News of the Day.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 359, 19 March 1866, Page 2

News of the Day.

THE ELECTION for THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. NOMINATION OP CANDIDATES for ina NAPIER DISTRICT. The nomination of candidates for the representation of the District of Napier in the General Assembly of New Zealand, took place on Friday, the Kith March, at noon, in front of the Resident Magistrate’s Courthouse. There was a very fair attendance on the part of the electors. We are sorry to have to add that considerable interruption was offered to some of the speakers on this occasion—chiefly (vve feel a melancholy satisfaction in saying) offered by supporters of the M‘Lean faction. The Returning Officer (John Curling, Esq.,) having read the writ, called upon the electors present to nominate a candidate for the district, when— Mr Tiffen said that he had come forward to perform the pleasant duty of proposing our worthy Superintendent. His career as a public man was well known to all the electors. He had carried the Province safely through a career of great danger. [Mr Harding : Are we out of danger yet ?] - In answer to that question he would read an opinion expressed out of the Province—the opinion of Mr J, B. Fitz Gerald. [Mr Edwards : The Maori philosopher ? ] He then read an opinion Mr Fitz Gerald’s to the effect that Mr M‘Lean had preserved the Province of Hawke’s Bay from becoming “a second Taranaki.” [Mr Harding : What is Mr Fitz Gerald’s opinion worth ?] It is worth as much as yours or mine. If they were not content with Mr FitzGerald ? s opinion he would read from the address presented by the settlers of Hawke’s Bay to his Excellency the Governor on his recent visit. [Mr Edwards : who signed that address? Was it not begged round from door to door by the Government messenger and did not most of the electors refuse to sign it ?] Again, Mr M'Lean had a great stake in the Colony. [Mr Edwards ; His great Maori run.] If they sent him to the House he would advocate his own interests. [No doubt of that] And they were identical with those of the Province, Hawke’s Bay had hitherto returned two members to the Assembly and was, in point of fact, unrepresented, simply because they always voted on opposite sides. It was now for the election to rectify this. He had much pleasure in nominating Donald M'Lean, Esq., Superintendent of the Province of Hawke’s Bay, as a fit and proper person to represent Napier in the General Assembly;

Mr H. Groom seconded the nomination. Mr Mtoiajst said that the representative the people of Napier wanted was a man who would look after the interests of the working man, and this Mr M'Lean had not done. While there were men in Napier out of work, he had imported a a parcel of paupers from Auckland and reduced the rate of wages for a laboring man to 4s 6d per day. Mr T. Edwards said that he had sincere pleasure in proposing to the electors their old and well-tried friend Mr W. Oolenso. Ho had for five years faithful served his constituency, and had all that time been the friend of the working man. Mr M'Lean as they they all knew, was an illegal squatter, and had always spoken in the most favorable terms of the system. But he would read an extract from a letter of Mr M'Lean’s to the Colonial Secretary, dated 9th July, 1851, and which appeared in the Hawke’s Bay Herald of the 16th September, 1863, which showed what his ideas of the system were then :

It is quite certain that, while such squatting exists, the natives, even as far north as Auckland, will oppose the sale of such land, in the expectation that, although valueless to them at present, they may realise high rents for it. It it could be shown that the natives themselves were much improved by such a system, it would be a strong argument in its favor, but, from all 1 can learn, these rents, obtained without much care or labor, are injudiciously expended, and the greatest recipients are frequently if not always, the most dissolute and idle characters of the tribe, whose reckless conduct and increasing cupidity, render the position of settlers holding land under them not only disagreeable and precarious, but in every tcay repugnant to the independent feelings qf an Englishman.

—These were, in 1851, the sentiments of the man who now was at the head of the illegal equating. Would the electors of Napier put in a man whoso practice so belied his principles,—and after all the public meetings they had held on this one subject ? He thought not. [Dilion Smith : Can you guarantee that we can place any uependence on Mr Colenso ?] I can. I speak to the independent electors before me, and not to the loafers who fatten on Government contracts.

