THE VACANT SUPERINTENDENCY OF NELSON PROVINCE.

Colonist, Volume VIII, Issue 769, 7 March 1865, Page 2

THE VACANT SUPERINTENDENCY OF NELSON PROVINCE.

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES

In the Provincial Hall, on Friday last, took place the Nomination of Candidates for the Office of Superintendent of this province. The hall was filled by electors, among whom were a considerable number from the country districts, and in the gallery we observed three or four ladies.

At noon, precisely, Mr. Sharp, the returning officer, read the Governor's writ, appointing the election, and then called on the electors to nominate candidates for the office.

Mr. E. W. Stafford then came forward, and was greeted with considerable applause. He said he had very great pleasure indeed, at the request of Mr. Barnicoat's committee, in proposing that gentleman as a fit and proper person to fill the important office of Superintendent of the province. But before doing so, he thought it would be improper did he not advert to the late melancholy event wheh had necessitated the proceedings of this day. He was not present in the province when the news of the drowning of the Superintendent readied Nelson; but from the painful effect it had on him when he first heard of it he could well understand the sensation and sorrow which it had awakened in the capital city of the province. Than he who had thus gone from amongst them, a more honorable man never existed; nor one more kindly in his nature, more good-hearted, or more conciliatory in the exercise of the duties of his office: nor one who had in private life more endeared himself to his fellow-settler 3. (Hear, hear.) Whatever differences of opinion there might be, —as in such cases there always would be —as to what Mr. Robinson did or did not, yet in all things that he engaged in he did what he felt it was right to do, and as this was universally felt by the people so was the public grief at his death while in the execution of hia public duty, all the more increased. (Hear, hear.) It now became hi 3 duty to nominate a gentleman to fill the office made vacant by this sad accident; and he could not but congratulate the electors that they had a choice of three candidates ,- and he thought it was a bold step and a praiseworthy step in those gentlemen coming forward to offer themselves for such an office. At no time was the office of Superintendent a bed of roses, but particularly was this so at the present time, when so many financial difficulties in the government of the colony present3d themselves. He would not say one word in disparagement of either of the two gentlemen who were opposed to the one whom he had to propose. One of them, like Mr. Barnicoat, was an old settler, had been long known to the electors, and had had much experience in the Council and business of the province. The other was not so long known to the settlers, and he believed that Mr. Oliver could not have had many friends, otherwise he thought he would not have come forward and offered himself to the electors. (A laugh.) For Mr. Barnicoat he (Mr. Stafford) entertained great respect, and was well satisfied that he would fill the office of Superintendent with credit to himself and for the good of the province. He had known Mr. Barnicoat, for fully twenty years, first as surveyor, and afterwards as the occupant of important public offices, as member of and then Speaker of the Provincial Council, and also as a useful member of the Waste Lands Board of the province. As a surveyor he had done his work in a manner which had never been disputed or cavilled at, (hear, hear,) which was by no means the case with the works of other surveyors who had followed him. Mr. Barnicoat had performed his public duties quietly but successfully ; and also as a private settler he was well known and respected, and during his long career he had not made a single personal enemy, but had done all he could to develope the resources of the colony. Having filled these numerous offices so well, he (Mr. Stafford) thought he had a right to expect that the highea and more important office he now aspired to Mr. Barnicoat would fill to' the satisfaction of the community. He would not delay longer, by extending his remarks, but begged to propose John Wallis Barnicoafc as a fit and proper person to be elected as Superintendent of the province. (Applause.) Mr. B. Jackson seconded the nomination. Like Mr. Stafford, he had known Mr. Barnicoat for more than twenty years, and a great part of that time he had spent in the country as a neighbor to Mr. Barnicoat, and he had always found that whatever he took in hand he carried out well. He had worked with Mr. Barnicoat in many vrays, and been a member along with him of various committees, and he always did what he could, and all for the benefit of the colony. He had every confidence in Mr. Barnicoat that he would if elected do what he could to forward the prosperity of the province. (Hear, hear, and applause.) Mr. Chakles Paekee, who was received with con-

siderable applause, and one or two slight hisses, said he rose to address the electors with some degree of pleasure, aud also of regret. The regret was that an occasion should have arisen through the deplorable death of our departed friend, for the election at this time of a Superintendent. He quite coincided with the remarks of Mr. Stafford on that sad event, and therefore it would be unnecessary for him to say more on the subject. The pleasure he experienced was in the fact of his proposing Mr. Alfred Saunders as a proper person to fill the vacant office. (Applause, and a hiss.) Mr. Saunders wa3 well known to all the electors of the province, and he came before them to-day as one who had done his duty to the public at large. He belonged to thnt party to which he had seen allusion made as the party who had for the past seven or eight years held power in the province, and had conducted its affairs. He (Mr. Parker) was one of that party, and he was proud to own it. (Applause.) It was that party which had, in spite of opposition, kept Nelson in the prosperous oondi'ion it now occupied. (Hear, hear.) Was that anything to be ashamed of? He should think not. Look at. the Province of Nelson, and compare it with the other provinces of New Zealand. It so happened that this was the only province in the colony which was acknowledged by capitalists in London to have maintained good credit, or which could hope to get a loan in the money market without first obtaining the guarantee of the General Government (hear, hear), and it was through the management of that party to which Mr. Saunder3 belonged that this state of things existed. (Applause.)

