KAIAPOI ELECTION.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 190, 18 January 1875, Page 3

KAIAPOI ELECTION.

THE NOMINATION. On Saturday last the nomination of candidates for the election of a member to represent the above district in the General Assembly took place at the Court House, Kaiapoi. There was a large attendance, and much interest was shown in the proceedings. The returning officer, G-. L. Mellisb, Esq, at noon read the writ, then asked the electors to nominate the candidates. Mr E. 0. Kerr, Mayor, said those present being aware of the resignation of Mr Studholme, it was now necessary to look round to select the most able and influential man—[hear, hear] —the selection not to be confined within the narrow limits of their own district. [Cheers.] A cry had been raised for' a local man, and several had taken the bait without seeing the result. [Hears.] It might be desirable in tbe case of Provincial and Borough Councils and Road Board elections to return local men, as sums of money were voted by these institutions to be expended in the respective districts only, and beneficial results accrued by the representatives being on the spot to see to the proper expenditure of such mooies. In the General Assembly the case was different. [Hear and No.] There the principal work was to make the laws which govern the country, and therefore they wanted a man of ability, independence, experience, and honesty of purpose, to join in the political strife and do his best for the district and colony. [Cheers.] Such a man was the candidate he intended to propose, viz, the Hon Charles Christopher Bowen. In proposing him he '.would remark that it had been said Mr Bowen had no experience in Provincial Conncil or even Boad Board work. Now the facts were that Mr Bowen was one of the oldest colonists —[hear] —coming to the colony and acting for some time as private secretary to Mr John Robert Godley, founder of.the Canterbury settlement. Since then he had been actively engaged in taking an interest in the affairs of the province and colony, occupying several important positions with satisfaction to the public and credit to himself. [Cheers.J Mr Bowen was the first Provincial Treasurer of the first Provincial Council, and a member of the Government which constructed the first railway and first electric telegraph line in New Zealand. [Hear.] He had also taken an active ;part in local institutions, and notably as chairman of the Board of Education. [Cheers.] He was also well versed in the history of the colony and the compact of 1856, referring to which it was important that they should return a man acquainted with the same, when the question of confederation of provinces or question of taking the land fund of this island was considered by the Assembly. Mr Bowen was in every sense a local man, as all the property he possessed was in this province, and from the deep interest he had always taken in the affairs of Canterbury, there was not a shadow of doubt but that he would defend their rights and localization of their land fund and revenue instead of allowing it to pass away into the common fund of the colony. [Hear.] Therefore the electors would not be so false to their own interests as to throw over so suitable a representative, and that next Friday Mr Bowen would be placed at the head of the poll by an overwhelming majority. [Cheers.] Mr H. Blackett seconded the nomination. He had no doubt but Rangiora would give Mr Bowen a large majority, and he hoped other parts of the district would do the game. _[Hear. | Mr W~.Buss said he was a quiet man, only when he was paid to make a noise. [Laughter.] A deal had been said in favor of a local man and one of experience. The electors would find these qualities in Mr Beswick, who was an old servant and a tried man. He was a man of good, sound common sense, which quality would often carry a man further than his eloquence. [Hear.] Regarding Mr Bowen, he had nothing to Say against him. He had proved to be a good man, and carried out his duties well in his former official sphere —[hear] —but the majority in the northern districts would agree that Mr Beswick was the best man to elect at present. [Cheers and " No's."] If a man was to be found in the district fit to represent them, why ought they to go to Christchurch. Like many others, Mr Beswick was with some a prophet without honor in his own country, still he could refer to many good services which he had done. As an instance of going out of the place to get, as they thought, better men, he need only allude to the sending to England for a railway manager, and the result. He believed Mr Beswick had received great discredit for attempting to cut down working men's wages, but he (Mrßuss) thought the reduction was wanted. [" No" and " Hear," and a voice : " Will you reduce the commission on sales ? "] If they did not want to pay him the commission be charged they could go to some other cheaper man. Mr Beswick was a man who had fought for [A voice: " Self-interest.] the country, and and he did not see why they should throw him over now for a man like Mr Bowen, from £Shristchurch. Mr Studholm was a Christchurch man, and what had he done for the district ? They never even heard of him till he resigned, and in favour of Mr Bowen. Mr Bowen's address was- in the paper on the same day as Mr Studholm's resignation appeared, Mr Bowen, therefore, had two days' Btart of Mr Beswick. He then proposed Mr Joseph Beswick as a fit and proper person to represent the district, and should be very much surprised if he did not see him a long way up at the head of the poll. [Cheers.] Mr Joseph Clark seconded Ihe nomination, observing that his side had been taunted with the statement that Mr Beswick was opposing Mr Bowen, when it was well known long ago the former intended to come forward—that he would be invited to do so, as

