THE SUPERINTENDENCY.

Otago Witness, Issue 589, 14 March 1863, Page 4

THE SUPERINTENDENCY.

MAJOR RICHARDSON'S CANDIDATURE. A meeting; was held oil Wednesday, at the Northeast Valley School, in accordance with an announcement tha,t, "at the request of several electors iv the North-east Valley, Mnjor Richardson will explain his views." There were about 100 persons present. Mr Peter Lindsay was calle 1 to the chair. Major Richardson said he thanked those who had given him the invitation to attend that meeting ; because he felt that it was a duty he owed to the constituency who elected him, and to the constituency who would have the opportunity of electing himself or his suce3sor, to explain the circumstances under which he appea'ed as a candidate. It was well known to thote who were most intimate with him, that his determination to retire from the cares and _ responsibilities of office was a thoroughly premeditited one; and he considered that it was one of which he need not be ashamed. His health, his private affairs, and other considerations, impelled him to this course. He thought the time had arrived when he might retire from those duties and those toils; and wlien others, younger and mere able than himself might take a foremost position, and defend that ciuse which had ever been dear to his heart. He openly enunciated his intention at the Dunstau— there could be no mistake about it — it was done clearly, decisively, and unequivocally. That intention was carried out so far that he addressed a letter to tho electors, thanking them for the confidence they had put in him, and intimating his intention to retire permanently from public life. At the sime time, ho considered it his duty to point out a few beacons which he thought experience justified him in doing, so that the electors might avoid certain dangers which he saw to exist. That address was being copied, iv order to be sent to the press, when he received without notice a deputation who asked him what were his views, and earnestly diisuaded him, so far as he understood, from retiring at the present moment. This, conjoined to the remonstrances of private friends, who told him that it would be dishonorable to retire from a position in which he had baen considered somewhat as a leader — though, perhaps, he had no just, right to that title— that ho ought not to forsake the cause after conducting it so far— led him to resolve that he would not carry out his intention to retire, should any one come forward for the office of Superintendent whose opinions and sentiments were not, as he considered, fully in accord uith tho truest interests of the Province. It wns simply a period of hesitancy. After that, motive 3 were aseribsd to him. which he was quite sure any honorable mind would have at once repelled. He felt that the time was come when, if he succumbed to this dictation, he was unworthy of the confidence that led to his election, and would have degraded his office, and every office under ilie Provincial Council. He resolved then, once and for ever, to leave it to the electors to deride whether he was a, fit and proper person again to be Superintendent.—(Applause.) This was a true history of past translations : if there was auy point on which there was the slightest doubt, he should consider him who told him so, and who asked for further explanation, to he his truest friend. He stated in .hip address to the electors, that it was not his intention to make a personal canvass. He had many reasons for that course. He was constitutionally, as well as politically, opposed to it. He could not, fjr the highest honor it was in the power of the Crown to bestow, accept an'office, if it was a condition that he was to go through the process of soliciting votes for it. He looked upon the electoral franchise as one of the most important trusts ever handed to freemen in any country. It wa« their duty to exercise that trust, uot from the influence of persuasion, or from any other influence • but from the highest of all principles— the duty they owed to their families and to the State of which they were.constituent members. On a former- occasion, when he weal round the districts, it ww known, to many that

he never asked for a single vote. Many told him that it was thdr intention to vote for him; but he simply asked them to suspend the expression of their sentiinPuts until such time as they were in fulr* possession of the opinions ot the candidates. He asked the same now. He asked simply that his hearers would vote where their confidence went, and as their judgment led— (Applause.) He had heard that some of those who were friendly to him, .or to the principles he entertained, had pledged themselvds ■ to an opposing candidate ; and that the reason thry grve was that he (Major Richardson) had not then offered himself. He said, candidly, that he should consider he was insulting any man by asking him his " vote when his conscience would not allow him to give if. He would now proceed to the questions of the day. Although it had been said that the Land Question was now shelved, and had nothing to do with the Sup'rintendency, he said, and that, t<-o, from a somewhat lengthened experience of official life, that we were new only just breaking ground— that ihis was but tho commencement ; that the battle had to be fought ; that fought it must be ; and that thouj. h we should be repelled often, and sometimes with considerable injury, if the principles we had advocated were sound in themselves we must insist upon going on, until those principles became the law of the country. He looked upon it that the object of all colonisation was to people