Here Mr. Robert Carter, from whom previous interruptions had proceeded, made some demonstrations in the body of the hall, and wa3 called to order by the Returning Officer, who said he would not permit the speakers to be interrupted. Mr. Parker continued : Nelson, he said, had gone on gradually; it had not made those great rushes, nor those rapid advances that had characterised other provinces in the colony, which were now far from, being in a prosperous condition. But if it had not made such advances, neither had it suffered the bankruptcies and loss of character which other provinces had suffered. (Hear, hear.) It had not to get up soup kitchens, where destitute people, reduced by bad management to little work and half-a-crown a day, had to obtain relief through charity. (Hear, hear.) Some great complaints had been made about the want of economy in the management of the Provincial Government. It was said by the other party that the affairs of the Government had not been made economical, that there had been careless expenditure, and that, making allowance for the increase of population, which had been considerable, the expenses of the Government had more than proportionally increased. Now, he knew that Mr. Saunders had always been against any increase in the expenses of Government, for it was that party which complained on the subject that had raised salaries, and there were offices, unnecessary offices, which the same party had created, but which were so created, not with Mr. Saunders' sanction, but against his expressed wish and honest convictions. (Applause.) If Mr. Saunders was elected to the high and honorable office of Superintendent, he (Mr. Parker) was convinced that he would do what he could to benefit the people at large, he would do what he could, safely and wisely, to develope the resources of the province ; he would do what he could, and would risk all that was safe and legitimate in aiding and advancing the interests and welfare of all. Mr. Saunders would not yield himself to any extravagant speculations, he would not go in for wild schemes such as railroads which were to cost a great deal of money and to go nowhere. (Applause, a hiss from the body of the hall, and " Order " from the Returning Officer.) Mr. Saundera would not consent to wasting the public money, but would do his best to expend it for the good of the entire province. He would not detain the electors with any further remarks j Mr. Saunders hirasepfi would shortly address them; and they would have evevy opportunity afforded them of obtaining a full knowledge of his sentiments and views. He would

content himself with formally proposing Mr. Saunders foPftho office of Superintendent. (Loud applause.) Mr. Donald M'Gregor, begged leave to Becond Mr. Parker's proposal, and to add that in common with many of his fellow settlers who had watched the career and conduct of Mr. Saunders, he shared the conviction that that gentleman had special claims to the suffrages of the electors of Nelson. He found on examining the conduct of politicians in this province, such as Mr. Stafford and others, that there was

remarkable evidence of an extreme retrograde movement having been at work. They would all remember in a building not very far from that hall, that at a public meeting Mr. Stafford in addressing a political speech to the settlers, professed extreme Liberal opinions, advocated universal suffrage, and the most of those points and principles which at home had been termed Chartism. He went quite far enough then to gain the popular ear ; but he had undergone great changes since. (Hear, hear ) After expressing these very Liberal opinions, Mr. Stafford first got himself elected as Superintendent, and that office he certainly administered with remarkable dignity of form, as people might remember. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He then proceeded to Auckland as member of the House of Representatives, and afterwards he was made a minister, and then he turned round from what he had formerly professed. Instead of the extreme universal suffrage he had spoken of, one of the first things he did was to throw obstacles in the way of a householder exercising the franchise. He advocated a measure which became law, and by which a householder could not have his name put on the electoral roll unless he first appeared before a magistrate, and signed his claim in his presence. This was most unjust, and so inconvenient to people residing at a distance from a magistrate, as in fact to be equivalent to depriving many men of the right to vote at all. (Hear, hear, and applause.) He (Mr. M'Gregor) had been prevented from voting in consequence of this measure. To Alfred Saunders were the people of the colony indebted for altering this, and obtaining the law by which all that was necessary for a man to do in making a claim to be registered was that his claim might be signed by another householder. This was one thing which Mr. Saunders had done early ; and another was that when the Nominated Superintendents Bill—a bill intended to disfranchise the electors (hear, hear) was brought before the House, every one of the members for Nelson Province, except Mr. Saunders, voted for that bill.

Mr. Webb : Does Mr. M'Gregor know what were the provisions of that measure ? The Returning Officer: Order, Mr. Webb. You will be heard by and by. Mr. M'Gregoe, in continuation: Had Mr. Saunders not voted this way, the votes would then have been equal, and if it had come to equal votes he knew very well that Dr. Monro, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, would have given his casting vote in favor of the measure [Voices : "How do you know?" "Who told you so?"—" Past experience! " " Hear, hear," and " Quite right. "] It was a natural conclusion to suppose that Dr. Monro would have so voted, for it was in keeping with the whole tenor of his conduct; and had this been so it would have been impossible for them to have met that day for the purpose of electing a superintendent. (Hear, hear, and applause.) Thus it was that we found men who at one time professed great liberalism, and a desire to support the rights of the people, doing their best to destroy and take away those rights. (Heai, hear.) There was no more ground for taking away the right to vote in the choice of a Superintendent, than there was for taking away the right to vote for a member of the House of Representatives. These were two political services we owed to Mr. Saunders, and there were others which were well known. (Applause.)

Mr. Webb was proceeding to put some questions to Mr. M'Gregor, which the latter came forward apparently to answer; but the Keturning Officer ruled that at the present stage, Mr. Webb was out of order in asking questions of Mr. M'Gregor, who therefore could not properly reply. Mr. Arthur R. Oliver, was the next speaker. He said that he believed he was consulting the best interests of the province by declining to enter into a contest, and therefore he announced his retirement. He thought it right on aspiring to such a high honor, on taking such a leap from private iuto the blaze of public life, to explain the circumstances which led to his being a candidate. He had received a letter from the town informing him that no other person was to come forward to contest the election with Mr. Saunders. He had no ill feeling to Mr. Saunders, and he felt sure that Mr. Saunders had no ill feeling towards him. (Hear, hear, from Mr. Saunders.) Since we had these institutions we must submit to elections (hear, hear, and a laugh), and it was the bounden duty of every man in a new country if called upon, by his fellow settlers, to come forward and aid in carrying on the free institutions under which he lived. These free institutions if not properly handled descend to the very worst of despotisms, the same as in the United States, where no one can say that freedom at present exists. (Hear, hear.) He had been called upon by a large number of his fellow settlers, and he felt that he could not refuse the invitation although it was a very unpleasant thing to be thus nolens volens, willy nilly, brought forward into public life. But now that their were two gentlemen as candidates, who had been longer known to the province, he would consider himself unworthy of his country if he did not throw himself aside, and allow of a fair contest between the two. (Hear, hear.) He must now say that having once come forward ; he should be ready to do so again if he could be of any service in any public office, and he would promise that he would fill any such position to the best of his ability and with great fidelity. (Applause.) [Mr. Oliver in some parts of his speech exhibited considerable emotion.] MR. BARNICOAT'S SPEECH.

