THE CAVERSHAM ELECTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2559, 20 April 1870, Page 2

THE CAVERSHAM ELECTION.

The nomination of candidates for the representation of Caversham in the House of Representatives took place yesterday, in the school-house, and inthe presence of between 40 and 50 persons. The proceedings began at noon, and lasted until three o'clock. Mr J. Burnside, the Returning Officer, having read the writ, called upon the electors to propose candidates. Mr J. Eagektv proposed, and Mr J. A. Townsend seconded, Mr John Graham, as a fit and proper person to represent the district.

Mr J. L. M'Gregor said the electors had reason to congratulate themselves upon the number of candidates, there being four in the field. He intended to propose a man who was well known in the district as being of sterling principles, and in a position to give them full effect. One gentleman who had come forward had been a legislator in the olden time. The province was not much 1 indebted to the old regime for the laws which it made. There was also a legislator of the present time ; and one candidate was the champion of reform. He (Mr M'Gregor) did not know if candidate whom he intended to propose was a champion of reform, but understood that he was always ready to follow the mode of thought of the day. No man could better represent the interests of the district in the Parliament of New Zealand than William Robertson, of Sandfly, and he therefore begged to propose him as a fit and proper person to represent the electors. Too muoh caution could not be exercised in selecting a member; and it was highly desirable that new blood should be infused into the Legislature. Mr R. Gillies seconded the nomination pro forma, stating that he did so because Mr Robertson's promised seconder had not come forward. Personally his support would be given to another candidate, but he had no hesitation in seconding Mr Robertson's nomination, having known that gentleman for many years as a thoroughly honest, upright, and hardworking settler in the district.

Mr J. B. Jones proposed, and Mr D. Corley seconded, Mr James M'lndoe. Mr H. Calder proposed, and Mr W. Rigo seconded, Mr William Henry Cutten. J There being no other candidates, the Returning Officer called upon the gentlemen proposed to address the meeting. Mr Graham then, amidst much laughter, addressed the electors. He said they all smiled when he came before them. It did seem funny, but they would smile still more before he had done with them. Ec had come forward on this occasion, not because it was of any benefit to him to go to Wellington, but simply because the ideas of the other candidates were very different to his own. He most distinctly and emphatically told the meeting that he stood upon his own merits, and had been at the expense of getting printed i 1500 copies of Mr Driver's beautiful j letter to Mr Treweek. He knew this had already been made the subject of legal proceedings; but hehad, not withstanding j come forward like a brick.—(Laughter.) Although not one of the Otago aristocracy, he felt within his mind as much refinement and honour—(A Voice : No doubt, John) —as any man amongst them. The different candidates had been highly spoken of by their proposers, and no doubt the latter were perfectly serious in what they said, but there were differences of opinion among people on such subjects. He would not, let them mark, give in to Mr Robertson, Mr M'lndoe, or Mr Cutten. He did not dispute their principles, but they lacked the power to carry those principles out. It waa said that Graham was going to cave in.— (Laughter.) He would march down one side of the Peninsula and up the other, and would come in at the head of the poll. —( Renewed daughter.) Mr Robertson's proposer had said that gentleman was a man of great ability. He (Mr Graham) would say nothing about Mr Robertson's ability; but those present were men of a certain amount of intelligence, and when Mr Robertson stood up before them, he (Mr Graham) would have an opportunity of showing them what a mm he was,—(Laughter.) Mr Cutten