his supporters believed him to be the best man, having been in the Assembly before, willing to look after their interests, in a good spirit. They had been taunted that as he was rejected for the Provincial and Borough Councils, he was not fit for the Assembly. Now it was quite possible to oppose a man for a mere petty matter, when he would be considered qualified to represent them in the Assembly. [Laughter.] They were supporting Mr Beswick on his policy. [Voices —" What's his policy?" and " Cut it short."] They believed that it would be a great loss to Kaiapoi if Mr Bowen was elected, because Canterbury would lose one vote in the Assembly, by refusing Mr Bowen they would gain a vote in the Upper House. [Voices — "No, you mistake; Mr Bowen has resigned his seat in the Upper House. Cut it short."] Well, he would cut it short. He had come forward before the public on two or three previous occasions, and they had always listened to him. [A Voice —What's the policy?] A gentleman had asked what was the policy, and his answer was that Messrs Beswick and Bowen would have two distinct policies and would explain them in a few minutes. One very great reason why he did not support Mr Bowen was, that Mr Bowen intended to do away with the provinces at once. [Voice —" Shut up."] He did not think he would say any more, but second the nomination. [Cheers.] No other candidate being proposed, those nominated addressed the electors. Mr Bowen said at all times the election of a representative in the General Assembly ought to be a matter of serious consideration —but it ought to be doubly so at this moment, when grave constitutional changes were contemplated, and when they were all bound, as citizens, to consider what]was best for the welfare of the country, This was tbe first contested election since Parliament decided on constitutional reform j and it might be expected when a member of the Government was opposed in the person of a member of the Executive, it should be on the great question at issue, and that no mere local considerations should be allowed to prevail. [Cheers.] He confessed to being at a loss to understand what many things which had been referred to had to do with the question. It was needless to repeat he had nothing to do with a lot of personal grievances which had been dwelt upon by his opponent. [Hear.] With regard to his coming forward, he had always intended to resign his seat in the Legislative Council, and offer himself for the first Canterbury district which was vacant. When he heard Mr Studholme had resigned, he sent to the Mayor stating his intention to come forward, and also issued his address. As to coming forward then, he had yet to learn that any elector had more right than another to seek their suffrages, or that this was a pocket borough, where he had no right to offer himself. [Hear.] It would perhaps be thought necessary for him to refer to what he had said at some of his meetings. He had been blamed by some for going too far, and by others with not going far enough. Some seemed inclined to rest satisfied with the present local prosperity—not to look beyond the borders, nor to look to the immediate future and to say, " It is true a constitutional change must take place, but wait a while, wait till a necessity arises," or in other words, till a crisis or a catastrophe occurs, and then let us make the change. That means, let them wait till they had lost all worth struggling for, till their resources were frittered away, until they had to build the constitution up again out of the wreck of the present. To those he would give Lincoln's injunction, "Don't attempt to swap horses when you are crossing a stream." [Cheers.] Don't let them, ostrich-like, hide their heads in the provincial money chest, fancying all the time they were out of danger. A warning note had been given. The provincialists in the north in their desire to prop up their own dying institutions had warned them that they wished to do so by means of the southern land revenue. The immigration and public works policy of the country was greatly hindered in many cases by the duplex form of government which the colony was maintaining, and a great object of all English government—the best management of local affairs—was no longer to be sought in the present form of government which, when first establised, really meant the local self-government. of small isolated communities. He had pointed out that the General Government