Mr. Barnicoat, who was warmly applauded on coming on the platform, said that he should no further speak of the deplorable event which had cast a gloom over our province, and to which Mr. Stafford had alluded with so much feeling, beyond saying that no one could more deeply deplore it than himself. Mr. Stafford had told the meeting that he must be a bold man who would come forward as a candidate for the office of Superintendent at a time like the present when there were so many difficulties to meet. He (Mr. Barnicoat) admitted that he was a bold man who would offer himself in such circumstances ; but he must be a much bolder man who could refuse to come forward after having been solicited in the manner he had been. (Hear, hear.) To tell the truth, he had all along intended to come forward if asked to do so. He could not allege, as some had done, that his private affairs would offer any insuperable obstacle to his accepting the office. No doubt the occupation of his time in the management of public affairs would be productive of some little loss ; but there was no objection that could not be overcome. In fact, to tell the plain truth, the Superintendentship would suit him. (Applauseand laughter.) There was another question, and an important one, which the electors must decide, and that was, would he suit the Superintendent3hip ? (Hear, hear.) He thought that he had some right to aspire to the position ; he was one of the oldest settlers in the province, and had some hand in the establishment of the settlement itself; he had shared its vicissitudes, its depressions, and to some small extent he might say its prosperity. Nelson was his home; here had he long lived, and here he believed he should die. He had no wish, he could not have a wish, except what was for the benefit of the province, for all his interests and affections were bound up within it. They might doubtless wish that a man of great resources, of great power and mental might, should fill the high office of Superintendent. But such men were not to be had. who possessed these qualifications, had higher aims and objects, and a wider sphere in which to employ their talents. But if an honest man, with some knowledge and experience, offered himself, if such a man brought an honest mind to his work, he thought they would require to rest satisfied with such a man. So far as he (Mr. Barnicoat) was wanting in ability and fitness for the office —and he did feel that he was wanting in many things—he should, if elected, endeavor to supply these deficiencies by calling about him men in whom the people of the province at large had trust and confidence. (Hear, hear.) THE DUTIES OF A SUPERINTENDENT. The first duty of Superintendent was of course to do the will of the legislature of the province. But his duty did not stop there. He was called to initiate and devise measures for the good of the community. He does not-originate and devise such measures alone; he has also the aid of the Executive in doing this. The duties of the head of the Executive were notaltogether analogous to those which would fall to a similar office iv the old country. At home capital was abundant

and was always seeking for profitable investments 5 here there were plenty of investments waitingfor capital in order to prove profitable. It was the duty of the Superintendent to point out these investments, and endeavor to draw available capital towards them. He was not prepared to advocate a French system of government, one in which the people did nothing, but had everything done for them by & government which did not consult the wishes of the people. Nor on the other hand did he think that the English system was what had to be aimed at here; that was

a system under which, a merely negative policy was pursued, the policy of removing from industry difficulties whch had arisen in the course of years. Here, however, there were no difficulties in the way of industry, and therefore it was necessary to advance actual measures which would prove beneficial to the public. We had been told that a season of difficulty to the province was approaching. This had frequently been said before, and it had not proved to be altogether correct. Indeed, the difficulties seemed, as some poet had said, to be something like " The circle bounding earth aDd sky," that receded as we advanced. He had been in hopes that these difficulties had gone past, but if it were not so, he thought it was all the more necessary, by unity of purpose throughout the "province, to meet the difficulties that may arise. We should put aside all petty strifes and party spirit, and unite as one man to support and aid a strong government, and give our hearts and minds to the promotion of the general public good, instead of sacrificing them merely to the welfare or objects of a particular party. (Hear, hear.) ROAD MAKING —THE PROVINCIAL ESTATE —OUR •WASTE LANDS. We had a large estate. This estate should be brought to market; and it was the duty of the Superintendent to make the waste lands of the country marketable by constructing roads in the interior, and driving them through the country. Dray roads, horse roads, tracks, and even mere blazed lines were what was required, in order, if nothing more, to let the character of the country become known. The country that was some time ago held to be inaccessible, was by means of rof ds no longer held to be inaccessible. Large tracts of land formerly held to be worthless were now no longer so considered, for by means of roads they had first become known, then purchased, and now supported a considerable body of settlers ; and much more land of great value yet remained to be disposed of, and which would yet yield a large revenue to the province. Large powers were granted to the Superintendent irader the Waste Lands Act, and by a judicious working of these, public works of great value might be formed. SucK works could be advanced by means of the lands at our disposal, which could be offered in exchange for the execution of certain works that would benefit the province. Much had been done in this way, and very much more might yet be done. He did not see why a system of leasing should not yet be accepted by the