Page 3 Advertisements Column 6

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2181, 31 December 1875, Page 3

Electoral

ready-roasted to run about the streets crying out ",Who'Jl. eat.mo?." Is Provincialism to be' abolished P Provincial* • ism, which in its day did its work —a great work! '** Many men have spent their lives" in working Provincialism out to its present issue. Many men have loved it, Jike our late Superintendent, not wisely, but,.too, well- .Arc the mystical letters . M.PjSC. to depart for "ever from our I Christian and surnames ? Are we still to ! be •. broken between the hammer of Pro- ! viucialism and tlie" anvil, of General | Government? I can sympathise.,fully j and cordially with those who have sought • to get-fast hold of what we' are offered ' before parting with what we have got. -' T say all honouj, jto those who bor,e the, burden and tfeat of the day in the*late' fight in Parliament^ but'institutionß, like all worldly things, must fade and vanish away.. The watchword of - civilisation is Advance !' What was-perfectly suited to the New Zealand of 1865 has become ancient and venerable, but useless in the New Zealand of 1875. A decade makes all the difference, even ia ourselves. .Probably the Press of the colony is as good an example of this change as anything could Be. In 1865 it usually took ten days for the reports of the proceedings in Parliament to reach Auckland for publication, To-day you have, tie report's in the'iriorning- papers up-to latest' hour possible .the previous night, and in: the afternoon you have it again hot aDd, hot in the .evening 'papers. In 1865 Charles Oliver Bond Davies was about to be Sentenced by the Chief Justice of the. colony for a political offence, although six; days before Governor Sir George Grey had at Wellington published an amnesty; which covered him from all proceedings. It-is the force and current of events' which is making Provincialism obsolete. ■ Provincialism was milk for babes: we: want meat for strong men, and I therefore go in, clearly, distinctly/ and decidedly, for Abolition, total and entire. ' ;-: • ■ ' * INSULAR SEPARATION. ,The Superintendents are very naughty little boys. They got licked in the Abo-: lition fight, and they declare at once that they will go and catch the measles and get 'em bad. Before the Thames opened in 1867 there was a political organisation in-Auckland' known "as the Northern Separation "and Reform League. It was a very noisy body ; held large meetings and passed resolutions just the same as you used to "do_ at the Thames at one time. .During 'its' existence- I knew a little of its secret councils, and I think I know'those who didn't support -it. It is strange but yet true,, that the men who lent this Insular Separation no assistance at that day are' the - men, whd are now boiling hot for it. I was,, as I say, ill the secret;.councils of the last moves, and I say* the thing is . bosh ; it can't be done,' and if it ( could ,be done what good would it be ? No good . whatever to us in the. North, .'*% nd I more than doubt the - advantage to those, in the."South. We may.dissolve partnership as North' and ' Southj^b'tit as against the public creditor, that dissolution will,not hold. If we have allowed the South to get hold of the greater part of the loan money, and to-retain the valuable asset of its land fund uncharged, the greater fools we. : I-think I see upon* the facer^jf, Mr Soutli what Artemus WarcLcalls^a ".sarcastical" smile as he hears^us-propounding to him just the game £h|t would suit'iSSs^boofc. I have an. affection t tot\a certain crush in Auckland, .but not aU>my fond idolatry, will induct mevto support this most patent piece of political humoug. I. will not, if I know it, bite off my ito^to ■be revenged on my face, and I" wilf: noi^s if I know it, support the Insular Separation Dodge., AS TO WHY I COME BEFORE , YOU. „, i* .Well gentlfcnaeglyQii have asked me to ootne. A good many" of us are no strangers to each other. I have beenjap.cn theJThames' smce the day that my' 6by 8 calico tentVas the first European habitation of what is now Shortland ancU Grahamstown. "When you had,no streets and no money to make .them I gave to the bank my name jointly and severally .with my co-trustees-, of J^: Ka^eringl 'and Waiotahi, Highway Boards to raise money -to^make-th«':streets.i"J never* left jour hospital from the hour I assisted, to" select the site until L obtained „from the province >a fair' endowment' for it. I supplied the ttlans of, and helped to carry out to completion, your 1 town' water supply, and I' drew*' vp 1} and passed through the Provincial Council the' resolutionSswhieh authorised t th« construction 'of the Thames' Water Hade.' . , "Dmbved in the Kauaerariga Highway Board,,,.in 1868,.'* the - resolution under which 'the first -application was -made to the Government to reserve the foreshore as an endowment for the Thames, and in 1873 I handed to the present Clerk of the Borough of Thames the writtenpromise of the Premier;. Mr Vogel, .that the Thames* should have the foreshore as an endowment. „. , In 187,31 delivered your fourth petition* for a Municipality from the limbo of the Attorney-General's office at Wellington/ and"the Gazette notice was at once issued for ike first step to be taken. I.hjfrre aided to be best'of my .ability in the 'opening of the Upper Thames and Ohinemuri to the digger and' the farmer, and -1 have not turned my back on my own share of the work of a colonist. ■ ' *- I will not make a house to house canvas?, even if there - were time. • I,>am opposed to subjecting the elector to personal solicitation. From my , youth upward until itbecamelaw in Victoria I advocated the ballot, and the ballot was intended to leave the voter „ flee to record his vote responsible alone to God and his" own conscience , for 'the discharga of his duty to his country. I do not fear the issue. If it be. your pleasure to send me back to the privacy from which I have come at your bidding —so be it. You will have-chosen to the best of your desires and judgment, and I shall'rest satisfied ; or should it be your pleasure to return me as one of your representatives in the new parliament, then I' will try to do my duty, without fear,'favour ,or affection, and to the best of my ability. I have the honor to be, ; .„,. Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant, CHAS. F. MITCHELL. TU S T RECEIVED, O TOWN AND COUNTRY JOURNAL, December 11 AUSTRALASIAN SKETCHER for December ' J. H. JjEEFEHSON, _'•,,„ . Pollen Bkeet, SHottUdd.