The Superintendency Election.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume II, Issue 123, 5 November 1873, Page 4

The Superintendency Election.

Electors of the Province of ( Auckland. GENTLEMEN, —It appears to me that it has now become desirable that the control of Auckland Provincial affairs should be transferred to the hands of others than those by whom the Province has been governed in the past. With splendid resources in land, coal, gold, iron, and other minerals—with a climate unsurpassed by any in the world, and with a sturdy and industrious population of 60,000 to 70,000 people, who pay some £300,000 per annum in taxes, in one shape or another, for purposes of good government, public works, &0., it is saddening to find that we, as a Province, are not only making little or no advance towards permanent prosperity, but that at many points wo

are actually retrograding, I attribute this state of things to misgovernment, the ill judged expenditure of public money, and extravagance in the past, which have entailed upon the community grievous burdens in the form of public debts, for which interest and sinking funds have now to be provided by oppressive tariff duties and other forms of taxation. So far has this state of things already gone that at the present moment the Provincial authorities of Auckland are at their wits’ end, and find it exceedingly difficult and embarrassing to provide adequate means even for such an important object as Education. This Province is placed at a further disadvantage by reason of the manner it has been dealt with by the General Government in the expenditure of the large loans which were negotiated on the credit of the whole Colony for purposes of Immigration and Public Works. Although we in Auckland are chargeable with the repayment of about one-fourth part of these loans, and although wa contribute in about that proportion towards providing interest and sinking funds thereon, yet, owing to want of united action by our Superintendent and representatives, only a very small postion of the borrowed money has been employed for our benefit. Our Provincial revenue for the ensuing year will probably be under £50,000, and out of this sum we have to maintain our Police, Gaols, Hospitals, Lunatic Asylums, Sick and Destitute, Harbours, Ac. : which cost us some £33,000 per annum. After paying for Provincial salaries and departmental expanses on the present scale, little or nothing will, therefore, remain for aid to Road Boards, for Bridges, Ferries, Tramways at the Goldfields, &o. ; and in view of this state of things, I believe it is our first duty to reduce these Provincial salaries and departmental expenses to an amount proportionate to our altered means.

Our nest duty is to require, at the hands of our Representatives, that they unite in demanding from the Assembly and the Government that justice shall no longer be denied to this Province in the matter of the expenditure of the money borrowed upon our credit, conjointly with that of the rest of the Colony. 1 desire to become Superintendent of the Province that 1 may be in a position to give practical effect to the above views, and that there may be some combined effort made to bring about a different state of things—that more vitality may be imparted to our industries, such as Mining, Agricultural Pursuits, Trade and Commerce, and Manufactures. If, however, you are content to go on as of yore, and elect a politician of the old Auckland school, I think you will find, when too late, that additional burdensome taxation must speedily be resorted to. You will also probably find that the old system of Denominational Education will be introduced into this Province; a system so often used as an instrument of favoritism to one party, and oppression to another ; a system so productive of sectarian jealousies and bickerings that it has been abandoned by more advanced communities in favour of a National Secular Educational System. Should you restore the old regime to power, you will also find that the control of the Police will soon be transferred to too Provincial Authorities, to bo used as it was before, for party and political purposes. During this election contest, I have been treated with unfairness by a portion of the Auckland press ; but, as many of you are aware, the persons whom these papers represent are interested in reintroducing and continuing the state of things which has led the Province into its present position. By the abuse of political power and patronage in the past, they themselves have been enabled to prosper, while the Province has so languished that it can hardly be in a worse position ; and it now rests with you, Electors, to say, by your votes, whether you will entrust your affairs for another period of four years to the old hands, or whether you will give me your confidence and support, that I may, with the aid of a well chosen Provincial Council,be enabled to inaugurate , a change towards a better and healthier era. If you do me the honour to elect me, I will apply myself diligently and strenuously to effect retrenchment in Provincial salaries and other departmental expenses ; to obtain justice for the Province at the hands of the General Government; and to provide permanently for the means necessary to carry out a system of Education, without resorting to any such obnoxious and unjust measures as the present Education Tax. I am, Gentlemen, Yours faithfully, J. M. DARGAYILLE.