Page 4 Advertisements Column 4

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 341, 25 January 1861, Page 4

_. , , 3;'*. :-_ l _ j HPO THE ELECTORS OF CO.LLINGWOOD. By an Act of the late General Assembly, the district extending from the West Coast to the Watershed of the Takaka Valley has been constiluted an Electoral District. . , I beg to announce my intention of soliciting your votes at the ensuing elections. A district so essentially mineral requires a representative conversant with your wants and habits. Forty years passed in the pursuit of mines and minerals, justifies my plea of a knowledge of the subject. The present position of political matters in NewZealand requires the grave consideration of matured judgment; it behoves you, therefore, to look well to whom you return as your representative in the new Assembly. The only profession I will make, is that I will serve you faithfully, and will never become *. place-hunter. W. LONG WRET. Nelson, November 28. 1410 rFO THE ELECTORS of the SUBURBAN -1- DISTRICTS of the PROVINCE OP NELSON. Gentlemen—At the request of a number of the electors of your district, 1 have the honor to offer myself as your representative in the next Parliament. 1 take this early op lortunity of addressing you, as I am compelled to br absent from Nelson during the whole of the present month. When the time of election draws nearer, I hope to have the pleasure of meeting the electors in the districts, and giving them the_ opportunity of ascertaining my views on the various questions in which they are interested. The two leading topics which pre-eminently occupied the attention of our representatives during the past session, were, what I may he allowed to designate as " the Native Question," and "the European Settlers' Question." The first of these has been so thoroughly discussed, that it is not likely to form a party cry for the future. Still, a brief expression of my opinion on this subject may assist you in determining whether or not 1 am likely to represent your feelings, should this question be again mooted. . By the Native Question, I mean, the investigations into the origin and causes of the present native disturbances, the steps the present Ministry have taken, and the policy to be adopted for the future. And here I may state at once that 1 agree entirely with the Ministerial party. I believe the origin of the present outbreak attributable to the weak and vacillating policy pursued towards the natives by previous Governments, and to the feelings of suspicion and distrust as to our dealings with them (especially regarding land), engendered and fostered in their minds I by men calling themselves Englishmen; of whom the Wellington party are the belted knights. The result has been the " King movement," and the " Landleague," which through the medium of W. King, has been the immediate cause of the war. I consider that the Government was right in grappling with this question at once, firmly, and energetically, and that the present war, however we may deplore its immediate consequences, is a just and an inevitable one; nor would I support any Government in concluding a peace, until the natives are convinced of the power of the British, and accept such terms as will prevent the possibility of similar disturbances. The conduct of the Opposition, I look upon as a most shameless and un-English attempt to create political capital. While on this subject, I may state, that I would have given my support to the Native Offenders' Bill. The native policy is now embodied in an ac(^ and a Nominee Council is to be appointed, whom the Ministry will consult on the management of Dative affairs. This is certainly experimental, but I believe it to be constitutional, and in accordance with the wishes of the Home Government. I now come to the second leading topic, the European Settlers' Question, by which I mean, the relations which ought to exist between the Generaland Provincial Governments of this Colony. This is a subject of the most vital importance to us all. ■"'" " " '■''.' The question has been initiated during the past session, but I am. much mistaken if it will not be the rallying cry of the next. And in this, as in some ocher things, I consider a middle course the best, steering clear of ultra-provincialism on the one hand, and too great centralism on the other; enabling the provinces to engage in all those works of utility and progress (which are so ably laid before you in the Nelson Examiner of December Ist) by securing to them tlie administration of their land revenue, and the power of making all strictly local ordinances; reserving to the General Parliament all general legislation, and the administration of all matters in which the general public are interested. ' The Wellington party present *o my mind the picture of Ultra-Provincialism; the Ministerial party, accused of it by some, do not appear to me to hare advanced as yet, too far1 in Centralism. • The Financial Scheme of 1856, of which the present Ministry were, and are, the supporters, is the Maglia Chartaof the Southern Provinces; no inbre suicidal act could be performed by them thar to elect representatives who would side with the opponents of that scheme. ' ' '; The New Provinces Act has been the standard round which the contending parties have rallied. The Act itself I condemn; the object for which it was made, I approve. That object, I hold to be, to give to every district, when sumciently advanced, the benefits of local self-government; of spending its own income, and making its own local regulations. ':': Many of you, I am aware, were opposed to the separation of the Wairau from the province of Nelson. Sowasl; but you and I regarded it from different points of view. You represented the province from which an important district was separating, taking with it its own revenue, and, sorry to lose the handling of that income, would have preferred to keep that district, doling out to it its yearlyallowance, and spending the rest for your more immediate1 benefit. I, one of the then members of the district, fully alive to the advantage of having the land revenue of thkt!distric't spent by itself, and on itself, was still unwilling to saddle the district with the cumbrous machinery of Provincial Institutions, believing that the same object might be achieved by giving to districts the entire management of purely local affairs, without allowing them to be overridden by the existing Provincial Governments. '"""■. . The repeal of the present Act, in order to substitute another of this nature, would receive my serious consideration. I have other objections to the Act, such as the power therein conferred oa the Governor in Council to create a New Province. This power should be in the hands of the General Parliament, who would dew cide upon this case on its own merits, after due: investigation. The number of electors required to sign the petitions is also, in my opinion, too small. . Having thus briefly given you some key to my opinions on the leading questions of the day, I place myself in your hands; and, should you dome the honor to elect meyourKepreseutatwe, shall endeavou* to discharge that duty conscientiously, both to you and the colony at large. I remain, • Gentlemen, /our obedient servant, JAMES BALFOUR WEMYSS. Nelson, December 3, iB6O. 1467 NOTXCS. - . ; ~ ~: : ...; TO SUBSCRIBERS AND A3>VKRTXS£R«. rpHE COLONIST, published every Tuesday-and X Friday morning, is regularly forwarded to England, Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide, Queensland, Tasmania, and circulated throughout Australia generally. 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