agreed with him so far as the Hundreds Bill was concerned. On the other hand, many men had come there for election and made tho electors believe in them ; but somehow or other when thoy got up to Wellington, their ideas were perfectly changed. Whether this was caused by tlie chango of air or position, he did not know. He bad a certain amount of respect for Mr Cutten—(renewed laughter)—he believed that gentleman was honest enough iv a certain sense, but was placed in circumstances over which he had no control. Mr M'lndoe had come forward with views entirely antagonistic to hia own, and not only antagonistic to his, but to the whole interests of the province —he meant the small fry.—(Laughter.) It must be admitted that the small frywere tho population of tho province, aa thoy formed the bulk of tho settlers. Mr M'lndoe said there wero only 180 runholders ; and. yet he camo forward and supported Driver all through the peace. —(" Question.") He was therefore unfit to be the representative of the small fry. If Mr M'lndoe supported the big whales, let him look to the whales for election, and ask the suffrages of a district like Manuherikia or Lindis, and notcome iothe small fry. He (Mr Graham) had been at the (rouble of getting this letter of Mr Driver's printed. In England great liberty was allowed in election time, aud no jury would convict him.—(Laughter.) Mr Graham then proceeded to comment oa the letter. If they consented to such. rottenness in the Government as was disclosed in that letter, for Heaven's sake let theni put in Mr M'lndoe, who had endorsed it. If such a state of rottenness continued to exist-, he ahould be compelled to leave the province. --(Immense laughter.) As to protection, if it waa necessary to impose taxes, let things be taxed that were grown in the country. " If you want free selection, with deferred payments, Torrens's cheap transfer, &c, as in Australia, duty on Colonial ; Industries, Flour v. Matches, Wheat v. Blucher Boots, the Ballot, the first Representative of the Sons of Toil from this Province, vote for Graham, the Champion of Reform."—(Laughter, cries o£ " Oh, oh 1" with loud cheers.) That waa his text, and if they liked he would give them a sermon upon it.—(criesof "No, no, T and "Answer questions.") [Oneor twa electors here protested that Mr Graham ought not to be allowed to occupy the time of the meeting any longer. As, however, the Returning Officer did not interfere, Mr Graham proceeded to criticise Mr M'lndoe's conduct in connection with the Hundreds Regulation Bill, quoting largely from the Provincial Hansard.J Mr M'lndoe's interest was not that of the country at large, as he was intimately bound up with Mr Driver and other runholders. Mr M'lndoe had not thafc freadth of intellect that was wanted ia the House—a very small corner woold hold himself and his head.—(Laughter.) On the present occasion, a man wilh a four and twenty inch round was needed, in order to get this Bill repealed, as the matter would have to be more than, usually well looked after. Reynolds waa a jolly sort of man, and he (Mr Graham) could work matters round with him. Then, as to Macandrew, the election was coming on, and he could talk to him about them. The meeting was perfectly well aware what pressure he could bringto bear—a slight sensation ! —(Roars of laughter.) He could get a committee appointed, and himself sent round to the different parts of the province as general, to get the right men put- into the right places. It would not be a difficult thing for him to give the whales a few small scallops such as they were getting that day. By thia means a different sort of House could be got together; and if the Act was nofc repealed, it might be amended. He was .not ashamed to say that if they voted for him, they would vote for an honest man. He did not say he was entirely honest: human nature was frail; but still they would vote for an honest man. Mr Graham continued in this strain for a considerable time, until the meeting refused to hear him any longer.

An Elector : I will ask you one question. Mr Graham : I will not answer any man unless he is sober. An Elector: I will appeal to the house if lam sober. I will show myself to the house, and ask if I am not competent to ask a question. Mr Graham : The house does not say you are sober. An Elector : Well, I will appeal to thei house. After a short pause, An Elector said: Did you give your support to Mr Driver at last election ? Mr Graham : No, I was not an elector of the district then. No other question being asked, Mr Graham sat down.

