THE CHEVIOT ELECTION.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1294, 13 May 1878, Page 3

THE CHEVIOT ELECTION.

MESSES INGLES AND SAUNDERS AT WAIKARI. On Friday evening Messrs H. A. Ingles and A. Saunders, the nominated candidates for the Cheviot district, met the electors of the Waikari—Hurunui portion of the district in the Waikari schoolroom. There were thirty-nine persons present. On the motion of Mr Ingles, seconded by Mr Saunders, Mr H. P. Lance was voted to the chair.

The Chairman, in introducing Mr Ingles, said he need not say much in his favor, as he -would speak for himself in reference to general politics and questions affecting the welfare of the district. He need only say that Mr Ingles was a tried man, and as a representative had done well for his district. Although certain complaints had heen made by some of the Kaikoura settlers, that grants had not been made, thev must bear in mind that at the time alluded to the administration of public funds was in the hands of the Provincial Government, and the people must blame themselves for not urging their claims. In the future, he had no doubt that the claims of the districts would be better looked after by the electors themselves, and their representative duly reminded of matters requiring attention. "With these remarks, ho would call on Mr Ingles to address them. Mr Ingles began by saying he thought it was due to the electors to state why he camo forward at so late a period. During the past two months he had been asked repeatedly to offer himself for election, but had delayed doing so for reasons which he would explain. Two years ago, as they were aware, he was the representative of that district, till his pi-ivate business compelled his retirement. Since then Mr Harper had represented the constituency, and on that gentleman resigning he had not the slightest intention of again offering himself for election. Being chairman, however, at Mr Saunders' first meeting at Kaikoura, he heard him enunciate views which wore diametrically opposed to the interests of the Cheviot district. This he said from no personal feeling towards Mr Saunders, as he had not seen that gentleman to make his acquaintance till a fortnight ago. Of the subjects which he wished to receive their attention for a few moments, the three principal were those of triennial Parliaments, manhood suffrage, and redistribution of seats. The triennial Parliament question, taken first, was not one of the least consequence in the politics of the colony. For his part he had always been in favor of Parliament existing five years, but Six- G. Grey had lately struck up the cry for Parliament extending only over three years. The arguments urged in favor of the latter were to the effect that the short term rendered the inducements to seek election for the purpose of retaining seats for special private purposes less than in the case of the longer term; also, that large sums of money would not be spent in securing the return of candidates. It was urged as well that there was no chance of turning out a member who was elected for five years, if between the time of election and expiring of the term his opinions changed, so as to be in opposition to the views of the constituency. Now the best answer he could give to the latter was that the constituency ought to extract a pledge from its representative, and for his part if he gave such a pledge, immediately he found he was not carrying out the views of the electors he should resign and not occupy the position a day longer. He did not [share the opinion that the parliaments or individual members were so corrupt as asserted, or that they had come to the condition which rendered the proposed change desirable. It was not so in other countries. In England for twenty-two years triennial Parliaments had been tried, during which time the Parliament was more corrupt than it ever had been since. Matters were so bad in the period alluded to, that even the Speaker of the House of Commons was impeached. Constituted authority had been since thoroughly recognised, when the Lower House was separated from the Upper and from the thraldom of the Crown. Sessions of Parliament cost the country large sumß. He could not give the exact figures, but the cost would appal them. In the general experience of Parliament it was found that the first session was occupied by members settling themselves in their seats, or, in other words, making acquaintances with the rules and regulations ; the second session was occupied in fighting or debate, and the third had to arrive before any real business was transacted. They had the experience of the recent session in proof, and if a large sum of money was thus expended, it was requisite, before the members who were elected again retired, that they should have a greater opportunity than that afforded by one or two sessions experience, to conduct the Government of the country efficiently. The last session was termed a moribund one, and in the triennial system between the preparing for work the settling down to it, and the expectancy of the end it was certain a Parliament extending only over three years would be a failure, and he did not consider that the electors would be favorable to even a trial of the system. Coming next to the topic of manhood suffrage he wanted to know who in the country were asking tor it. In England measures of that kind were never introduced till they were required or petitioned for by persons interested, but he tound that no one asked for it till Sir G. Grey came and mooted it. There could be no doubt that the present franchise was so low that within two years an economical person could easily attain to the right to vote at any and every election within his district. In a district like the Cheviot, everyone entitled to the Buffrage had it, except thoso persons who—as in the case of station hands or shepherdshad no fixed place of abode, but were constantly changing from place to place, and possessed nothing more than a transitory interest in any particular locality. Again on this question it was apparent that the centres of population would bo placed at a decided advantage, and probably unfairly so, as the bank clerks, officials, and persons simply employed in stores, or as laborers, who might have no thorough knowledge of the questions arising at elections, would so affect the decision as to place persons who had property in the country at a decided disadvantage. The centres of population would thus be placed in the position of ruling the sparsely populated districts unfairly. The manhood suffrage and of seats were questions which must be taken together. Although this suffrage would probably increase the electoral roll for this particular district, the redistribution of scats being on a population basis the towns would have the whole, or nearly the whole, voice in the Government of the colony, and the claims pf outlying districts would be sacrificed. Taking Wellington and Cheviot as examples, the former would have twenty-seven representatives, and Cneviot ore in proportion on such a scale. Was that fair ? Or he would put it in this wise—it London had thirty-seven seats in Parliament, the whole kingdom of Scotland on the population basis would only have a like number Sow was that anything like a fair and equal representation. If they had manhood suffrage and a redistribution of seats, in order to make the districts in the colony equal, and the present number of members were returned the Cheviot district might be extended to include Kaiapoi and Rangiora. Thus not only would it be disproportionate probably with other districts in area, but in the event of an election within itself, the larger number of residents at the places named would swamp the interests of those in this portion, should they desire to return a candidate whose policy, so far as the Waikari and Cheviot portion was concerned, might be to entirely ignore any ot its claims. In reference to the next question, that of the incidence of taxation, it would probably have been bettor for them all if a general system had been already adopted, as then the public would have looked keenly to the cave of the public purse, and insisted that the public works were to be prosecutor! further afield, and at a saving in expense as well as avoidance of reckless extravagance. Soon, however, they must decide on assisting the public funds by an acreage tax, a property tax or an income tax. He might say he favoured the latter. The acreage tax would be a difficult one to deal with tor the very cogent reason that the good acres in this portion of the country, for instance, should not