for some time had been taking up the chief functions of the Provincial Governments in opening up and developing the country—united action being necessary to establish their credit and ensure and that the energies of the country were' being damped, the career open to their children lessened, by narrow provincial jealousies and want of national aspirations. [Cheers.] Further, he had stated that there could not be any distinction made, the resolutions now proposed would have to extend to both islands, and this was a matter of advantage and necessity to both. [Hear.] In reference to the others, who seemed to say that at the next session of the Assembly a bill should be brought in for a new constitution for both islands, and sweeping away existing institutions, he must say that all attempts at uniformity of legislation, when a revolution must be effected, meant useless legislation, No one, who had considered the difficulties of the question before the country, could suppose that the constitution could be completely altered in one or even two sessions. The legislation must be of a tentative character, and that he for one s?w no reason why the change should not be commenced where the necessity was most pressing ; that is in the North Island, and that the Parliament should in its next session consider the question of the Southern Island. In every respect this appeared to him to be the wisest course, because the position of North Island provinces rendered them ripe for the change, and because the large works under the conduct of the Southern Provincial Goverments would be nearly at an end by the time next Parliament meets, and because it would not be wise to bring into working order all at once the new machinery which must be adopted. He objected to the policy of initiating the constitutional change at the same time all over the islands, not because he thought there ought to be two constitutions, but because he thought it a "doctrinaire" view, wnich, if canied out, would place difficulties for some time in the way of the carrying out of the work of the Government at a time of change. He advocated the localisation of the land revenue, and that the price should be looked upon as a contribution towards opening up and peopling the country, and the expenditure of it should take place in the country where it originated. [Cheers.] He had been misunderstood in one serious respect as to what he had said on this matter. It had been assumed in some quarters

because he thought that the land fund devoted to maiu works in large divisions of the country should be the revenue derived from these districts, it must be inferred that such a work as the main trunk line of railway throughout New Zealand should only be completed in proportion to the amount of revenue raised in the different districts. This line was a national work which must be completed out of funds raised on the national credit—[Hear, hear]—and the burden of which should be borne by the revenues which it would return. In other similar national works they would be similarly carried out; a penal establishment, though it might be located in one province, would not be established out of the funds of that district but from the national chest. The necessarily short reports of some of his meetings had given rise to some misapprehension as to what he had said in regard to logrolling, especially with regard to the reply to Mr Higgins at Rangiora, about the Provincial Council. What he said was that in every public body there was a tendency to log roll, and that the Council was not above human foibles, but he was careful to say that the Council in every way had proved itself free, although there were reports about Road Boards and railways. In reference to social matters, whatever the Government could do in the way of legislating on matters of social interest, could only be done with the country at its back. The encouragement which they had given by the recognition of his observations on these subjects, would certainly tend to inspire him in the endeavour to improve the present state of the law. He had done his best to bring the present state of affairs clearly before them. No elector, he supposed, however, would imagine that it would be the duty of a member of the Government, six months before the session of Parliament, to bring down to a hustings a cut-and-dried scheme of legislation on'any subject. [Hear.] But he had spared no pains to make the electors of the district acquainted with his views, and the general outline of the policy which he thought would be adopted. He had put his cards on the table —[cheers] — and had every confidence in the result — [hear] —because he knew that they as well as himself looked upon it as a too serious matter to decide this election by side issues. [Hear.] Whether they elected him or not, whether they were right or wrong, the responsibility rested with them. [Cheers.] Mr Beswick did not expect, after having delivered so many addresses in the district, he would have to travel over the same ground on this occasion ; but he must again refer to several matters upon which he had not received full publicity from the newspapers. At