Mr Robertson said the meeting wottld ' now require five minutes' breathing time.. He must remind the electors of the relative positions in which they and ha stood. They had the power to return a candidate to the House of Represents tives; and he was there requesting their suffrages. He would just touch upoa the different subjects passing before them, for the purpose of showing how his mind was affected on those subjects, and how he would vote should he be elected. After he had done so, if they would, irt the shape of questions, state distinctly what they wanted, and ask if he wonld carry it out or not, he would give explicit answers. It was not what he thought upon the different political questions of the day that had to be considered, but what they wanted to be done. A great fault in the representation of this country had been that the electors had never definitely told their members what they wanted them, to do, and had left the latter to the freedom of their will. The questions on. which it was necessary for him to speak might be placed under three heads—agriculture, trade, and commerce. The question had been definitely asked—Tf yoiE represent the district of Caversham, which is an almost purely agricultural district, what interest have you got in common with it ? Well, then, he was an agriculturist, and his interests were closely united with the district. This was hia principal reason for coming forward. If his interests were injured, they must go along with him. The interests of all countries, whether old or new, depended on agriculture. How could a country or individual exist unless the agriculturist? provided food for them? A great cry had been made at the Otago elections about this matter. See how the administration of the waste lands affected tha interests of the agriculturist. They weroi sold at a high price when they should, have been given away for nought; thea. 10s an acre was charged ; next the price of good land was raised to Ll; next came tha squatter and the charge for improvements. Time rolled on, and the next change necessitated money which should have beea spent in cultivation being expended ia. improvements. If in this matter he had suffered, they had suffered likewise.. Noxt came the Hundreds Bill, and au« other jump on the poor agriculturist. The Provincial Government, he took it^ had power to deal with the waste lands ; and he questioned the right of the GeaesaL

■Government to interfere with the Provincial, and if the electors had been men, they would not, on principle, have allowed that interference. He did not know, whether any good or evil had been done to the squatter, but ou principle they ought not to have permitted the General Government to step in and interfere with the waste lands. Their doing so had lowered. them in the estimation of people beyond their borders. It was keeping back men of capital from coming to the province, and if that was the case, did it not fall heavy upon him and them likewise 1 If the Bill benefited the squatters, it was of no consequence ; for what did it matter if some of our fellow creatures were benefited 1 However, he did not think the squatter was much affected one way or the other. There was something grand to be added to this, -600 acres w -re to be given to squatters. To this he was opposed. With regard to trade. How could the agriculturist live in a country where there" was no trade 1 Even if agriculturists were to settle on the land, what could they do without a market for their produce 1 They must set about establishing some trade in the •colony, and get population, by which the agricultural as well as the trading interest would be benefited. Trade would benefit commerce. Unless steps were taken. to remedy the present state of things, Dunedin would have no trade at all. For years we had been importing goods to a large amount and sending very little out. Goods to the value of L 3,000,000 were being imported annually into New -Zealand; and if that money were circulated in this community, how business would flourish! Then, how should we prosper without the working man ? He was the bee that made the honey, and no community could prosper without him. It was mooted in certain ■quarters that wo ought to be separated from Great Britain. Let the electors think over this. It was a serious matter, .and affected both their families and their property. What should we be without <3reat Britain 1 We had taken this war upon us, and adopted the policy of selfreliance, and what was the consequence ? We were not able to stand it. 3000 or -4000 men were chasing and watching 100 what ? Should he say it?— 100 braves, with a noble leader at their head—a patriot who, in future days, would be as distinguished in the history of New Zealand as Wallace and Bruce in that of Scotland.—(Laughter.) It took 3000 men to watch these braves, whom we might call cannibals, but who were fighting for their homes, and it was natural for them to do so. Let them note what France had •done in Algiers. Shehad taken thencethe -Zouaves, had itnot beenfor whomatlnkermann the bravest men that ever breathed would have been defeated, and the honour of Great Britain destroyed for ever. Separate from Great Britain, and weshoukl liave foes within aud foes'without; and the country would be like a great city in a state of conflagration—thousands and thousands of persons would go the wall, and lose their all.