was averse to a property tax, and should be in favor of the revenues being augmented from a tax on incomes. Incomes came in-

directly from the land. [" Hear, hoar," from Mr Saunders. J And this being so the tax would also reach the man who lived in town, and received his interest from bank shares or other investments, which he did not hold should be exempted. Sir G. Grey's arguments on this point also were against a district like theirs. Sir George was in favor of the removal of certain Customs duties. His opinion was that they could not lower a single item of these duties. Were they to abolish duties on tea and sugar, it would be decreasing the taxes in favor of the townspeople, with whom the largest consumption took place, and to make up the deficit a tax must be placed on property or on incomes. The income tax was said to be difficult to collect, and inquisitorial. Now he did not look upon it as either difficult of collection or inquisitorial. In Nelson a man had i'o pay a sheep rate. Well, the Government know how many sheep such an one owned, and about how many bales of wool he would have for exportation. In the same way if it wanted to ascertain the amount of the advances made to anyone that was ascertainable at the deeds registry office on payment of a shilling fee. In ascertaining the number of Bank or other shares held by anyone there was no inquisitiveness needed. It was urged that people would send in false returns of their incomes, but there would be no more difficulty in obtaining proper returns than there was in procuring the sheep returns. It was certain they did not generally send in false returns in England. L Mr Saunders—- " Very largely."] Well, if they did they seemed to repent of it afterwards, and sent it in as conscience money. [Laughter.] Thus then, the idea that the collection of this tax was inquisitorial was indeed a myth. When he was last in Parliament, he voted for the Abolition Bill, and felt certain that, contingent upon it, a colonisation of the land fund must ensue. This was without doubt a serious matter, but then it must be borne in mind it was one of necessity. In the instance of Canterbury it was a hard case, because, while she had sold her land at a fair price, the other provinces had been squandering theirs at a low price. If the other provinces had husbanded their funds, there would not have been the necessity to adopt this course so soon. They had merely to look across the Hurunui to see how the very great man who now sought to represent them had been party to the sale of that land at this cheap rate. [Mr Saunders—" No ! No!"l Mr Saunders was the man who some years ago sold that land, although he now denied it. He always stuck to the Superintendent and the party who were in favour of cheap land. Mr Saunders —No : no.

