TO THE ELECTORS OF DUNEDIN.

Evening Star, Issue 3477, 15 April 1874, Page 2

TO THE ELECTORS OF DUNEDIN.

{Per favor of the Editor.) I nave been present at several public meetings held m Dunedin, and have listened to numerous questions which have been discussed on those occasions with mingled feelings of pleasure and contempt—with pleasure at the advanced ideas which were brought forward by individuals, irrespective of country, creed, or class, ana who had manfully outgrown the spirit of bigotry and intolerance which had surrounded them in their earlier years ; and with contempt when I heard others complain of partial laws and political degeneracy, when the power of controlling the State was in their hands, and men of principle and integrity might be selected worthy of a people’s choice. In view of this and the approaching election, which by some may be considered unimportant, owing to the mmor of a probable dissolution, I would venture to make a few suggestions to all who labor with either hand or brain, and impress on their minds the necessity of taking a greater interest in the land of their adoption, ia order that reckless administration may be avoided and evils averted, which will otherwise ensue, if a healthy and earnest opposition is not organized to guide with steady hand the impulsive action of those who are necessarily elated at the seeming success of a progressive policy. The sale of the public lands is not only a crime which is unanswerable by sophistry or other assumed rights, but the chief source of poverty, ignorance and crime to the many, and luxury and idleness to tho few. This question above all others demands your immediate attention, for the time will most assuredly arrive when the people of every country will, in accordance with their improved intelligence, demand equal rights for themselves and transfer the same advantages to the unborn unimpaired. Your numeious sham Governments must be reduced, improved facilities for communication render it obligatory, and your enormous liabilities demand ;t. The power to do so is in your hands, and you must use it through the ballot-box. 8

All who look forward to the future for brighter prospects, and have adopted this country as their own, should take a deeper interest in its aff drs nor be dissuaded from ■e 80 by the P roß P erit y of to-day, which; u left in the of a few schemers, may lead to years of distress ; and, even though this calamity may not happen, it is as well to view such a thing possible when you know that a sudden panic in the money market, foreign war, or even the sudden death of her Majesty might at any moment cause such a reaction to take place. Rely neither on peace nor security while such things are possible and the avarioiousness of human na. ture renders them probable. The future Government of this oountiy must be a simple and inexpensive one. Men of well-known liberal principles must be brought forward to effect this change ; the daily growth of intelligence requires a Government in con. fortuity to it. Ihe land must be reserved for the people and the country made attractive ro the noblest and most advanced of modem thinkers, instead of being made a receptacle tor the most degraded and illiterate 1 ' tif the British empire.—lam, &c., ■ 1 rk j- * Blunderbuss. Dunedin, April 15.