—(Cries of "Time.") TThe question of separation was one involving their weal or woe, and he asked them to be careful in coming to a decision. He had forgotten to mention that lie was strictly opposed to leasing land within Hundreds, because the capital of the runholder would thus give him an advantage; and also to leasing within goldfields. No lease ought to be given to any agriculturist within the goldfields, ijecause by doing so the miners would be interfered with; and the few hundred : ounces of gold that came into Dunedin bow and then were the life-blood of the country. Mr Eobertson concluded by (expressing his willingness to answer any questions that might be put to him. One or two questions were asked by Mr Graham, and answered. Mr M'lndoe then came forward, and ■was received with cheers. He said that : lie would promise to commend himself in ; ©ne respect if in no other, by occupying little of their time. Very much . •value could not be attached to the remarks of Mr Graham, who evidently Iknew very little of what he was talking about. Mr Graham had taken him to task for being a teller with Mr Driver and Mx Fraser in -.the division that took place onthe Hundreds Bill.. Mr Graham was, Sowever, mistaken in supposing that any Member of either the Provincial Council or the General Assembly could appoint SiimseJf teller ; the privilege of choosing tellers rested with the Speaker. Any connection that he might have with Mr Driver 'was of a very flight nature. He had voted with that gentleman on all questions that liad come before the Provincial Council, fmt any assertion that he was in any way Joined with or obligated to Mr Driver ■was'-utterly without foundation. Hehad already clearly explained his views on the various subjects that were likely to occupy the attention of the Genoral Assembly, and would now give a short summary of his opinions. His with regard to Provincialism was simply tliis. He wanted to see the provinces in the Middle and North Island are-united, with the view of ultimately placing, the two islands under separate governments. It might be found unnecessary to carry this out if a better feeling were to grow up between the islands, but •if the present feeling continued to exist, must ultimately take place. He supported the restoration of the produces to their original condition, on the •ground that he looked upon the administration of Mr Stafford as one consistent to destroy provincial institutions. He ould have respected the attempt if it 3iad been made in a manly way, but if was made by the most tortuous course anan .could invent—by the New Provinces Acfc, by Counties, by Boards of Works, =&nd by Road Boards. All that was anecessary to be done in order to effect reunion was for the General Assembly to pass a Permissive Bill to reunite Southland with Otago, Westland and Timaru «nd Gladstone with Canterbury, and -Marlborough with Nelson. On the question of the separation of the two islands, while he did not anticipate that insular separation would be attained, yet the General Assembly had power to grant financial separation, the effect of which would simply be to enable the two islands to divide the revenue according to the proportion in which each contributed towards it, the sum necessary to pay the Governor, the Judges of the Supreme Court, and similar officers, having first been deducted. He hoped that when the Native war rendered it possible to do so, the Customs tariff would undergo such a revision that some portion of the taxes which now pressed so heavily on them would be done away with. It did not seem absolutely requisite that every ■article, whether of luxury or of necessity, should have a very heavy duty imposed npon it. There may have been a cause for such imposition originally, but that cause was now done away with to a very great extent, and it did not seem likely there would, for the future, be such heavy disbursements required on account of the Native war as there had been for some time past. He would support to the utmost of his power a revision of the tariff in sa eh a direction as would ultimately lead to the introduction of fre© trade measures altogether ; so

that the country might be brought into a position in which ifc could have every article that it wanted brought in without the imposition of any duty whatever. With regard to the ballot, every protection should be given to the voter, and he should like to see vote by ballot introduced. Although protection to electors was not so much required as in the old country, yet a case came before him only the previous day, which showed its necessity. A gentleman met him in town, and while they were speaking of a certain elector, this gentleman said he had the power and would make that elector vote as he wanted. He (Mr M'lndoe) replied thafc he should despise any man who attempted to bring such a vote fco him in such a manner.—(Cheers.) He asked for the unfettered suffrage of the electors. No influence of money, position, or anything else should be brought to bear, but let every man be persuaded in his own mind how he would vote, and be protected in the exercise of that vote by all the machinery of the law. The only means by which this could be done, was the ballot—(Hear, hear.) As to the question of the war, there might be a great deal of wrangling about the administration during the last nine months, but it would be found on investigation that the present Ministry had, to no appreciable extent, exceeded the L 150,000 of expenditure to which they promised to limit themselves. Even if they had exceeded it by a small sum, it would not be worth mentioning when such happy results had accrued from the system that had been introduced. The rebellion was almost put down. Te Kooti and his followers were so far crushed that their power for evil was not at all felt so much as formerly. On the important question of land, he was happy to find that he agreed with his friend Mr Graham.