his meeting at the institute on Thursday he went into many important questions which ought to have been reported; but where Mr Bowen had three or four reports, he had only one. [A Voice—" The old cry."] Yes, but it was true, and he might tell his friends that the reports were incorrect and positively untrue. There were questions of policy on which he was opposed to Mr Bowen. While supporting Mr Togel's public works scheme, he was in favor of maintaining the Middle Island provinces. He reiterated that he was not opposing Mr Bowen, but Mr Bowen was brought forward to oppose him, and now he would ask Mr Bowen if he was not aware of it. [Voices: " Give us politics."] Mr Bowen has said this is a serious time in the history of the colony. He thought so too. At the institute, in reference to the momentous question now shadowed forth, he implored the electors to throw over party feeling and go in for the interests of the colony. | Hear, hear.] He was a provincialist—[cheers]—and had seen the advantages of provincial institutions, having assisted to carry them on as a member of two Governments, and when a vague cry went forth to abolish the provinces, on the ground that they impeded the Government of the Country, he wanted to know what they would put in Instead of them. Mr Bowen had indulged in a carefully prepared speech, full of general phrases and platitudes but after hearing it he (the speaker) did not thiDk any of them were a whit the wiser with regard to a crisis. There might be a crisis pending of which all they knew was the resolutions passed at last session of the assembly. ["Voice—" Strong resolutions, too."] The Government was therefore only pledged to bring forward a scheme to provide for the local government of the North Island. When a Minister of the Crown knew the promises to be good—[Voice—- " Bad, bad"J— he ought to be able to tell them what he would put in place of them. [Cheers.] He warned them not to leave building up an edifice on the ruins till the crisis came, but this was intended to be done in the case of the north. [Hear.] The Government appeared to be casting about to find a means of providing for the future government, as yet they had no plan. [Cheers.] Without Provincial Councils, he instanced, the number of improvements and works which would not have been carried out by a Government located at Auckland or Wellington. [Cheerß.] He could not conceive h6w the local institutions were to be managed in the way proposed. They might depend on it that the people here were not going to resign the management of local affairs to a committee of the Assembly. [Mr Bowen : " Hear, hear."] He again repeated his allusions to the Resident Minister, remarking that the office had been a failure. They had one monument of his work on Ripa island, and another in the railways on roads ; as it had been found necessary to put a quarantine station at a different place altogether. With regard to immigration, that had been better managed by the Provincial than the General Governments. [Cheers.] In the Provincial Council a grievance could always be brought ;and redress obtained more readily than by referring the matters to Wellington. As an elector, one reason why he would not give his vote to Mr Bowen was that he did not believe in promoting a member of the Government from the ranks of the Civil Service unless he had won his spurs in the General Assembly, [voice—"What's your views ?"J It was a most unusual course to adopt, and had been the subject of unfavorable comment in nearly all the papers of the colony. It would be better to return him than Mr Bowen—["No," hear, and interruption]—because if a grab was to be made at the land fund it would be better to have two votes for Canterbury than one. [Cheers.] Mr Bowen had gone into the boat with Mr Vogel—[Voice —"You would only be too glad to get in too." Laughter]—and while he (the speaker) would be an independent member, Mr Bowen would not be able to haul off when he came to shoal water. [Cheers.] There was one other question. No one need apologise for coming forward as a candidate, but he came forward not only as a local man but because he was as competent to represent that district as Mr Bowen himself— [chtfers]

—and to show that the electors would not allow themselves to be handed over like a mob of bullocks, or dictated to by the newspapers or a little clique, he knew they would poll for him in a body. [Cheers.] He would oppose any efforts to abolish the Middle Island provinces till the people who supported him had been consulted. [Cheers. - ] He hoped his supporters would come early to the poll. [Cheers.] The show of hands was then taken, viz., Beswick 44, Bowen 30. A poll was demanded for Mr Bowen. Mr Beswick said he would agree to release all persons who had pledged to support him if Mr Bowen would. Mr Bowen said he had perfect confidence in any who had promised to vote for him, but that as Mr Beswick was anxious to have the electors absolved from their promises he had not the slightest objection, believing that heshould not lose a single vote. Cheers were given for the candidates and returning officer, when the meeting dispersed.