ft desert 'waste. Nomadic hordes, travelling from part to pait, as the Maories did when formerly in possession, of this polony could never people a country. To do that required that the peopleshould be resident on the lavd — that they should not only occupy but cultivate. He looked upon it, therefore, that whatever we might do if we did not create a resident, occupying, and tilling people, we should have done nothing whatever. That wzs his first principle as to the object of colonisation. What were the allurements we could offer to emigrants to people this country ? Firstly, he thought, were liberal institutions ; secondly, the strong inducement of high wages ; aud thirdly, that which was dear to the heart of every man, the hope, whether near or remote, that at one time he might > privileged to possess a portion of land which he could call hi 3 ow n, which mi^ht be banded down to hisposterity, and on which might *c reared generations of his own family. If he knew an\thing of the true JBritHi heart, that wa3 one of its uppermost thougUs. At present, he would not talk about liberal institutions ; that might be necessary on another occasion. But there were two objects which were dearest to his heart — oue, land lor the people ; the other, a responsible ministry.— (Applause.) Without land fir the people,nothing had been done ; without a responsible mini-try, there was no government whatever. The first thing we had to ascertain, when we settled down in a country, for the purpose of advancing its interests, was, what means we had to attain the object in view. The two principal so>iree3 from which money was to be derived, were the Custom 1 ? Revenue and the Land Revenue ; arid lie would make a few observations on each. He had been accused of being overcautious. He confessed that it was rather a fault in which he prided himself. Ho would rather not, whether ns an individual ox* a nation, make haste to be r.fh. If we advanced slowly, yet sufficiently rapid in proportion to our means, we were doini> that which was was mo3fc suited for future growth. The trees most rapid in. their growth, did not always give the best timber : the British Constitution was the result of a series of accumulative innovations, but while surrounding nations had yielded to successive shocks, it still stood to give protection to the people. — (Applause.) On all hands lie heard comparisons between the colony of Victoria and the Province of Otago. Wherever he went he heard "Wedo so and so in Victoria." Well and good. If she had thriven it would be a laudable object of ambition to follow in her steps; but the child must be careful how it attempted to follow ia the steps of the grown mau. He would make a few comparisons between the statistics of this Province and of Victoria, premising that ihey were from the best sources at his commaud, but were simple approximations. The population of Victoria was about 500,000; that of Otago was 35,000. The Customs Bevenue of Victoria was L 994,00 0; that of ' tago, £167,000. This showed a vast disproportion, the Customs Revenue of Otago being almost double that of Victoria, as compared with the number of the population. This was a very important element of consideration. One of the causes undoubtedly was that there was a goodisli quantity of spirits drunk here— (laughter)— -that spirits, wine, and ale repiesented a good round honest amount. (Laughter.) One source of the difference would be found in the fact that tiie Chinese, who numbered come 35,000 or 40,000 in Victoria, were no great hands for a glass of toddy, but instead, went in for a, bit of opium. Then the fact that the greater park of cur mining population were males, leaving their wives behind them— was another element of disturbance in the comparison ; and it was fair to conclude that our Customs Revenue would not remain permanently ia excels, per head, of ihat of Victoria. The total area of Pngfand, Scotland, and Wales, was 57^000,000 acre?, and that of Victoria 65,COO,000 ; while that of Otago was 14,800,000 acre 9, so that here again we were dwarfed beside the neighboring colony, with which, we were so constantly told to draw comparisons. As to the disposal of laud, there was an important point which we must not forget— but which he had noticed that nearly every one did forget - that we were not in a position to do with our land as we wished. We were bound down by Ordinances, and especially by the Land Sales and Leases Ordinance, which placed it out of the power of the Government to dispose of an acre more of land than was absolutely declared by the Governor into Hundreds. The power of altering laws he believed legitimately belonged to the Superintendent and Provincial Council. They had concurrent power. If any Superintendent was independent of the Ministry, lie had simply to withhold fiis assent to a Bill, and it could not become law. Therefore, he advocated the Provincial Council being represented, in recess, by a responsible Executive. He wished now to refer to the sales of land in Victoria and Otago. In Victoria, there were 31,500,000 acres let under pastoral "licenses; in Otago, there were 8,400.000. The revenue derivable from the 31, 5t 0,100 acres, was £340,000; but the 8,400,000 acres in Otago only yielded £4,000. He sliould be sorry to have it supposed that he hed to take any ungenerous advantage of the pastoral interest. He was for fair play to all. The holders of runs came into the Province and went out into the wilderness; j they had gone through very considerable difficulties ; and they were fully entitled to everything to which, by law, they had a fair claim. He would nottouch a single