—(Laughter.) While Mr Graham was belabouring him on different subjects to the utmost of his power, he felt like the large Irishman with the small wife. A neighbour seeing his wife beating him with a brickbat, asked the Irishman why he allowed her to do so. "Och, sure," he replied, "itpleases her, and it don't hurt me."—(Laughter.) On the subject of land on deferred payments, he and Mr Graham were of one mind. His view was this: While in former time 3 the Hundreds system might have worked with advantage, and may possibly have been better than any other that could have been devised, its usefulness had now come to an end. The two principal features of our land administration were, first, that the land must be declared into Hundreds before being sold ; and, secondly, that the purchasers of land within Hundreds should have the right of depasturing their stock on unsold lands. Now, there were so many settlers who held land a long way from Hundreds, and who, at the same time, had as much land as they could manage, or had no means to purchase more, that they ought likewise to be allowed to put their surplus stock on the unsold portions of Hundreds on paying the usual fee. At present, they had either fco dispose of their surplus stock, or give it house feed at great expense. He was quite prepared to go in for a repeal of the present Act, and for a new one establishing th 9 principle of free selection, and, if they would, ' on deferred payments. He strongly supported both principles. The right of commonage ought to be granted to all settlers. A portion of the land should be set apart in each block, ahd every settler have an equal right of feeding his cattle there on paying the fees paid on Hundreds, or by runholders. The land question had been the chief bone of contention in both the Provincial Council and in the General Assembly when Otago subjects had come before it. Scarcely a session had passed without a change being made in some principle of the land regulations, which, had been tinkered and altered until they had become distasteful to a very large portion of the community. He did not support, and would not support, the proposal to give squatters the right of choosing 640 acres within their runs. He was quite, prepared to give any man the right of selecting 640 acres without preference ;\but he would not give squatters the,'exclusive right of selecting 640 acres on their runs. He trusted the election would be carried on without any personal imputations being made by one candidate upon another. Mr Cutten and himself had studiously avoided anything of the sort, and neither had cause to complain. Mr Cutten, in his address, mentioned his having been Provincial Secretary and editor of the Otago Witness. He would make no remark on the latter subject, but with regard to Mr Cutten having been Provincial Secretary, the only occasion when he had to call upon Mr Cutten in that capacity was shortly after the breaking: out of the goldfields. The roads were then in a dreadful state, and he came down as a representative from Tuapeka, for the purpose of seeing if the Government would do anything towards repairing the roads. The reply of the Provincial Secretary—Mr Cutten—was very characteristic, though he did not say it was indicative of the course he would foi-" low if elected to the General Assemblyit was, " Wait for good weather; that's the best roadmaker."— (Laughter.) He did not altogether say that Mr Cutten's policy had always been to wait a little longer; but it seemed so in this election. He didn't go round all the district, but said, "If it is convenient for the electors to come and hear me; well, do so." Peri sonally, he threw himself upon the consideration of the electors. He was not backed by Mr Driver, nor Mr Seaton, nor any other Mr Driver in the community. There was no wealthy man behind him ; and so far as regarded Mr Seaton, tl at gentleman had told him that he might possibly vote for, but would not work with him. So far from Mr Driver supporting him, Mr Driver told him from the first that he had no chance. He came forward upon hi 3 own merits without any view of working himself into a position for which he was not qualified. He asked for their suffrages without any view of obtaining an appointment which would cause him to resign his position as their representative.—(Hear, hear.) He asked them to send him to the General Assembly on the distinct understanding that it was not with a view of obtaining; such a position, although Mr Graham had tried to insinuate that it was. He had been connected with what Mr Graham had described as the "small fry" all the days of his life. If there was one thing more than another on which he prided himself, it was his connection with the working class. He was quite unconnected with the runholders, and had bean working in middle-class life all his days, and trusted he should continue to do so. Although he did not like mentioning such a subject, he had almost forfeited the position in which he hoped they would place him, for the purpose of doing good to a fellow creature. He had been detained that morning in collecting money for the purpose of paying the passages of a poor man and his wife, by the steamer just leaving, and consequently nearly came too late for the nomination. Mr M'lndoe concluded by expressing his willingness to answer ques- , tions.

