Page 16 Advertisements Column 1

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 6, 7 November 1890, Page 16

rpo THE ELECTORS OF DUNEDIN SUBURBS. GENTLEMEN,— I beg respectfully to intimate that I will be a CANDIDATE to represent your District in the next Parliament. I sball take an early opportunity of Addressing you at the various centres of population, and will then fully explain my Political Views on the prominent questions of the day. Meanwhile I would «sk you to refrain from pledging your votes. I am, Gentlemen, Yours faithfully, WILLIAM DAWSON.

TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF DUNEDIN. GENTLEMEN,— I beg to inform you that I am a Candidate for a seat in the ensnirjg Parliament aa one of the Members for this City. In seeking your suffrages for that important position I am conscious that I ask for a large msasure of confidence. I hope, however, in this address and by public speeches to afford such evidence of my political filnesß as will commend my candidature to your favourable consideration. THE INDUSTRIAL POSITION. of the wage-earning population will no doubt occupy a prominent place among the subjects for consideration in tbe next Parliament, Whilst I believe that the principles of Unionism are calculated to advance the employte's interests in respect of tbe conditions of his engagement, I am, nevertheless, convinced that any improvem nt thereby gained must necessarily be limited and partial, and that the only effectual means whereby labour as a whole can be permanently and materially benefited, consist in affording it easy opportunity and strone inducement to acquire independent occupation. It cannot be to the advantage of tbe State, the unionist, or the individual, that there should be amongst us a large irregularly employed class. The result of the recent strike has shown thd necessity of adopting Buch measures of LAND LEGISLATION as will tend to make its settlement so ea«y and attractive as to create a constant absorption, either aa employers or employees, of the hitherto excessive unemployed labour. It must not be overlooked that the volume of town busine s and the work there to be done is proportionate to the aggregate production of the country. Extende-2 agricultural, pastoral, and mining occupations — the only sources to whiob we can look for a genuine advance in prosperity — would confer benefits on all ; on the employer by enlarging the business sphere, on employes by twofold operadon of providing more work and reducing the number of compe.itors. With the view of futhuring what Iconceive to be the true interests of the people at large. I snould support any measure calculated to promote the above condition, particularly such as would prevent 'he po-sibihty of more Government land being accumulated [a private hands, and the gradual resumption by the State, under equi able conditions, of sucn porti/ns of that already s >ld as. in the public loterest, it may be found necessary ftom time to nme to acquire Closely allied with thie subject is the position of the large quantity of land that has pa<s-d into tbe hands of the banks m 1 Home companies, who under circumstances outside their own control, have been unwillingly compelled to become absolute owners, but whose tenure ought not, in my opinioD, to be allowed to be indefinitely prolonged. In my view it is distinctly detrimental to the common interest that large blockß of land should be witht-11 from profitable use for purposes of speculation, and t^e owners be adowed to appropriato all the advantages conterred by surrounding enterprise. The question as to how they cau be justly influenced in the direction of industrial occupation is necessarily a difficult one, but I am so convinced that it is to a well distributed land settlement that we must look for a sound economic condition, that I should support any equitable legislation tending to secure that end. With regard to TAXATION I am of opinion that the present state of our finances will not permit of our parting with the property tax. Neither a lind nor an income tax would, unless fixed 60 high as to be oppressive produce returns sufficient for our requirements. A progressive land tax would, unless the exemption line was fixed at a high limit, prove a grievous burden to the agricultural interest. Its aim appears to be more in tbe direction of " bursting up," as it is termed, than of raising revenue. I admit that it is manifestly desirable ti get large estates subdivided, but let us not attempt this in an indirect and unfair manner. Let ub approach this subject with due regard to the past legislation and circumstances which have brought the question into the position it now ia — and afford the parties interested time and opportunity to lealise, without enforcing the ruthless confiscation which an immediate progressive tax would imply. The EDUCATION QUESTION. is one that must inevitably form a prominent subject at every slection. The immense importance to the community of having the mind of youth disciplined and directed towards greater 6elf-cultare and the attainment of higher moral and intellectual levels is being daily more generally recognised. It is the duty of the State to provide means for tl c accomplishment of this, but firmly believing ttut great and marked progress is best attaiued by giving free play t-> the individuality of method, I would distribute aid to every echoo) public and private, which produced d fixed standard of efficiency, i