General Assembly. A system of leasing waste lands had been devised by the late Superintendent, and passed by the Provincial Council, but rejected by the House of Assembly. There might be political objections to this system, but on the whole he thought the balance of advantage was on the side of leasing the lands. Under the plan now followed of selling land, a man must either denude himself of his capital to purchase the land, and thus leave himself very little or nothing to improve it, or he must take it under a license, when he is liable at any time to be turned out by any one determined to purchase ; and this took away the the desire to improve land which was so uncertain in its tenure. How much better it would be for a man with a little capital to take the land on lease under a purchasing clause, by which he would bo entitled to purchase at any time he choose, and under which he might go on improving with the knowledge that all lie expended on the land he would be benefited by. (Hear, hear.) What an advantage too this would bo to working men ; he meant the man who would work his own land, with the intention of remaining on it, in distinction from the mere laud speculator, who bought to hold land and re-sell it at a profit. OUR MINERAL RESOURCES. One great hope, however, would be in our minerals, in our coal (hear, hear,) and our gold-fields. Here he would advocate a large and liberal policy. He would not look for money or large revenue by way of rent, but would rather look for an indirect revenue by means of the increased population which the working of these minerals would secure. Ho had been much struck by an interesting report which had been prepared by Mr. Burnett, on some of the coal mines of New South Wales, and in which allusion is made to the great change which had come over towns in that colony in consequence of the working of these mines. He thought there was no reason why a similar change should not take place in Nelson, by the adoption of a line of policy similar to that pursued in New South Wales. (Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Barnicoat) had visited the Buller coal-field, and that on the Grey river, on the West Coast, and which of the two would be ultimately proved to be the best and most workable he could not at present say ; but if they elected him he should very soon place himself in a position to know which of the coal-fields would prove most profitable to the province. He could not bring himself to believe that the gold-fields of this province would nob ultimately prove a large source of profit to the country. The time he believed must come when the gold-digger would be content with heavy wages for heavy work ; but the digger did not seek for this at present; he sought rather for great nuggets, that he might get rich at once, and this was a desire that was shared in by most other people. One great evil in the working of the gold-fields of the Matakitaki and the Bnller, in the upper parts, was the want of provisions, and this he thought could be met by referring to another question —the opening of the interior of the province for settlement. In the interior at present there were no markets for the consumption of provisions that might be produced by settlers. On the other hand there were, as he had just stated, no provisions for the gold-digger in that quarter. Now he could not see why the one want should not meet and obviate the other, and both benefit thereby. (Hear, hear.) DISAPPOINTMENT CP PRESENT EXPECTATIONS. He (Mr. Barnicoat) came forward with the greater diffidence because he could see that whoever was elected was doomed to give great disappointment to the electors. He felt that he would be so doomed were he elected, and should the gentleman on his right (Mr. Saunders) be elected he too was doomed to give disappointment to the expectations of the people. There were, however, some lines which were written about a hundred and fifty years ago, which said: — " How few the ills which human kind endure, That courts, or kings, or laws, can cause or cure." ! And this he might read in this way, " How few the ills that human kind endure, that superintendents or councils can cause or cure." Governments were often more powerful for evil than for good. We had seen in other provinces that an unwise superintendent, witli a council to match, could do a vast amount of harm to a province. He was happy to say that this was not the case with the Province of Nelson. But they had seen the governments and councils of other provinces get up a fictitious prosperity and attract a great number of people to their shores, and bring about great misery, wretchedness, and want. He looked on such proceedings with detestation and horror, and could not too strongly condemn them. He must not be understood by this as condemning emigration, but only its excess. (Hear, hear.) CONCLUSION. Mr. Barnicoat concluded his address as follows :—Whatever may be the result of this election I should wish to express a hope that it will be conducted decorously, and in a spirit of fairness. For myself, my life is before you since I entered the colony, and you are at liberty to ransack it as you please. Ido not deprecate the use of your memories, bui I do deprecate the too fertile use of your imagination, your invention. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) I confess I had hoped we should have been able to have formed a Government which would have united all parties, and I have also entertained hopes, from the support I have received from men of varied opinions that I should be at the head of that Government. It is known to most of you, and I wish it to be known to all of you, that I shared largely in the confidence of the late Superintendent. He offered me the office of Provincial Secretary, which would have carried with it a seat in the Executive Council. One of the last acts of his life was to appoint me a member of a commission to examine as to the expediency of obtaining a Dry Dock or Patent Slip for Nelson; a commission which my duties as Acting Superintendent had obliged me to give up, and appoint another gentleman in my place. I shall be glad to reply to any questions which may be put to