Mr Graham : Do you think that the letter from Mr Driver to Mr Treweek is a sample of Mr Driver's real character 1 , Mr M'lndoe : I may as well ask you if your speech to-day is indicative of your real character.—-(Loud laughter.) Mr Graham : Yes, it is.—(Renewed laughter.) In reply to further questions, Mr M'lndoe said although he did not believe in the Hundred system, he supported the Bill because, while the system was in operation, tho Hundreds would have been placed under more effectual control than they were under the present Bill. He thought free selection incompatible with restrictions on the amount of land which a single purchaser might take up. No law could prevent a man buying as much land as he pleased. He thought that any elector, whether a runholder or not, ought to be allowed to be returned as a member of either Legislature, A runholder had just as much right to legislate with regard to his run as a farmer had to legislate on agricultural matters. The Provincial Council was the proper body to deal with the waste lands, but he was not aware, until the Clutha petition was presented, how the Bill had been introduced into the General Assembly. He did not pay very much heed to the way in which the Bill had been introduced, because the Bill did not affect the principle of Hundreds.

Mr Cutten said as it was necessary that his remarks should be brief he should only allude to points of the most general interest, leaving the meeting to obtain any particulars by means of questions. He most emphatically said that he was a Provincialist—he held provincial views, and did so from a strong conviction and long experience. Until within the last twelve months he had always had, since the formation of the province, something to do with the Government, and was distinctly clear on this matter—that you never could govern from a central point so efficiently as you could from alocal point. You mijjhtlegislatef rom a central point, but could never do the ordinary work of government. In any instance it would require a man of the highest genius to sit at Auckland or Wellington, and know what was wanted in the nine provinces of New Zealand. It was" impossible. They had practical proof of it a short time ago, when the General Government tried to take the management of the Goldfields into their own hands. Any one with practical expe--rience knew what occurred. It was true, considerable difficulties had arisen in the provinces. Their Government did not always act wisely ; but that was no argument against the principle that the provinces should have the power. Errors should be corrected as opportunity occurred for doing so, but they should never depart from the main principle. Now, if they wanted anything done, they could wait upon the Superintendent and Executive, and even if they came away as wise as they went they had the satisfaction of knowing that the Government had been made : acquainted with their wants. But if the Government were in Wellington they would not be able to get deputations fco go there ; and even if they did go, the answers would probably be as ' unsatisfactory as they were now. Anybody who was acquainted with the manner in which the business of Government was carried on would know that after weeks or months of waiting, the Government would do as the local officer recommended. That was the practical working of the thing. The country was not yet sufficiently populated, nor had it sufficient means of communication in the shape of roads and steamers, even although it had telegraphs, to enable it to carry on a system of Government from a central point. In fact, no countries in the world, save despotic countries, did so. Great Britain left the administration of land, and matters of that sort, to the corporations, road trustees, and similar bodies. Again, even in legislation, as much power should be retained in the province as reasonably could be. Subjects of a local nature should be legislated on by local bodies. At present, laws were made in the General Assembly before the province knew anything about them; and ehe Acts were so long in printing, that before the public had time to read these passed in one session, a new 'batch was before the House in its next session. Any matter connected with roads was essentially local, and could not be dealt with by a central authority. On the subject of education, the General Government might legislate to a certain extent—to say, for instance, that the povinces should spend so much money for this purpose, but must leave to the provinces the details of bow the money is to be spent. If this province went into partnership with the, whole of New Zealand in the matter of education, it would find its accumulated funds for education thrown into a common stock, and help to support the North, which had made no efforts for education. They would find that the fund would be in this position, that if any member took a crotchet into his head, and would not vote on their side, they would lose their proper share of the fund. This was a matter of serious importance. He said most emphatically that he was opposed to the Hundreds Act, and if he had his will, would repeal it the next morning. The principle on which the waste lands had been let or sold in the province was this : They would sell land to persons who would bona fide live on the land.