Mr Inglis —You admitted it to its at Kaikoura, and said you were the right hand of the Superintendent. Mr Saunders —I do not object to that." Mr Tngles—To show what Mr Saunders has done, I may say he was a member of the Executive.

Mr Saunders —No. I was never a member of the Executive.

Mr Ingles continued—He was not gazetted, possibly, but he seemed proud of that position the other night. What became of the money too from the land sold in the Amuri district ? Was it not taken and expended around and near Nelson ? The West Coast, Nelson, and Amuri form the three portions of that province, and, as Mr Saunders had Btated, the money was not spent on the West Coast, and they were aware it had not come to the Amuri portion; where had it gone but to Nelson ? Mr Saunders had previously stated that the money was dealt with by the Nelson Provincial Council of twenty members. [Mr Saunders : Twenty-three.] Then twenty-three—that made his (Mr Ingles') argument stronger —of which number Amuri had only one member. Thus the twenty-two no doubt took very good care that the single one only received a very small, if any portion of this land revenue. In repeating his history Mr Saunders had said, as an instance of the confidence which his Council had in him, that during the period when he was Superintendent of Nelson they (the Council) never altered his appropriations by half-a-crown. [Mr Saunders: No.J Mr Ingles: That statement can be proved by more than a dozen persons who were present and heard it. [Mr Saunders: No.] Therefore, as the money was never spent on the Amuri, Mr Saunders must have been party to its expenditure elsewhere, and the fact remained that the land was squandered, and the Bums received were never made use of in the district. He next came to the question of the extension of the Northern Railway, which at one time was the pest of his life. He had studied all the survey reports thereon and had always said that the line should come from this way. In connec-

tion with this he had been told he was a nominee of the Hon. W. Robinson, and that he was extremely anxious for the line to be taken up the Omihi Valley. The real facts were, he has bothered him (the speaker) for somo time about this route, and he (Mr Ingles) had always told him it ought to be taken along , the route over which it would cost the least sum