me. lam afraid that my official duties will not allow of, my going down to meet the electors at the different outlying districts of the province, and therefore I am the more desirous that if I have failed to explain any point, you will ask me to do so now. (Applause.) I just remember thatlsaw a question in The Colonist of this morning, put by a correspondent, which I shall gladly answer, especially as the writer promises hie vote to the candidate who will answer it to his satisfaction. The question is whether, if elected, I shall consent to, or propose a measure to alter the education act so as to allow the education rate paid by Catholics to be paid over to the school at which Catholic children are educated. A provision of this kind already exists in the Education Act; but if that does not meet the wishes of the writer, I shall be glad to propose such a measure as shall do what is required, so as to preserve religious convictions from interference. I have answered the question, I don't know whether I have secured the vote ? (Laughter.) i Mr. Barnicoat, to whom no questions were put, re- ; sumed his seat amidst considerable applause. MB. SAUNDEKS' SPEECH. Mr. Saunders, who was very warmly received then rose, and said that he felt a melancholy satisfaction to observe the kind and sympathising manner in which Mr. Stafford and other speakers had made mention of the loss which this province had so lately sustained. It was hardly possible for any person, and especially for any old settler to stand before a meeting like the present without feeling deeply depressed with a vivid recollection of the unhappy circumstance which had rendered it necessary that the electors should be called together to-day. We have already mourned our great loss as the loss of a respected and valued personal friend, and we have deeply sympathised with his bereaved and weeping family. But it is on an occasion like the present that we aivj most forcibly reminded that the province has lost a true patriot, an honest and faithful servant, a prudent and able counsellor, and one whose noble nature alone had caused us to choose him again and again with such constantly increased majorities to the highest office in the gift of the electors of this province. On this platform we missed that venerable form, we missed that calm and clear voice, we missed that intelligent truth-speaking countenance, and we must miss that deliberate, guileless, and unanswerable statement of facts which had so often convinced us, notwithstanding all that we had been told to the contrary, that our public provincial interests were being judiciously and honestly watched over. He will not soon be forgotten by any of the settlers, and some of the great moral lessons taught by his remarkable life will no doubt be handed down to our children's children, and fill some interesting and highly instructive page in the early history of this province. (Applause.) The very able speech of Mr. Barnicoat had taken him (Mr. Saunders) so much by surprise, that judging from it alone he should feel as if he had no right to be there, to oppose a gentleman who entertained such opinions; and that he ought to retire from the contest. But on the other hand, so different were the opinions now expressed by Mr. Barnicoat, from those which had been hitherto expressed in his votes and public conduct that he could not regard the speech as a full expression of the real opinions entertained by Mr. Barnicoat, and the party which had brought him forward. Almost with everything he had said in the long introduction he (Mr. Saunders) agreed, and he particularly agreed with that part of it in which he expressed a hope that we should hear and see less of that party spirit, which had been the bane of the province. (Hear, hear.) He hoped that the election would be conducted with the most perfect good temper on both sides by the candidates and by their supporters ; they might surely differ in their political opinions or in their choice of men, without allowing such differences to interfere, or for a moment to suspend the most friendly personal relations with each other. (Applause.) He would not trouble the meeting with another long introduction, but would endeavor at once to give them as clear a statement as he possibly could of the views which he entertained upon the most prominent and important public questions ; and he should do this more fully than what might be called good policy, or electioneering tactics would dictate; for he knew that many votes might be secured by stating one's own views in such a vague and general manner as to lead persons of opposite opinions to believe that one agreed with them both. (Hear, hear.) His object was not that they should elect Mm, but jthat the electors should have'an opportunity of expressing by this election their approbation of those political views which he had long maintained and advocated, and which he believed to be those of a large majority of the electors of this province. (Applause.) THE "WASTE LANDS OP THE PROVINCE. Perhaps, the most important question connected with the province was that of the administration of the waste lands, although it was one which was daily growing of less importance, becaase the cream of the land was gone, having been wastefully sold at a price far beneath their value, and in blocks so large that they were placed in the hands of a few settlers without having afforded that encouragement to settlement which should have been a primary object in the disposal of those lands. He thought the very best plan was that of selling the lands in small blocks to actual residents on deferred payments ; a plan which had been ao perseveringly brought forward by the late S iperintendent in so many different ways, but in which he had been always thwarted, first by the Provincial Council, and afterwards by the General Assembly. The most reasonable objection which had been brought against that plan was the difficulty there might be in compelling a very large number of settlers to meet their engagements, if they did not choose to do so. Bu* it was an objection which he had never thought to be of any great weight. If this were found impracticable, the next best plan would be, he thought, to give to every actual resident a certain quantity of land on condition that he should occupy and improve it, or at least remain a certain time in the province. This would Jhave fixed in the place a large population, and given each individual a personal interest in our general progress and prosperity. (Hear, hear.) It was melancholy in travelling through our best dist'-icts, such as that large tract owned by Mr. Wm. Robinson, in the Amuri, and by Messrs. Clifford and Weld, in the Wairau, to see such splenetic! tracts of land that might have supported thousands of families in comfort, and given an incalculable impetus to Ihe wealth and prosperity and importance of the colony, passed into the hands of two large land speculators. (Hear, hear.) If neither of these land systems could be carried out, then a plan that certainly was practicable would be to sell theland in small blocks at a very high fixed priceHe differed from the late Superintendent in this view, but he believed the experience his lamented friend had had of the very bad working of the low-priced system had greatly modified his views in this respect. It was found that a fixed price as high as £2 per acre had been adopted in Canterbury and had worked well there. Of course it must always be remembered that Canterbury was situated very differently from Nelson with respect to the equal quality of its land, ' especially in comparing the land in the neighborhood of Christchurch with that near to Nelson. But the operation of a high fixed price in that province was such that good land could still be obtained first hand from the Government, by any person who desired to settle in that province. As some justification of the bad system of disposing of our waste lands in practice in Nelson, there was the New Provinces Act of 1858, introduced by Mr. Stafford, and passed by the General Assembly. This Act gave permission to a few persons, who might settle in a new district to claim separation from the parent province, and thus the act really became as regarded the province itself as injurious to our estate as a short uncertan lease, which had always operated against the improvement of a private landed estate. Indeed it offered inducements to provinces to waste the public estate by forcing it into the market at too low a price, rather than allow it to be taken away from them by the operation of that act. (Hear, hear.) Every Superintendent, every colonial ministry, and in short, every public officer was desirous of getting money to pass through his hands, and was too often indifferent as to how that money was obtained, whether by borrowing or by wasting the estate in their charge. (Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Saunders) thought the very worst system of land sales he had ever heard of was that proposed in the Provincial Council in 1857, by Dr. Monro, and supported by Mr. Barnicoat. This system amounted to little more or less than giving to any capitalist who either had or could borrow money as much land as he pleased to take, almost without any payment at all, except such as was to be immediately returned to his land. A series of resolutions was proposed by Dr. Monro, and amended by Mr. Barnicoat, was to this effect j and as Mr. Barni-