acre of their laud, unless it was required for bona fide settlement. If those same 8,000,000 acres used as runs — which belonged to us, or to the the Crown — were let at the same rate as in Victoria, it would realise not less than L-90,000 a year ; but the honor of the Government was pledged not to alter the regulation, until the expiry of the present licenses, unless it was required for acfual occupation. Some of the earliest licenses would fill in in about two years. By the estimates for 18G3, iaidon the t>ble of the Parliament of Victoria, the sum to be derived from land sales was nut down at L6OO,p0O ; here f if we received all that we had any just reason to expect, ie would amount to L 120.000. In other words, the land revenue of Victoria was about a million sterling, against £124,000 in Otago. He believed that there were very considerab'e fallacies about the revenue from gold. People imagined that the Government were receiving unknown quantities from that source, and that it must be very difficult to know what to do with it So far as he knew, there was not the slightest difficulty in the matter, and tin only anxiety of the Government was to have a great deal more to exper.'meutalise upon. ("Hear, hear," and laughter) The export and other duties received in Victoria, from gold, was £161,000; in <itago, the total from all sources, wasL66,ooo. What was that? Why our police force alone, he supposed cost notless than £50,00Oayear; and supposing that a third or a quarter was struck off, still there was a very large amount to be charged against the gold fields. Then there was the gaol, with 120 prisoners, the Hospital with about the same number of patients, the hospital at Tuapeka, and [ other things ; so that he verily believed, if a minute i calculation was made as to the value of the gold I fields, simply ag a source of revenue— exclusive ot the benefit from population, through the Customs -we should have very little to be thankful for. He wou'd not make any observations with respect to those uugenerous aspersions that had been enst upon him, about his going through, the couutrj, and endeavoriug to make election capital out of his visit to the gold fields. He utteily denounced auy such attempts ; and he wonld sooner forfeit appointment to any office on the face of the earth, than be n party to any such thing.— (Applause.) He owed it to hims,elf to wipe away the aspersions that he had done the miners a grievous injury, in that he was one of the means of depriving them of a vote for the Superintendent. He candidly confessed — and he should be glad to meet the minerd face to face and say it— that he was a party to the doing it, and his ground was this— that they should not swamp the constituency of the province. - {Loud applause.) When he stood in his place and advocated this change in the representation of the colony, he did si on the ground that the legitimate constituency should not be Bwamped by men who were here to-day and away to-morrow. Mark, he wished to give them everything that he thought they were fairly entitled to : lie wished to give them two represanta ives in the Provincial Council, aud also two in the General Assembly ; and when their numba: s justified it- he did not say such was not the case at present — he would bs among the first to advocate fair and equal representation for them in the Council and the Assembly. There was a point to which the real friends of the miners might do good by directing their attention — that wa«, to see that they had every opportunity of gettingga fair price for the gold whioh they dug out of the c irfch. He did not know how that was to be done. It had b^en under the consideration ot the Government ;_ and no Government was worthy of tKe confidence of the people that would not everything in its power, bo as, by tests and analysations, to put it within the means pf the miner to ascertain really what was the value, of the article of which lie was about

to dispose. It might be -remembered- (hat the Government pent 5,000 oz lo the International Exhibition, v. here it attracted considerable attention, anil it -nas subsequently bold. It was from four different fields ; and the lesult of the analysation of each had been received. The highest in value was £8 19s 3J, after all expenses in England for melting, &c, ; and tha lowest, ±3 17s 4(1 an ounce. Taking the various sources of revenue which he had enumerated, and striking o£f £40,000 or £50,000 from our Customs Revenue, 'as going to the credit of the General Government, the result was this: — We had to operate upon .£300,000 as n^ainM: £-2,000,000 in Victoria, so that he was smtly jus'itied in saying that we were bound to exercise a wise caution, when we w, re told of, and incited to follow in, the steps of Victoria. (Kear, hear). There were various ways in which Crown Lands were disposed of. There was what niipbt be called the low-priced s- stem, wHeh had prevailed in two or three provinces, as he believed, to their certain destruction. Ihe price was so low that speculators stepped in and nb'oibed nearly the whole of the country, or what was tantamount to it, all those portions which were the key to the country, and having secured the frontage, there was no difficulty in their getting ppssession of the back part. In some ne : ghborinsf* provinces, speculators had bought larce tracts -as much as 100,000 acres. Suppose this could be done here at ss. or 2s. 6d. even per acre, the country, instead of being a garden for the habitation of man, would, become n deseit waste for sheep walks. There was no question whatever about that fact. Another system had been found to wok