for construction, and where it will benefit population. [Cheers.] He eaid it ought to be laid where population indicated it should be made. It was also said he was a nominee of Sir Cracroft Wilson's. All he had done, so far as that gentleman and himself were concerned, was to telegraph to him, saying ho (Mr Ingles) was coming forward, and asking Sir Cracroft if he would withdraw. He did not understand the term "nominee" as applied to him, unless some of his friends had possession of a dictionary in which the meaning of that word was given differently to that set out by Johnson. He simply telegraphed to Sir Cracroft, asking him to resign, and he did so. He should like to say a word on education. He was in favor of a good secular education being provided for every child in this country at the expense of the State. In a district like Cheviot, and in small communities, it would be impossible to aid the denominational schools, and therefore they must be content with secular schools. But when they came to towns and centres of population, the Government might fairly be asked to subsidise denominational schools. They all knew that the Roman Catholics were equally useful colonists, and paid equally towards the revenue of the country as others 5 therefore if they, for instance, wished to maintain a separate school, he would be glad to see asaistance afforded to it, subject to general supervision of the inspectors. He was of course addressing a mainly Protestant audience, but he did not think they would object to these views, viz., that in large districts, which were able to maintain separate schools, they ought to receive State aid under proper regulations. In reference to Mr Pox's Local Option Bill, he was adverse to interfering with vested interests without giving compensation. It was his opinion also that in the future very great care ought to be exercised in the granting of publicans' licenses. He was against the granting of such licenses by the Bench or by Commissioners, and should prefer to see a commission appointed to go through the islands and report on the systems in force, and the manner of their operation. For although there was a general Licensing Act in each province, the Ordinances were kept in force. They would probably ask what he wonld do to assist his district if he was elected ? In reply to this query he would say he thought the Atkinson Government a very secondary one—in fact its members, while they no doubt worked hard, did not place themselves above the position of clerks haying no head, arid no one to show them how to act. There was no doubt the Atkinson Ministry was simply a continuation of the Yogel Ministry, although interrupted for a short time by the short tenure of office of the Stafford Government. He approved of Sir G. Grey's Government, n» it went in for the colonzation of the land fund, which the Atkinson Ministry ought to have possessed the foresight to take hold of. An Opposition might n..t always answer all the expectations of it, when its members were placed in office, and it must be borne in mind a Ministry could not always accomplish its intention. But the present Gorernment was entitled to receive a fair trial He should support a proposal to make a clear system of finance, and would favor the cutting down of the salaries of many of the officios, particularly gome receiying high salaries in Welling'

ton. He would give a general support to the present Ministry on those test points, and if in any way his views changed from those of the Cheviot constituency, he intended to retire. No personal motives or personal ambition had brought him forward. The electors wore asked to return him because he was identified with them. Their views agreed, and he should go in to represent fairly the district in which he had lived the greater part of his life, and might be expected to reside there many years to come. (Cheers.) Thanking them for granting so patient a hearing, he would be glad to answer any questions. Mr Davidson—Will you try to got us a better registration of votes ? Mr Ingles said he did not think a man should have to ask to be put on the roll. If a duly qualified voter was a ratepayer his name ought to be registered for him. In the Cheviot they had in this respect to contend with serious difficulties hitherto, a 9 the registration officer at present resided at the far end of it, and a few years ago it was even worse, as that officer wa3 only to he found at Kaiapoi. (Laughter.) If they did him the honor of returning him, he would undertake to move a Bill having for its object the more efficient registration of all persons entitled to enjoy the franchise. (Cheers.) Mr Wills—lt is said you have come forward in a particular interest. Is that so ? Mr Ingles—Yes, only however in the particular interests of the electors of this district.

Mr Wills—At whose request did you telegraph to Sir Oracrof t Wilson ? Mr Ingles—On my own suggestion. Mr Wills—Without prompting ? Mr Inglos—Without prompting. Mr Wills—Will you go in to support the making oil the railway over the Omihi ? Mr Ingles—No, not unless there are very serious engineering difficulties to contend with on any other route, which would make the line referred to by Mr Wills the best. I consider the present route through the Weka Pass the best.

Mr Wills —Would you suggest these conditions to the Government ?

Mr Inglos—No! The question of this route must be already Bettled in the minds of the Government.

Mr Davidson —You pledge yourself to support the making of this line ? Mr Ingles —Yes, as I have stated already. Mr Hood—Would you urge that a polling booth be made at Waikari.

Mr Ingles—l will undertake to see that a booth is made convenient for the residents of this portion of the district. I have already applied, but was told the positions of the booths for this election were already fixed. Mr Hood—lt is reported you are coming forward in the interests of Messrs Robinson and Caverhill.

Mr Ingles—Mr Caverhill is away. Mr Robinson has asked me many times, but _ that had gone off, and he intended, it was said, to ask Mr Collins to come forward. I made up my mind in the meantime, and wrote to Mr Robinson as well as the other electors of the district to that effect.

