Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Southland Times, Issue 2244, 24 December 1875, Page 4

PVBI.I(! wOTICFS TO W. WOOD, ESQ. — We, the undersigned electors of the I w Mataura District hereby request you to allow yourself to be pluced in nomination for f its representation in the General AssemblyWe do so, knowing your views on the land question to be such as experience has proved sound, and in the firl belief that you will consistently advocate, as you have hitherto done, those measures most conducive to the welfare of the community with whose interests your own are inseparably connected, The circumstances of the colony appear to us to indicate the especial desirability of returning as our Member a local man fully alivo to the fact that he must share whatever of good or evil may result from any alteration of existing institutions. * Trusting to receive a favorable reply, and assuring you that we will use our best endeavora to secure your return, , We remain, yours respectfully, [Here follow 95 signatures. TO WILLIAM WOOD, ESQ. SIR, — We, the undersigned doctors of the Mataura District, judging from your views as to the settlement of the people on the land, and from your former political services both in the Assembly and Provincial Council, beiieve that you are well fitted to represent this district in the Assembly, respectfully request you to become a candidate at the next election, and we hereby pledge ourselves to use our best endeavors to secure your return. (Here follow 116 signatures.) REPLY, To Messrs George Dawson, Hugh Cameron, W. Bulfour, and the other 208 gentlemen whose names appear on the requisitions. /GENTLEMEN,— In acknowledging the re\J ceipt of your requisitions, asking mo to allow myself to be placed in nomination for the representation of the Mataura District in the General Assembly, I mve to tha<ak you for the honor you desire to confer on me in seeking to return me .as representative of so large and important a district. Believing the present to be a most important crisie in the affairs of New Zealand, having leisure, and some experience gained in the Assembly, I have much pleasure in acceding to your request. In reference to the great constitutional question now before the country, knowing as I do that the cry for Abolition was not raised by the people or in their interest, I should, if elected, feel it my duty at once to unite with those gentlemen who — though a minority during the late session of the Assembly — so nobly defended our rights and privileges, Being an advocate of purely representative Government, I am favorable to a change in the constitution of the upper branch of the Legislature by which it would become an elective instead of a nominated body. As I consider that agriculture will most conduce to the prosperity and progress of the colony, I should still be prepared to use every effort to prevent any monopoly in land.and to encourage bona fide settlement under the system of deferred payment. As you are aware, lam no new convert to these views, and my convictions have been very much strengthened by such experience as we have gained by recent occurrences. I will inks early opportunities of addressing the electors in various parts of the district, when I shall have much pleasure in explaining at greater length my views on the above and other subjects of public interest. I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant, WILLIAM WOOD. East, Road, November 15, 1875. TO GEORGE LUMSDEN, ESQ. SIR, — We, the undersigned electors of the Town of Invercargill, hereby request you to become a candidate for its representation in the General Assembly. We do so on the ground that your past services, extending over a period of twelve years, your untiring vigilance in the public interest, and your unswerving rectitude of purpose, eminently qualify you for the position. We desire to add further that your known views and action with reference to the administration of the waste lands, and the important constitutional question that will have to be dealt with by the New Parliament, appear to us ample justification of this request, and to assure you that, in the event of your compliance therewith, we will use our best endeavors to secure your return. (Here follow the signatures.) To Messrs F. Townshend, O. W. Hast, Henry Jaggers, Wm. Robertson, and the other 126 electors signing the requisition. GENTLEMEN,— At the present crisis in the political history of our colony and province, New Zealand " expects every man shall do his duty." To give the electors of this district the opportunity of expressing their mind at the polling booth on the great constitutional question of the day, I feel it to be mj duty to accede to your request. Changes in the political constitution of the colony, radically affecting the privileges lor.g possessed and successfully exercised — by this province, at least, as a self-governing state — were proposed by the present Colonial Government, backed by an expiring Assembly, to be thrust en the colodv in direct violation of the fundamental principle of representative government — fe., appeal to the voice of the people. It is for you to say whether you approve of such conduct, and of such changes, wbicli arc — thanks to the victorious minority — as yet in abeyance. The privileges existing in our system of Provincial local responsible Government — propoeed to be 6wept away — I look on a 8 the best safeguard against the encroachments of class legislation and bureaucratic power, and therefore demand of us our most strenuous efforts to retain them in their integrity as far as possible ; for it is becomjug already but too apparent that the result of having only one central legislative and executive authority for the whole colony, -situate at a great distance from many of the settlements, will prcye most unsatisfactory so far as the real j representation of the electorate is concerned, arising Irom the difficulty in getting citizens to accept the duties of representatives — involving most serious personal sacrifices except in the case of the select monied class, or the profes.-ional politician who is always " sitting on the rail." In giving the electors of this district the opportunity of expressing their will at the poll, I will only here further add that I regard Provincialism in Otago as having proved an undoubted success. I claim therefore for our Province its present autonomy. If that cannot be maintained, I should then prefer separation of the two Islands as two "eparate Provinces, far before a Centralism located at Wellington, The great question of the day, next to the Constitutional one, is that of the future administration of our waste lands. If our local authorities are divested of the control they have hitherto possessed in connection with the management of these lands, a serious loss will undoubtedly be sustained by this Province. But on that and other matters I will refrain from further touching till the day of nomination. Respectfully yours, GEOHGE LUMSDEN. i