-—(Cheers.) The settlers who came first to the country, so far as they had power over the land, held it in trust for the next generation; they had no right to dispose of it in such a manner as to injure those who might come after them. The early settlers here I bought lands and settled upon them, but there was a certain quantity of grass lands which they did not want, and they agreed to let the squatters have the use of them until they were required for other purposes. This was the principle acted upon, and the moment the lands were needed for other purposes, they were to be given up. If the land was saleable, any man could buy, the protection to the runholder being, that if a person bought land upon which buildings had been erected, he must pay for them. The first mischief was that gentlemen who had large runs in view, thought they would promote their interests by getting land sold at 10s an acre, and withdrawing the restrictions about improvements, a provision being made, instead of this, for the protection of the runholder, that no land should be sold on a run without the holder's consent. He (Mr Cutten) was opposed to this, and remembered sending abell-man round in order to get up a meeting on the subject. However, the Bill passed, and since that time there had been perpetual trouble with the runholders, who naturally enough wished to get possession of the land inch by inch. Every new alteration in the Land Law made it worse.— (Hear, hear.) Things had been going on from bad to worse, until by the lasfc measure the country was shut up for years and years, because if the runholders compelled them to pay Is 6d an acre for a considerable portion of the land, the cost of the land would be so great thatthe purchase-money, with compound interest, for the barren portion of

the land that could not readily be sold, would amount to so much that it would eat up the value of the wli'le block. Another proposition was to allow runholders to select a square mile of land. That would be even more mischievous. They had be'ter leave the thing alone than do that, because every man who had a right to do so would naturally pick out the be3t land, and this would throw a large portion of the country into the hands of a particular class. It was also wrong in principle for the General Assembly to pass the Act, for this reason : In 1854, when he first went to the Assembly, an Act was passed by which land regulations could not be made without the consent of the Provincial Councils. In 1858 the Centralist party managed to get this Act repealed, and a new Act was passed ; but even then the great majority of the House conceded the principle that the land regulations of a province should not be altered without its Provincial Council being first consulted. Both of theso Acts were referred to Committees, in order to see that they did hot infringe on the royal prerogative by being opposed to the resolutions passed in the Provincial Councils. In those days, when anything affecting Otago was brought before the House, it was always left to the Otago members to settle among themselves ; aud this principle he should endeavour to enforce if he were returned. The whole of these difficulties about the land might be disposed of if the Government would only make an effort to do so. As to the alteration of the Customs tariff, the first Assembly, which met in 1854, considered the question, and after a committee of some 15 members had gone through it with a good deal of labour and trouble, they came to the conclusion that the only way of dealing with it was to sweep off the duty on small articles and put it on the iarger ones—Sir Robert Peel's principle; butitcould not be done in the face of the very large duties and very special taxation of the country. No doubt if we lived in an age when every man was perfectly honest and a political economist, we should go on to direct taxation, but such a state of things was scarcely reached yet. The public would not bear direct taxation. No doubt the Customs duties pressed unfairly upon the poor man, who with an income of LIOO a year, had to spend nearly the whole of it iri necessaries ; while out of the LIOOO income of the richer man, L9OO went free But still it did not appear how the difficulty was to be got over. In direct taxation, men's honesty must be relied upon. He did not oppose a duty on corn and flour. The remarks which he had before made on this subject had been misrepoited. He did not say it was desirable to have a sliding duty on flour, which was totally impossible in a country like this. A sliding duty would be a purely protectionist measure. If, however, a simple tax were imposed on corn or flour, it would give a certain amount of protection to the home producer, and he would consent to this. He must say that he did not clearly understand the Native question, which presented a very curious aspect to his mind. The people in the North Island did not appear to put anything like the same construction on the Maori war as we did, or to fear it half so much. The settlers there lived in the country in band-box houses. They got massacred occasionally, it was true ; but did not seem to realise the idea that it was a stupendous war. It was, however, a great war when it gofr into the papers, and it seemed to him that it was getting into a chronic state. We had been ten years in putting down the Maoris, and we seemed to be getting no nearer success. The expense was increasing, and really both sides seemed to like it —there was plenty of pay ani very little fighting going on. The sta'ements in the newspapers were so. contradictory, that he could not say whether the Government had maintained its promise with regard to the expenditure ; but if Mr Fox was really making a serious effort to put down the war, and there was a possibility of his succeeding,, he (Mr Cutten) would not object if the Defence expenditure somewhat exceeded the limit named. Mr Fox was accused, in the first instance, of withdrawing the troops and allowing the Natives to make head, but he was now charged with entering on military expeditions. It must be confessed that a grand victory often, did not seem to amount to much more than the capture of an old woman and a washing-tub.