The Chairman remarked that he had been asked by Mr Robinson to offer himself for election, and had refused, and next day, before his reply could have reached Mr Robinson, Mr Ingles was forward. Mr Hood —It is said Mr Ingles is going in on the backs of the squatters. Mr Ingles —I am going in on the backs of the Kaikoura farmers, and I hope with your assistance.

Mr Hood—What about the money for the West Coast road ?

Mr Ingles—l had money put on the Estimates for that road and improving the North road, but Sir J. Vogel struck it off. Mr Hood —You say Mr Saunders had not, as Superintendent of Nelson, had money spent in the Amuri. Would that affect him in any way ? Mr Ingles—Certainly the money which ought to have come to the Amuri went to Mr Saunders' own district in Nelson.

Mr Willis —Are you receiving the Hon. William Robinson's support ? Mr Ingles—l hope so, and that of many others. (Cheers.) Mr Hood—Will you advocate the establishment of a telegraph and post office here ? Mr Ingles—Yes. Mr J. McLean moved, Mr Gh Prudence seconded—" That this meeting thanks Mr Ingles for his attendance this evening, and proposed a vote of confidence in him as a fit and proper person to represent the Cheviot district." The Chairman—lf no one has any remark to make I will put it. Mr Saunders—Wait a bit; I should like to say a word, and then it might be put. The Chairman—Very well, we will hear Mr Saunders. Mr Saunders said he was so used to following Mr Ingles, that it would not be any tax on his memory to remember what he had said, and reply to the same. The firat question—that of triennial parliaments—was one which might be put in this light: their representative was their servant. Now, in employing an ordinary servant, they did not propose to pay him or prolong his engagement if he failed to fulfil his agreement. If their representative was a do-nothing, or chose to sell his vote, or appeared to show no prudence in the exercise of his duties, was it likely, he asked them, that they would employ a servant who did not suit them longer than the shortest time they could arrange for? Was it not better to send a man to Parliament for three years, and, if he turned out a faithful servant, renew the agreement for anotherterm, rather than fix the term no long that the power of his removal was virtually taken from them in the event of his not acting up to their wishes ? Parliaments of short duration were not likely to increase corrupt practices, but rather tended to lessen the possibility of such a state of things. History, alluding to the time of Cromwell, showed they had nothing to fear. It was a very good check on a member if he had to come back to the constituency within a reasonable time for re-election or the renewal of confidence in his actions. The argument used that_ the first session of a Parliament was spent in getting into harness, and that the third, being a moribund one, two were wasted, would not hold good in practice. Another advantage of short Parliaments, he would remind the electors, was that the temptation to spend largo sums of money to secure the return of a candidate on the side of the rich was less, because it was not worth while for such candidates to offer themselves, feeling sure, as they must do, that the day of reckoning with the constituency would shortly come, and the result would nearly always be against them. On the question" of the re-distribution of seats he did not feel very strongly, but was decidedlv in favour of the distribution on the' population basis. The question of representing sheep and acres in Parliament ought to give way for the representation of men. [Hear, hear J The rich and poor should not overstep each other, but every man to whom the franchise could be extended should have the right to vote, and a voice in the government of the country. This district was extremely badly voked, and its interests were divided, but he did not see that they could put it in a better position at present. The question of manhood suffrage was one on which himself and Sir C Grrey did not exactly agree. His view was that the digger, who was essentially a " bird of passage," a- d one who had strong inclinations to urge the Government to go into the raising of loans, was not entitled to quite the same privileges as the man who was a bona-fid* resident in the colony. And further, a clerk in a Bank had as much right to a vote as a clerk on a run. So lort.? ns they had not transgressed the laws of the land, these persons, being fixed resid-n'e, were entitled to enjoy the franchise. Nothing would contribute more to the good succor and welfare of the colony than to give everv individual, who had a thorough interest in it, the power to take part in its management. lie did not fear any ill remits from the granting of mnnhood suffrage, which was fair and just to all classes, provided, as he ha I already indicated,that each individual should have resided in the colony long enough to show that his intention was to become a per. roanent settler. This was not the most popular view put forward at the prefent, but he was sincerely convinced it was the correct one, and the expres-ions he now gave utterance to were trom the iuipresiioi s formed on Shis mind erer since ho was a boy. It was \v.&