coat wished them not to draw on the imagination, he would read from the Blue J3ook the substance, of the resolutions. These gentlemen supported this pro-

posal .-— " That after a deduction has been made for the annual payment towards the liquidation of the New Zealand Company's debt, the cost of the land and survey departments, including that of exploration, and with a proportion of the expenses of the ordinary Government of the province, and with a contribution towards the introduction of immigrants, the balance should be expended in the district within which the money has accrued, and that nothing can be more unjust, or more opposed to the spirit of local self government, than to take the proceeds of land sold in one district of the province, and apply them to the construction of roads and other public works in another, from which the inhabitants receive no benefit." Now he found in the Amuri districts there were twenty-four individuals or firms who had purchased 448,637 acres, Borne of them having purchased about 100,000 acres each, —at a price ranging from 6s. to 10s. per acre, for land honestly worth from £2 to £5 per acre. This money, by Dr. Monro's and Mr. Barnicoat's propositions, would nearly all have been returned to these gentlemerj to make roads and other improvements on their own estates, leaving the poorer inhabitants of this province to make in the best way they could the one hundred and twenty miles of road leading from the city of Nelson to that district, as well as other roads passing thiougli districts where there was little or no land to be sold. (Hear, hear.) A more imjust, audacious, and impolitic pi oposition than these resolutions embodied, he had never before witnessed. (Applause.) EMIGRATION. This subject was perhaps of not much importance at present, as there was not likely to be much money that could be expended in that way, but the subject was one on which the electors always expected to hear the opinions of any candidate for the Superintendency. The early history of this province had given us a very severe lesson on this subject. Few persons who had witnessed the misery and distress inflicted upon individuals, and the injury done to the province by the rash manner in which the New Zealand Company poured immigrants into this settlement would not feel anxiou9 to avoid any similar mistakes in that direction. Pevhaps our late Superintendent was rather over cautious in this respect; but if he erred at all he erred on the right side (applause). The wholesale system of introducing immigrants which had been adopted in Auckland, Wellington, I and Otago had been productive of much evil and had led those who supported the inconsiderate measures, to resort, in at least one province, to the cruel and arbitrary alternative of passing acts to prevent them from leaving the province. It was not the number we could thrust into the province, but the number to whom we could offer such inducements as would lead them to stay here that would really add to the population and progress of the province, and he thought their permanent residence here would be best secured by offering them every facility to become possessors of land. (Applause.) OUR GOLD-WELDS. With regard to our gold-fields of course everyone must agree with the very general remarks make by Mr. Barnicoat on the subject. But he (Mr. Saunders) thought there had been a very general desire on the part of that party with whom Mr. Barnicoat had acted, and was identified, to spend large sums of money on roads in districts where they were likely to be of no permanent benefit. Where gold-diggings were likely to be of a permanent character, or where they were in the neighborhood of good agricultural land, a large expenditure on roads might be safely incurred, and in that case it would be the peculiar duty of the Superintendent to lay out the land in small blocks, and reserve it at sucli a high fixed price as would be likely to withhold it from the hands of speculators, and place it in the hands of agriculturists who would produce the necessaries of life for the use of the diggers, and be able to " keep the pot boiling," as the phrase was, by employing their spare time in doing a little gold-digging on their own account. (Applause.) COAL. It had always been his opinion that coal was a tiling which would add more to the real prosperity of this province than any other mineral. (Hear, hear.) He had always opposed any restriction whatever, either in the shape of royalty ov high rent for ground actually worked or in preparation for immediate working. He did not care to obtain direct revenue from such sources, for he agreed with Mr. Barnicoat that the indirect benefits that must result from the extensive working of the coal would be a far greater boon to the Government and the province than any revenue derived from any impediment offered in the shape of charges upon that working. (Applause.) He hoped that the united efforts of the capitalists.of this province would be directed to the development of this great source of wealth and prosperity. It was no party question, and never ought to be made one, for all men were alike interested in bringing it to a successful issue. (Applause.) THE GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE. Something had been said on the subject of a reduction on the expenditure in the departments of the Provincial Government. Mr. Barnicoat himself had too much good sense and too much experience as a public man, to make any great promises under this head, and be (Mr. Saunders) should only show rashness and folly if, with his present ignorance of the state ond requirements of the Provincial Government offices, he were to pretend to point out where any great reduction should be made. The best guarantee the electors could have on that point was his past conduct. They would see by his votes that if he had not been able to effect any great reductions, he had almost uniformly opposed the increase which had been made from time to time in the various departments. (Hear, hear.) EDUCATION. He was not aware that there was much difference of opinion between himself and Mr. Barnicoat on this subject. They had worked together to pass and improve the existing Education Act, and he believed that they both looked on the general education of the people as a subject of the utmost importance. He looked upon it as being really of more importance than roads or public works, and as long as there was a penny in the exchequer he should vote that penny to be expended in education, if the proper instruction of the children could not be otherwise secured. But although he had supported the Education Act as a whole, yet he thought there was need to make some further amendments. His late experience had made him strongly question whether we had not gone a little too far in taking the question of education too much out of the hand?^ of parents, and placing it in those of the Government. The result appeared to be soporific in some respects, and it was well known that it did produce a soporific effect, the getting of a regular salary from Government, without much regard to the manner in which the duties of the office were performed. (Hear, hear.) He had from the first advocated the abolition of a paid inspector, and the appointment, instead, of local unpaid inspectors, who would, he thought, be more likely to give such frequent inspection and attention to the schools as would stimulate the energies of the master and arouse the attention of the parents to watch over the interests of their own children. (Applause.) Like Mr. Barnicoat he had observed a letter in The Colonist that morning, by a Catholic, on the subject of the education tax. The latter proposal in that letter— that the amount of tax paid for children attending any denominational school should be returned to that school —he thought might be carried out. He thought there was a very honest attempt to meet the wishes of the Catholics by a provision which now stands clause No. 38 in the present Education Act. The clause provided that wherever fifty ratepayers formed themselves into a committee and complied with certain requh'ements, they could get the money they had paid applied to the support of any school they might establish. But he now saw, more than he saw at the time the clause was passed, that it did not protect a small minority, and be considered that the conscientious convictions of five individuals had as much right to be respected as those of fifty. (Hear, hear.) He thought that the | objection might be amended by giving a right to any individual who paid the rate to have the sum paid by him applied in aid of any school to which he sent his children, or which he might wish to support. (Applause.) PROBABLE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL. Whoever should be elected Superintendent, in addition to all other disadvantages, must labor under the disadvantage of having to meet the Council at a very short notice, and without sufficient time to prepare measures to be laid before the Council. But he did not think it would be wise to attempt much legis-

