed that cry, which was a hustings cry, without any sincerity." Mr. Carleton on one occasion brought down a resolution to the eflect that the land fund should be expended upon the laud from which it was raised. That was simply making a present of the laud fund to those provinces that had it. In ISG9 .Mi\ Carleton voted against vote by ballot which was now a bulwark of public liberty. Were these signs to shew sincerity in the gentleman who now wished to wrest the province from its troubles. In Mr. Carleton's correspondence with. the Press that correspondence contained nothing but unpardonable invective and inuendo against Sir George Grey. As to Mr. Taylor he (Mr. Tole) knew nothing that politically could be said in his favour. His political career had not been remarkably brilliant. Mr. Taylor was avowedly a ministerial candidate. He said he would carry out their policy. Better be unrepresented as hitherto than be so misrepresented. He (Mr. Tole) would, if returned, give his vote for measures that would protect Auckland, and promote the interests of the people. The Returning Oflicer proceeded to take the show of hands with the following result Carleton • - .. 3 Taylor 0 Tolo .. .. 31 The shew of hands was was declared in favour of Mr. Tole. (Cheers.) Mr. Carleton demanded a poll, which will be taken on the Gth of January next. Mr. Tole moved a vote of thanks to the Returning Officer, and the proceedings terminated.