purpose to give his strict adherence to the conservative clause that a voter shall have been a resident twelve months, and thereby obtain his privilege by residential qualification in preference to any other. Education was closely allied to this subject. It was of paramount importance that every child must receive a thorough education on tho business and political habits of those around him, in ordor that he might, as a man, exercise that high privilege as a voter with discretion, so that there need be less fear of persons being hoodwinked into voting contrary to their true interests. A man to exercise his franchise right, should be one who would carefully glean the opinions of public men from the newspapers of the day, and, from a knowledge of tho history of the events going on around him, take an intelligent part in advancing their country's welfare. For this reason, therefore, every child ought to receive the most liberal education possible. [Cheers.] With regard to the teaching of children, all that the State ought to attain to in his mind was to provide a liberal secular Bystem. It was not for the good of the colony that too much stress should be laid on the assistance to schools exclusively recognised as the schools in which the children of different religious denominations were taught. Religion was too great a matter to be entrusted to men not specially qualified to teach its principles according to the views of the various denominations. Ho knew that at Kaikoura there were a number of Catholic votes, but he should be sorry to lower his opinions to catch them, and the public in general, as well as the Roman Catholics in particular, to whom he was referring, would think none the better of him if he did so. Mr Inglo3 accused him of taking tho Amuri land, and the share of money due to that district. At a meeting the other night Mr Ingles said this money had gone to the diggings ; but to-night he said it was all spent in Nelson. Tho facts were that he (Mr Saunders) represented Waimea south for a period of over ten years, and the electors respected him as well as he them ; therefore it was to his interests to secure to that locality as much as they wanted. Mr Ingles complained that when he was in the Parliament he could never get enough. Therefore it would now be for the electors to say whether they would return one who could not get them enough, or one who would get all the grants they required. [Laughter.] Well v when ho was Superintendent of Nelson, in his duty of administering the public funds fairly, he used frequently to be in communication with Mr Rutherford, Amuri, and so far as he knew, all that the Amuri people asked for, which could be fairly paid to them, was so paid. Of this Mr Rutherford might give more reliable information than Mr Ingles. Mr Ingles did not tell them he (Mr Saunders) had land at the Amuri, from which fact the natural influence would be that he was interested. He (the speaker) never stated that the Government of Nelson had never altered his estimates a single half-crown. What he did say was that they had never taken five shillings from the cost of works recommended by him, but in some cases had exceeded his requests by £20,000. As the Amuri land they all knew was in the hands of one man he would ask, was it likely to be fair or reasonable that public funds should be spent in large sums for tho purpose of making roads simply to improve private property ? He did not consider it to be a duty of the Government to expend large sums in this way for the benefit of one or two private persons. It would be urged that he was a man who desired to represent men rather than sheep and acres; in saying which he fully remembered he was in the heart of the enemy's country, and bo long as he might have the honor of representing the Cheviot electors, he hoped he would not neglect the interests of the rich because of a cry being raised against that class by the poor. But if the rich wanted to procure roads, bridges, and railways out of the taxation which, at the rate of £3 per annum, was laid on every man, woman, and child in the colony, he was prepared to resist it. This brought him to the incidence of taxation, and he could see nothing for it but to tax the land. Mr Ingles was in for an income tax, and stated that came from the land. Now, if such was really the case, why not tax the land in the first instance ? Why go round about the question. In collecting a land tax the collectors would lee the land and its value before them, but to a certainty the amount of persons' incomes was a very different affair. Sir George Grey suggested the removal of some of the Customs' duties. Ho could not follow him in that, a 3 these duties were a fair