lation in the last session of the present Council. Hasty and ill-considered legislation was always inadvisable, and a newly elected Council might always be considered as better representing the present views of the constituency than one that had arrived at the last stage of its existence. There was one measure which was particularly suitable for the last session of a Council, and that was the re-adjustment of the representation, and this he hoped would be effected without increasing the total number of the Council which he thought was already sufficiently large and expensive for so small a province. (Hear, hear.) THE SCAB ACT. The Scab Act must be amended ; it was always a clumsy act, and being brought in by a private member it perhaps did not receive that amount of attention which it might otherwise have done had it been a Government measure. It was originally brought in with the intention of applying to the Amuri, and was not at first meant to apply to the province at large. There had been an inspector appointed who had considerable experience in the working of the Act, and in its defieiences, and he would be able to give many useful hints which could lead to its amendment. LICENSING- PUBLIC HOUSES. One of the measures which it was proposed in last Council should be brought before the next session was an act to regulate the licensing of public houses. It was the expressed feeling of the Council that no house should be kept open to a later hour than eleven o'clock, for the ordinary business of the house. His own opinion was that some check should be put on the indiscriminate increase of those houses. A license ought not to be a thing of no value, a thing that every one could obtain, but should be of sufficient value to make the holder careful that he did not lose it by any misconduct. At present the law really had a very slight hold upon those who sold intoxicating drinks. In too many cases they were the mere representatives or employees of a brewer, who was practically the holder of the license, and who would lose little or nothing by the license being removed by the magistrate from one maxi, and placed by him in the hands of another. The present state of the licensing system was not satisfactory either to the publican or to the public, and under it we could not expect that the license would be generally applied for by men of such character and responsibility as alone ought to be trusted with such a very important and dangerous element in any community. HACKNEY CARRIAGES. It was also recommended at the last sitting of the Provincial Council, that a bill should be prepared to license, superintend, and inspect vehicles carrying passengers for hire, and he thought it very desirable that something should be done in that direction, although the vast improvement that had lately taken place in the condition and management of our public conveyances, rendered any immediate Government interference far less imperative than it was at the time the Council expressed its opinion upon the subject. DISSOLVING- THE COUNCIL. Whoever was Superintendent ought to recommend the Governor to dissolve the Provincial Council very soon after the termination of its next sitting, so that the election of a new Superintendent and Council might be brought to a close without encroaching upon the busy months of harvest, because if the Council was not dissolved before the legal term of its existence had expired, these very important elections would take place in the busiest harvest months, in which case the country electors would probably be very imperfectly represented. THE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS. Short as we are, and are likely to be of money, and unnecessarily large as the sum was which had been expended upon the buildings in which they were now met, he feared it would be necessary to expend a further considerable sum to make them water-tight, or the buildings would soon be rotted to the ground. EXPENDITUBE. —RAILWAYS. On the subject of borrowing money his opinions "were too well known to render it at all necessary that he Bhould say much upon the subject. His name would be found as having stood alone in voting against the largest debt incurred by this province— £29,000 borrowed under the Debenture Bill—and he had never regretted the vote that he gave upon that occasion. Whilst we were selling and expending our landed estate, it was surely wrong to borrow money at high rates of interest to be repaid when we should have little or no land revenue to fall back on. (Hear, hear.) It never appeared to him either wise or fair to obtain a large and often wastefully spent revenue for the present by laying heavy burdens on those who may succeed us. Let us pay our way as we go, and don't let us do as the General Assembly, and some of our neighboring provinces have done, forestall our regular revenue, and lose all chance of steady and legitimate progress by having to pay our daily supplies away for interest of money, bringing heavy burdens of taxation upon ourselves and upon our children. The position of Southland and other heavily borrowing provinces was by no means an enviable one, and would no doubt act as some warning in future. Southland, however, had large tracts of unsold and available land, that would probably enable her to recover, but where would Nelson have been if we had been so foolish as to borrow £300,000 or £500,000 fov the purpose of constructing a railway to the Western Ranges, without having any large country to settle or that would be made valuable by it, or any quantity of produce or any other commodity to carry upon it. He thought no one with their eyes open could now fail to see how hopeless would have been the position of thi3 province if they had been mad enough to incur an overwhelming debt to construct a railway to no one knew where, to carry no oue knew what. (Loud applause, and cries of Hear, hear.) He did not wish to be understood to say a word against railways. Wherever the traffic likely to come upon them would warrant the expenee of their construction they were the best and moat economical description of road, aud he should be very happy to support any scheme for their construction which was really rational, sensible, and business-like. (Loud applause.) CONCLUSION Mr. Saunders concluded his speech as follows :— Gentlemen, I think I have now said all that is necessary upon some important subjects to make you sufficiently acquainted with the opinions I entertain with reference to them. If I have omitted anything of importance or failed to make myself understood, I hope you will call upon me for further explanation, as I feel it to be of the utmost consequence that you should be thoroughly informed of the opinions of any candidate before you elect him to such an office. Had I consulted my own feelings or my own private interest, I should not have been a candidate to-day, and had any gentleman come forward who, I had reason to believe, was not a party man, and in whom the electors as a whole body could safely place confidence, I should have been only too happy to retire in his favor. Should my views of public provincial questions be so far in accordance with those entertained by the majority of my fellow-settlers as to induce them to elect me, I may say that I will not be the Superintendent of any part of the province, but of the whole province, and shall always consider that the most remote corner within our provincial boundary has just as good a right to be fairly and considerately dealt with as the City of Nelson itself. (Applause.) I will not be the Superintendent of any class; no man, whether rich or poor, will be regarded as having any superior or inferior claims upon me on account of his condition in life. (Applause.) , And I will not be the Superintendent of any party; ' my fellow-settlers well know that I have done my best to oppose and resist a combined and highly injurious party action which, unhappily, has long existed in this province, and happy indeed should I be to see the day when all will join together and work for the general good,—when class and party feeling and action shall be for ever abolished, and when both men and measures shall be supported or rejected upon their individual merits or demerits. (Loud and long continued applause.) QUESTIONS ASKED. Mr. Webb (who was received with considerable laughter, ironical cheers, and cries of " stand up," " shut up,") said that Mr. Saunders had spoken about the expenditure, but had the Government of which he was the acknowledged head, although not the official head, (hear, hear, and laughter) reduced the expenditure one sixpence ? Instead of that the ( expenditure had gone on steadily increasing, and the salaries had been increased also. (Hear, hear.) He had heard indeed that the late Government did reduce the salary of one of the signalmen by sixpence per day, but they were obliged to put it on again. (Laughter.) Mr. Saundees : The first act of the late Superintendent was to abolish the expensive office of Emi-

gration Agent in London, by which a large sum was saved annually, and to combine tho office of Provincial Secretary with that of Commissioner of Crown Lands, as the work was even too small for one man, and thus a further expenditure was saved. (Hear, hear.) The increases in the salaries which had taken place had been made in spite of the Government, and in spite of the votes which I gave against them. Mr. Webb is quite right in saying that the expenditure of the Provincial Government had increased annually, and that salaries had been too frequently raised, but this was done by the Provincial Council, and in opposition to the wishes and recommendation of the Government. It was done by the efforts of that very party whom Mr. Webb now supports. (Loud applause, frequently repeated.) Mr. Haekness, whose first observations it wa3 somewhat difficult to catch, said that in the session before last, as would be seen by the Blue Books, Mr. Saunders advocated the increase of two salaries, those of the Provincial Engineer, and of the Superintendent ; so that he was wrong in saying he had voted against salaries. Mr. Saunders had thrown out a great deal of abuse on the Waste Land Board, he would ask him did he not