— (Laughter.) In this last victory, Te Kooti appeared to have taken all his ablebodied men with him and left his women and children behind, to get food for them by the spring. Of course, he should be sorry to accuse the settlers in the North Island of prolonging the war, but no doubt a large number of them were interested in its continuance. The relations of the colony with the home country was a matter in which we really could take no action, aa we were not in a position to do anything. The two countries were like a wolf and a lamb ; and if the home country chose tp take away the troops, we could not prevent it. The question was not, therefore, one for the present moment ; nor was it desirable that the colony should seek independence just now. It would be many years before it would have a sufficient population decidedly fixed to the soil to justify it in doing so. Such a population was required, because if the colony became independent to-morrow morning, capitalists would leave it. The question was not to be looked at in the present moment except as a matter of sheer necessity. We must reckon upon the British Government, in case of war, being able to afford us very little protection; but he trusted the British Government would not go to war. England was fast becoming a country which could not go to war—at any rate, with a great maritime power, because she had such a large surplus population which she could not feed. However, in case of war, we must be prepared to defend ourr : selves. Another question relating to the ; home country, which seemed to be of very great importance, was the overcrowding of population. Great Britain seemed, i owing this cause, to be now in one of the most serious straits that she had been in for years. Employment could not be found for large numbers of people; but they must be fed or forced to emigrate. We must expect a considerable amount of emigration to this country, and it was desirable that this should be the case. The colony could not stand still; it must either advance or retrograde. But whatever was done, let them not, for Heaven's sake, go into the hands of the General Government or of the British Government, because if they did so, they would get paupers shovelled upon them. The people at home naturally tried to get rid of those persons who were useless to themselves. It would probably be found advisable to negotiate with some of those Emigration Societies which were being formed at home by working men ; and the province would thus get good and useful Eettlers. This question of emigration strongly re-acted upon that of land. He warned them not to let this power go out of their hands, \ and he for one should oppose it.— 1 (Cheers) Mr Graham had insinuated

that he sought to gain office by his election. Everybody, it was true, knew Mr Graham, but nobody car^d for him.— (Laughter). But he most emphatically denied that he sought office. In tho province there was no office sufficiently high for him to take, because he had already held an office of the highest consequence in it. It was not probable that he would be offered a seat in the Ministry, but if he were, and accepted ifc, his constituents would not be likely to object to his doing so. He had not intended any disrespect to the electors by his remarks about his inabi ity to canvass the district, and his observations did not apply to the electors of Caversham, but to those residing at the other end of the district. He had, however, made arrangements to meet the Peninsula electors on Friday, but a steamer had to.be engaged for the purpose, and he was told it was of no use advertising, as the electors would not.see the announcement in time. As Mr M'lndoe remarked, they had both avoided imputations upon each hther, and he did not .think any candidate did any good to his cause, by adopting such a course, but rather the reverse. The little anecdote which had been related did not tell so much against him, as Mr M'lndoe imagined. In those days there was very little money to be had ; there was an awful rush of people; and a great difficulty in doing anything. The recommendation that he gave to Mr M'lndoe was a wise one; and if subsequent governments had acted on that principle, the road metal which might now be found in some places by digging three feet deep would be on the surface of the ground.—(Hear, hear.) The principle on which the Government had acted since the goldfields broke out was to do the things that should not be done, to do them at the wrong time, and in the most expensive manner. It was inconceivable how much money had been wasted. The Government of which he was a member used to waste a great deal. —(Laughter.) He appealed to his past career. He was for many years editor of a paper, Provincial Secretary, and Commissioner of Crown Lands, and they could not find a single relative or friend of his in any oflice, or any ofiice that had been created for their benefit ; and they might reasonably expect he would act in the same way in future. If they sent him to the Assembly he would do everything in his power for the advancement of their interests and the policy which they held. As he had been in the Legislature before and was known to the leading members of the House, he would thus have an influence which would not be possessed by a new member.—(Cheers.) After Mt Graham had put one or two questions, tho Returning Officer called for a show of hands, which resulted as follows :—

Graham 5 Robertson 2 M'lndoe 23 Cutten ... ... 7 Mr Graham thereupon demanded a poll on behalf of himself. A vote of thanks was given to the Returning Officer, who announced thai the poll would be taken on Monday next. The assemblage then dispersed.