tax on both Maoris and Europeans. An objection to the income tax would be raised by the working man for instance, who had a great deal of independence about him in regard to education. The colonist would rather see his children's schooling paid for out of money raised in another manner than by a tax on the rich, and by the same reasoning it would be a perpetual disgrace fur the rich to stand by and see the railways through his large tracts of country paid for out of funds raised by a tax on tho poor man. Mr Ingles said tax bank shares. At the Kaikoura he also said tax mortgages. Now directly such a tax was sought to be imposed, capitalists, instead of investing their money in tho colony, would take it away. This was not what was wanted. They desired to see all the capital which it was possible to secure invested in the colony. Mr Ingles said at another meeting that if a brother bought a farm and mortgaged it to another brother who was out of the colony, under his systorn they would both contribute to the revenue. But the real facts would be that the poor brother who was left would be paying £1 per cent, more than he ought to do for he it would be who would have to pay the tax for both. [Laughter.] Again, if they put a tax on lawyers' and doctors' incomes, it was not the lawyer or doctor who was taxed, it would be the patients and the clients, as before a doctor would come to reside in their district he would want a salary of an additional £SO to enable him to pay his income. This, and other information on the question, was to be met with in books. As stated before, the tax on land was the only proper one. The idea that people who made false returns of their income repented and paid the tax was very improbable : in fact, it might not be hard to find persons who would never repent. [Laughter.] If any elector had any question to put ho would be happy to answer them. [A Voice—The railway.] If they would look at his general principles, as already stated in his speech, they would see that he was in favour of the line going by the last route, and where it would secure the population. If the line went to Cheviot, his idea was that the Hon. W. Robinson ought to put his hand in his pocket towards paying for a large portion of its construction. He was not well posted in the geography of the two lines but that via the Pass had many advantages as an easy and direct line to the West Coast. (Hear, hear.) When he was Superintendent of Nelson he had the West Coast goldfields examined, and felt certain they were still rich with auriferous deposits which would furnish occupation to a large body of miners many years to come. These would require provisions at the cheapest rate, and the settlers on this side the range were anxious to obtain an outlet by wh eh to be relieved of surplus produce ; therefore in a ma'ter l?ke this, which would be a general mutual benefit, ho was inclined to support the making of that route. There was no necessity to vilify him. on this point, as he should certainly only vote for the extension by tho most profitable routo. This reminded him of the election proceedings in America, in which it was often the case that an agent was employed to vilify the candidate to spoil his election. He hoped thwproceedings would not bo repeated in North Canterbury. Mr Hood—What is your opinion on local option ? Mr Siunders -I do not entirely agree with Mr Fox. The people ought to decide, but compensation ought;to be made from a general fund, not from those who oppose a license, as therebv you would handicap virtue. Mr Hood said—Were you ever in giol, Mr Saunders, as stated by the " New Zealand Sun."

Mr Saun-iera explained fchi» matter at soire length, stating he was tenporarily relegated to prison, but speedilv cleaned. Php off •• ■ e was for a libel on Mr Travew, and the pry who condemned hi'O were ull BifiutUsrs stun their myrmidons except- one,

There being no other question asked, the Chairman put the motion, Mr Wills rose to propose an amendment, but was ruled to be incapacitated, not being on the electoral roll. Mr Hood, taking the amendment, propossd —" That the thanks of the meeting be granted to Mr Ingles, but that no candidate be accepted unless entirely free and independent of the squatters' interests." Tho Chairman —Does any elector second it?

There being only three electors present, two of whom had expressed themselves in favour of the resolution, tho amendment was not seconded.

Tho Chairman put the motion, and two voted for it and one against. Ho then declared it carried.

Mr Ingles moved, Mr Saunders seconded, a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was carried, after which the public, much amused with the result, dispersed. __