well in Auckland — that of assisted emigration He was an advocate of that system some time ago, and was so still to a certain extent. It might be a weakness, but he confessed that he should like to fee coining amongst us KMne fresh b'ood from the native country— men who had not been accustomed to the excitement of gold digging, but who wuld settle down with no desire but to ' cultivate their own land. He longed to see some of our Victoiian friends— five, noble, stalwart fellows they weie — become permanent inhabitants of the Province; but, he did not knowhow it was, they coul 1 not be enticed. They might be by-and-by. But resident occupying population must be had; and he thought that the system of giving land to immigrants, instead of paying their passage was a system deserving of consideration aud encouragement! Another system was the high-price, ordeteirentto speculators This prevailed iv Canterbury, but in a form somewhat difttrent to our own, because the whole Province was thrown open there, while we could only deal with the small quantity that was declared into Hundreds. He doubted if the Canterbury system had worked well. The cream of that province might be worth L 2 an acre; but he doubted very much whether the skim-milk would be. As he understood, when a capitalist wi«hed to invest his thousands, he went to hi* agent and bought, or made arrangements for, a certain amount of land ; and then he got terants who paid 2s, Bs, 4s, or perhaps 5s an acre, with a purchasing power at the end of (say) five years at L 5 per acre, but, as he understood, without one word being said about improvements. vVhile the tenant had simply to pay a small rent, all went well ; but immediately the time arrived when he had to pay the. L san acre, or relinquish his farm without compensation for improvements, would come the pinch, the touchstone of the system. That time was not yet. We were invited to follow the same plan here. He said, " No ; ■we have another and a better one here. Let us wait until the experiment has been tried. It it is success fuJ, let us follow it; if not, let us have nothing to do ■with it." The Victorian system was complicated, but there were m it a number of elements which commended themselves very much to his mind. There land could be bought outright at once ; and a purchaser of say even 100 acres, could pay for one-ha!f, and have the' remainder at a rent of & Gi an acre per year for eight years. That was a feature like our leasing system, which he should like to see introduced. It had been found to answer well in Victoria, with the exception that it wanted elements which we poss^sed, but in an inoperative form — those of compulsory residence, occupation, and tillage. If they could only compel occupation and improvement under pain of forfeiture, which he believed was originally intended, he thought that th° Victorian Regulations would b > as good as they cou d possibly have in that colony. But if th°re was one system which he preferred to another, it was that ot Gtago. If it had been cauied out — if there had been a penal clause attached to the improvement clauses - he looked upon it as the best adapted for the colonisation of the countiy. He honored the intellect and the kindness of Jieart which devised that system. It had for its basis the benefit of the labouring man — the man who designed to take up country for the purpo c es of cultivating it and making a home. It had this beneficial effect — that if fairly and honestly carried out, it would make the speculator' 1 - and land jobber's tiade of no earthly us?. He looked upon it uot only as a system of the highest benefit to the agriculturist, because it gave him good land at a reasonable rate and on reasonable conditions — conditions which it was in his power to fulfil ; but he looked upon it also as a system which was highly conducive to the prosperity of the pastsrai interest. He had held that opinion for many years, and he held it still. He would give his reason- for thinking that it was most in accordance with the true interest*) of the pastoral as well as the agricultural class; and he would leave his hearers to judge whether that reason was valid. If the conditions as to improvements were carried out, the speculator would be debarred from coming into the country. If so, large portions of land, which would otherwise be absorbed by him, would not come into the market. There would be no necessity, therefore, for the Government to iutrude upon the runholder's licensed property, for the purpose of declaring more country into Hundreds. He held that to be an unanswerable argument. (Applau=e.) The system was justly devi-ed. as all legislation snould be, for the best interests of both classes who inhabit the country. It would be known that the Government had had their Unimproved Lands Bill rejected by the General Government ; and that they had therefore found it necessary to obey the instructions of the Provincial Council, arising fiom a suggestion of their own and increase the price of ru 1 al lands to L 2 au acre. He candidly confessed that when he forwarded the request to that elfect to the General Government, he did it with as much shame — and he must say, sa much indignation and painas he ever felt in the whole course of his life. He felt pained, and humiliated, and shamed, for this reason— that he felt he was doing an act which would deprive the poor man from settling in the countiy, and which would have the chilling effect of destroying the prosperity of the Province. It was all very well to talk of £2 an acre, with conditions of improvement, and a tax for the non-fulfilment of those conditions ; but