NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 233, 6 November 1873, Page 2

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES.

Thr nomination of candidates for the Provincial Council for the Electoral District of .Raglan took place on the 31st . October. The Returning Officer, W. Hnrsant, Esq., commenced the proceedings by iirst reading the warrant, and then calling upon tlio electors to nominaLc u proper person to represent them in ttie Provincial Council. Mr C. E. Savnge then rose and proposed Mr Thomas Wilson as a fit and proper person to represent the district, saying he had no doubt Mr Wilson would prove '' the rijiit man in the right place " if elected. MrT. B. Hill seconded the nomination. Mr William Powell next proposed Captain John Campbell Johnstone as a fit and proper person to represent the district of Raglan in tlie Provincial Council, remarking that Captain Johnstona was an old reaidentand fullj conversant with the i wants of the district, and having plenty of time at his disposal to devote to the duties of the office, he had no doubt if elected, Captain Johnstone would use his utmost endeavours to promote tho prosperitj and advancement of the Raglan district. Dr William Hamilton seconded the nomination of Captain Johnatone. No other candidates being proposed, Mr Wil.son addressed tho electors in a short' speech, in which he promised, if elected, to do his best for the district. Captain Johnstone then rose and gavo the following address : — Mr Returning Officer and gentlemen, — Returning a few days ago from Waipa, I was greatly aitonuhcd at the horrible state of the road, being, as some of you may bo aware, in particular places, almost impassable. I, however, wish to call your attention to the fact, that 20 yean ago there was a far better and shorter road from Raglan to Waipa than at present. The old road was made and kept in repair for the convenience of the solitary European gen* tlenian who then ruled in Raglan, and was far superior to the one we now possess after 20 years of gross misgovernmeat. After .descending the range into the valley below, I passed the lately discovered coalfields at Waitetuna, the coal from which has been pronounced by Dr Hector and the leading cool merchants in Auckland to be the best yet dU covered in New Zealand, But the way in which the Government have stifled that report, and tho declaration of Dr Pollen, the Colonial Secretary, that the coal was unfit for steam purposes, have tended for the present to delay its usefulness. Considering this conclusion unjust, I wrote to Major Jackson, the member for Raglan, and requested him to contradict Dr Pollen's misstatement ; but the gallant major, being either dumb, or surrounded by mesmeric influence, or bribed from any opposition to Government, has not yet attended to my request. These very coalfields which are destined at no very remote period to fill cur hnrbour with shipping from all parts, have been ignored by the Government, while at the same time it can spend money in building a tramway at the little port of Manawatu, ten times the length that would be required to connect the Raglan coalfields with, a branch of our harbour. That tramway, gentlemen, was obtained by the influence of the member who resides at Manawatu. Thoughts such as these have prompted mo to seek your suffrages in the hope that at thii, the eleventh hour, I may be of some little assistance to the Raglan district, and perhaps to the colony at large. However, to leave distant matters and turn to the great public question of the day — that of burrowing apparently unknown millions, — for at the last meeting of Parlinment it was disputed whether the colony xvta fourteen, lixteen, or scvetiteeen millions in debt, — I have done all in my power to prevent this frightful borrowing of money, by warning the lenders that they will in all probability lose their money. During the last three years I have corresponded with fire of the leading English newspapers, on New Zealand attain, viz , the London Times, Telegraph, Pall Mall Gazette, Spectator, and Manchester Alliance Netos, a. d with your permission, gentlemenJl will read an extract from the last letter I wrote on the subject. Alliance News, June 14, 1373, " Our politicians ore busily engaged in discussing whether it is political morality or political immorality to be perpetually borrowing money, and paying the interest by borrowing still more. Unlcsss the lenders have the luck of Mr Micawber, and 'something turns up some day or other,' they will ultimatelely haw a very definite idea on the subject." So infectious has this borrowing mania become that the cautious Superintendent of Auckland (T. B. Gillies, Esq.), at first so bitterly opposed to the mad and wicked schemes of Mr Yogel, now pwims with the stream ; for when he met the electors of City West on the 22nd October, lie said : — " As to borrowing money, when I had declared the province to be bankrupt, 1 will tell you why I hare acted as I have done. When I found the other provinces m quite as bankrupt a state as ourselves, endeavoring to fjojb to windward of us by borrow nig money, 1 was determined that we also would have a share, and if it must be bo, we would all go down to the Court together." This, eentlenien, is a true sample of New Zcsil.iud politii'ttl morality . If iv man foils in \vith thieves he muM t urn thief also. No prqdigal power ever rode the raoo to rum at tho present pace of New Zealand. Why, we have more SI hunters ami pol'tieianb to govern these two little islands, inhabitod by

about two hundred thousand inhabitant*, than the wholo of India with iti two hundred millions, or America with its f jrty millions. Beiidw .the Gonunmtnt docs not act wkh ordinary honcity.^w whtn>our?TO|Fßeighbbur, Mr Dougal, completed liii inwffiftjon ofr^he flax-drt»sing machine, and with the independfiw^of gcnju^efuljMi.totftlleottt • patent or to aik QoHsfttmml for thei r p|s|hrect^»ward, thin placingthe whole col©)s ufflm the de pejWtligatfans to him— when tho matter (jijj&brqgjnt to fc 10 fMfr cc °' Government, the reply receiveqlwM sole Mr D >ui(iftWad •Xo#eded the timo by saine^montljJMt)iisJgg|<!n coMpqu&icp offch.o war) and refused to recognise , the benefaction which Mr^)ongal liftd conferred upon the colony. Returning again to the question of borrowing, should tint reckless s\ stem continue, I can tee nothing but public disgrace, if not worse consequences to the colony. For any further attempt to levy taxes on the land, will only tend to hasten the departure of those who hnre still lefi the means to leare the country.'- And tttose who have not may reply in the words of* the Maoris at Turanaki, "Before you take the land you must take the men." Gentlemen, whether returned or not, I shall continue to the best ot my power to promote public econdmy/irf tjbe hope of suving the rising generation from the miserablo necessity of repudiating the debts contracted, not by thtir father» r but by needy adventurers, who will then hare fled to »pend their ill-gotten gain:) in Belgravin or May Fair. In conclusion, gentlemen, 1 beg to rouiark on the unfair opposition I have encountered from a Government employ*". I was informed! this mornin}» by one of my promised supporters that in consequence of representation! mode to him by Mr Bush, clerk to tho Magistrate's Conrt, Raglan, he should not TOte for me. Such exercise of influence by Government officers I need scarcely inform you is quite illegal. The ' Returning Officer then called for a show of hands; thr result being u majority for Mr Wilson. A poll wn.s demanded by Captain Jbhnstono, which will tuku place at R.iglun and Ilarapipi on the 14th Novomber.