Mr. Satjnders : Perhaps I had better answer the questions one by one. Mr. Harknesa is partly right and partly wrong, as usual. (Laughter.) I did not support the increase of the salary of the Provincial Engineer, but when that salary was raised I thought that the salary of the Superintendent, the chief of the province, should be larger than that of any on© of his subordinate officers, (hear, hear,) and I pointed out to the Council, when they proposed to raise the salary of the Provincial Engineer, that the increase of that of the Superintendent must follow as a natural consequence, and when that was done, I felt it to be my duty, much against my inclination, to rote for the increase of the Superintendent's salary. That Mr. Harkness may save himself another question on this subject, I may mention here that on one occasion, when, during the Superintendency of Mr. Stafford, the salaries of all the other officials were raised a certain rate, except that of the gaoler, I proposed that he should participate equally with the others in the advance. Except these instances I defy anyone to show that at my suggestion a single salary has been raised. (Applause.) Mr. Harkness : Mr. Saunders spoke of the Waste Lands. Now he has a run in the Amuri which he bought years ago, and he has sold that the other day at £6000.

Mr. Sattndebs : Even although that were true it would only corroborate what I said, that the land was undervalued. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. Kelling- said that Mr. Saunders had stated that Mr. Barnicoat was a party man. Now Mr. Barnicoat had been in the chair of the Council for several years, and a party man could not likely be so long in such an honorable position, (hear, hear,) but he would ask Mr. Saunders whether he did not think that he (Mr. Saunders) was not a greater party man than Mr. Barnicoat.

Me. Sattndebs : I dare say our views on that subject depend very much on whether a man belongs to our party or to any other party. (Laughter.) Mr. Barnicoat undoubtedly belongs to that party which Mr. Kelling would call our party. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) And it was necessary that endeavours should be made to break up that party, which was a compact, powerful, and tyrranous party, a party which had inflicted great injury upon the settlement, (hear, hear,) and which, but for the election of the late Superintendent, which offered a serious check to their power, would, to this day, have been riding rough shod over the inhabitants of this province. (Loud applause.)

Mr. Webb again addressed the meeting, the purport of his remarks were, that there were too manyofficials connected with Government, and that some of them were uselessly employed. He thought there should not be so many officers j reduce these in number, and let the others be properly paid; he did not object to that. But the money obtained by the Government had all gone in salaries. There were no permanent worts of any description. The bridges were poor things, made of the most perishable material that could be found. Again, look at the progress of our agriculture. Instead of making real progress and the settlers putting manure on their land, they were exhausting it, and at the present time we had to depend on Mr. Saunders for our daily bread. (Eoars of Laughter and Cheers.) The great object of colonisation was that a new colony should provide homes for the people, and grow supplies of food for them. We had failed in the duty we owed to the colony, for we had not provided supplies of food ; and if Mr. Saunders had not fortunately provided us with a cargo of wheat grown in the province to supply us we should at the present time have been all starving for want of bread to eat. (Great laughter, and cries of "We had better vote for him then.") It was a shame and disgrace to the province that we should be obliged to depend on others for the food which we should grow ourselves. He then censured the Council and the Provincial Government for creating the salaried offices of Auditor and Provincial Treasurer, both of which he main' tamed could be filled for nothing, by making the Bank our Treasurer. The great evil was that the people did not put proper men in the Council. (Loud laughter.)

Mr. Satjndees : The Act appointing Provincial Auditors was the Act of the General Assembly, and not of the Council; and if you refer to the votes of the Assembly, I believe you will find that I was the only Nelson member of Assembly who voted against it. (Loud applause.)

Mr. Baknicoat again rose and said he wished to read fairly from the Blue Book the resolutions which. Mr. Saunders had read in a very garbled manner. The resolution as proposed by Dr. Monro stood thus :—

" That the proceeds of land sold within this province are justly chargeable with a proportion of the expenses of the ordinary Government of the province, and with a contribution towards the introduction of immigrants."

There was an amendment proposed by Mr. Saunders, which would have made the resolution read as follows : —

" That the proceeds of land sold within the province are justly chargeable with a proportion of the expenses of ordinary Government of the province, and with any expenditure that it may be deemed desirable to incur for the introduction of immigration."

That amendment was negatived, and he (Mr. Barnicoat) then proposed an amendment, which was agreed to, and which made the resolution read thus :—

" That the proceeds of any land sold within thi9 province are justly chargeable with the annual payment towards the liquidation of the New Zealand Company's debt, the cost of the Land and Survey Departments, including that of exploration, with a proportion of the expenses of the ordinary Government of the province, and with a contribution towards the introduction of immigrants."

He (Mr. Barnicoat) thus proposed that far greater deductions should be made from the price of the land to be expended in the districts, than Mr. Saunders himself had done. (Loud applause.) Mr. Saundera' amendment did not go nearly so far as his had done. (Applause.) Mr. Sattntdebs said that Mr. Barnicoat had read only the first of a long series of resolutions, and one which had little or nothing to do with the main question, about which he had been speaking. He (Mr. Saunders) had read the most important resolution, which embodied the main question, with such additions from the other resolutions, including Mr. Barnicoat's amendment, as gave the meeting a correct idea of the whole. He objected to the whole thing and had voted against it, while Mr. Barnicoat voted in its favor. At the time the resolutions were introduced, Mr. Barnicoat, who was seated beside him, asked him whether ho would not amend the motion, and he had replied that he did not care to do so, as he should vote against it; but he had pointed out to the Council the gross omissioas in Dr. Monro's resolutions, some of which omissions Mr. Barnicoat saw to be so palpable that he supplied them in the amendment he had just read. (Applause.) A show of hands was then taken for the two candidates, and the Returning Officer declared it to be in favor of Mr. Barnicoat, the numbers being 70 for him and 56 for Mr. Saunders. This result was hailed by Mr. Barnicoat's supporters with repeated rounds of applause.

Mr. Sixths demanded a poll on behalf of Mr. Saunders.

The meeting then broke up. As the assemblage dispersed, Mr. Webb was seen executing a pas seul on the front of the platform, waving his hat, and calling for three cheers for Mr. Oliver for his disinterested conduct in retiring from theconteßt.