he said that there were very few acres at present open which could bear such a price and -conditions, and return something remunerative for the outlay. Suppose the price raised to L 2, which he hoped itmight not be, every ace really worth that sum would be immediately taken up. When the immigrant we had invited came to our shores and asked for the ample quantities of land from which he had been told he could select, we should have to point him to the speculator, whose answer probably would be, " I bought for £2, and you may have it for £3." If the immigrant was not content with this, be must be content with inferior land. It would be Hobson's choice, and avery bad one indeed ! — (Laughter.) We had only about a million and a half of acres of good agricultural land, with about 2J millions of a secondary quality — K>r probably four millions capable of producing cereal crops or being put under grass. The value of this secondary land depended upon whether that of the first class was really occupied. He heard a good deal about " position value." But he said that the talk of " position value" was all nonseme, without population. DKpose of the million and a half acres of good land to a dozen or so capitalists, if you pleased ; but the secondary land would not, thereby, be improved in value one shadow of a bad farthing. — (Laughter.) It seemed to be a very p.ea«ant occupa- 1 tion with some gentlemen, on whose hands he supposed time hung heavily, to abuse the Government when they had nothing else to do. Personally, he rather liked it. (Laughter.) It generally showed that things were going on pretty welt — that a nnraber of men who wanted this, that, and the other, and who tried to domineer as much as possible, had not succeeded.— (Hear, hear.) For himself, he dee'ared that he would yield to no intimidation nor have any favoritism, cost what it might. If the attacked chose to vote against him on every possible occasion, they were very welcome to do it. He _ wanted only that support which was accompanied by confidence. This might be depended upon -that a goodish part of the oppositiou that had _ been shown to him had arisen with those — with many honorable exceptions — who had attempted to intimidate the Government, but had not succeeded.— (Applause.) When he resolved to stand again for thebupeiintendency he made a vo^v to make no promises. That might be considered very startling, by some ; who might ask, " Why did you make such a vow V If he made a promise, he should give something which he had no right to give, and no Swer to fulfil o He was a simple member of the xecutive— cf a responsible Government— and he would not pledge himsf If to a single -pet until that Government had had the opportunity of being consulted. The honorabla gentleman then proceeded to defend the - Government from the charge of having done nothing. He I'Uur'ed to the reduction ot the size of the sections of land// ?ecially in the North; and the laying out of twtwo townships each with a reserve of 2,000 acres. Nothing would have been eaaier than for him to have stood forward and, for an electioneering move, to talk of the hundreds of thousands of pounds spei.t on roads and bridges. But the Government y had done what they could, and they preferred any aspersions to the knowledge that they had in the slightest degree nllowed the Provippial estate to, suffer. They had. it was true, got on the wrong side of the ledger, but the revenue wasinavery healthystate ;and instead of being subject to all sorts of insinuations, tb« public ought rather to be grateful to the Govern-

ment-for having held tiie reins with a cautious yet skilful hand. He regarded the Province aa in a very prosperous condition. The iru ports for 1862 weie ,more than double those of 1861 ; the exports were double ; the Customs > evenue had increased by more than one-half j and the tonnage of vessels was doubled. But the loan of half a million would requite £40,C0J or £50, C00 for interest and sinking tund whu'h was a serious item to take from ihe £300,000 available ; and he thought that instead of encouraging guarantees and schemes for thN, thai,, and the other, the electors should sit down cautiously, and see that, by present expenditure, they did iiot entail upon posterity a debt which the country could not endure. Let them proceed with as much vigor as they liked ; but let them feel secure of every step before they took the next. His Honor concluded by again enforcing the importance of rcspon.-ible government.

Several questions were asked and answered, but most of them wpre unimportont. Mr Birch askel, '"Are you in favor of the subsidy for the Panama route V

Major Kiciiard-ox said that he wa<s a member of the committee of the General Assembly on the subject, aud voted in f.ivor of it. But in the meantime out came the Duke of Newcastle's le'ttr. Seeing that the claim of the Imperial Government, as made in that letter, was just, he was then for withholding the subsidy. Whatever effect it might have upon this election, he had no hesitation in saying, that his persuasion was so strong that L3),000 given for the Panama route would be injurious to the Province, that he should ba very glad to find that, if the controversy turned upon that point, he.w?.3 rejecfe I altogether. Mr James Hunter proposed a resolution declaring Major Riuhardson a lit and proper person to fill the office of Supeiintendent. Mr John Do'can seconded the motion. A teller was appointed, who deelait-d that 67 hands were held up for the motion, and 2 against it. The result was received with chee-s, and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the Clinirinan.