Mr T. B. Handing, in seconding the nomination, said there was no necessity for him to make a speech. All present knew the evils of the squatting system, of which Mr M‘Leah was the head and chief: —they knew the antecedents of Mr Colenso, how he had represented them disinterestedly and independently for five years in the General Assembly, and could judge for themselves which was most worthy of their support. There was no need for him to say more. Mr D. M'Lean said that it was scarcely necessary for him to make a speech to the electors, as ho and his atecedents were already so well known to them. Nevertheless, it was generally expected that a candidate for election in the General Assembly should give some exposition of his views on some of the principle questions which would arise for discussion in tiiat Assembly. Of these, the first place was occupied by the question of Separation. He was determined, to the utmost extent of his power, to oppose Separation. Ho believed that Separation would be the greatest evil that could befal this country. He would instance America, where an attempt at Separation had brought unnumbered evils in its train. They all knew the blood that had been shed, and the treasure that had been spent, to put down that attempt. Separation would chan’ge Now Zealand, from a prosperous country into two weak colonies. What would Mr Cardwell and English Government say to the attempt to divide N. Zealand ? What would become of the credit of the Colony 1 The Colony would be prevented from negotiating any more loans, with its security thus broken. Ho should act in accordance with his own vies and no doubt with their wishes, in opposing with all his might any Separation or disintegration of the Colony of New Zealand. Upon being asked by an elector his opinion upon an income tax, he said that ho should oppose such a tax, as it would be a great temptation to people to mis-state their income to evade the tax, and he did not like any tax so inquisitorial, and one where evasion was necessary. , He might also state that he had saved the province at a time when it was in imminent danger. [Mr Colenso : No.] Mr Colenso said no, but ho had said differently in the General Assembly. [Mr Colenso : The province was never in danger until you put it in danger by your blunder in supplying the natives with arms.] He (Mr M'Lean) was proud of having supplied the friendly natives with arms, and a finer body of men were not to be found in Now Zealand. They had done more for New Zealand than all the British army put together. [Cries of “ O,” “ Indeed,” «&c.] Of course he did not mean to detract from the valuable services General Chute and the British soldiers on the West Coast were performing. They had done their work as only British soldiers would do it 5 but that was no reason why the brave fellows on the East Coast who were shedding their blood in our defence should be forgotten. They cost a great deal of money, but they could not be dispensed with, and that was why he thought that highly increased taxation next session would be necessary. Mr Hardin®.—Are you a squatter P Mr M‘Lean.—Yes: and I glory in it. [Cries of “ Shame I ” Mr Harding.—What has caused you to change your opinions since 1851 ? Mr M‘Lean.—There were only three squatters here then. Mr Colenso said that he had been told that it was of no use to contest the seat with the Superintendent, backed as he was by the Government; and that he would be sure to be beaten. He had no objection to be beaten, provided it was done fairly ; but he had not been treated fairly. Ho would divide his address into five points, namely, I.—The Province; 2. —The Colony; 3. —Himself; 4,—His opponent, MrM'Lean; s.—The Electors. 1. The Province. The first duty of the electors of the Province was to send their best man, and what they had to judge was whether Mr M ! Lean or he was the best. There was one thing which England had been striving for ever since the union of the three kingdoms, and that was equality of representation. It was the principle that every class, every opinion, should send its representative, “ otherwise,” as Mr J. E. Fitz Gerald, (for whose opinion Mr Tiften had so profound a veneration,) had often said about the Maories, “ they are not represented.” Now Mr Tifi'en had made Inse of a very singular argument—he had had the hardihood to argue that because the squatters had

sent a representative to the Assembly, the electors of the district of Napier should send another squatters’ representative, to agree with him ! The only manner in which he could account for Mr Tiffen’s haying made use of such an argument, was that it was the effects of a glass of sherry which he had previous to the commencement of the proceedings. He would read tnen an extract from an English paper which would show what was gener ally the case in those matters in England. (Mr Colenso here read an extract from an English paper, showing that nearly all the boroughs returning two members returned one Tory and one Liberal.) This fully showed the futility of Mr Tiffen’s argument, and he hoped that nest time that gentleman would come without taking cherry. 2. The Colony. The class of men the Colony required were those who looked to the interests of the entire Colony, not to those of their particular province or district, and such he was. He had never sought his own interest, never shown selfiahues. He had had chances of buying land, hut had not done so, considering that ha already possessed enough. He had never shown anxiety for place, nor attempted to push himself forward, but always sought to do the greatest amount of good possible to his constituents. 3. Himself. He had been sent by the electors to the Assembly in 1861, had remained in that position ever since, and had thereby acquired an experience, a knowledge of the house, and of his duties, that was not possessed by untried men. He had in fact served a five years’ apprenticeship to it. When he went there he devoted his whole time and energies to his task —partly because be had nothing else to occupy his attention. When an apprentice has faithfully served his time, or a servant has fulfilled a long engagement honorably and faithfully, what did they expect ? There was an honest old English feeling on that subject. Such a person would naturatly expect to continue in service. So did he. When he was in Wellington working for the Province he never dreamt but that he would again he elected as hitherto. He might again state that he had been treated most unfairly. If that requisition which was got up in his absence had been a fair and open one like that to Mr Ormond, and only signed by thirty or forty electors he would not have opposed Mr M'Lean ; but the case was different. The signatures to that requisition were procured in the most underhand manner. He had been told by a gentleman that Mr M'Lean, in his own house, had asked him to sign that requsition. [Mr M'Lean : It’s a downright falshood. He, of course, could not vouch for it, so he had been told by the gentleman in question’ Again, he had not been many days in Napier, before he was called upon by nineteen different persons each of whom said that he had been induced lo sign that requisition under false pretences. [Mr M'Lean : “ It’s an infernal lie.” Great confusion, and cries of “ name, name.”] He would tell them the names —next Friday, at the busting. As to his opinion on Separation— [Dilxox Smith ; “ Ah, you didn’t like that letter I wrote to the Herald, did ye ?”]— [A Voice : “ You didn’t write that.”] —he had already fully slated his opinion and his reasons for his vote in a letter which appeared in both papers—ho must again thank the editor of the Herald for inserting it—and he thought that no one could ask more of him. He repeated the pledge he made therein—-i-hat if twothirds of the electors requested him to vote against Separation, he would do so, aud he could then oppose it for as good a reason, and as conscientiously, ns before he supported it. 4. Mr M'Lean. He did not believe that Mr M'Lean was at all a fit man for their representative in the General Assembly. In the first place his hands were far too full already. If the election had been for a Chief Native Land Purchase Commissioner, a Judge of the Land Court at present sitting, Civil Commissioner, or General Government agent, he would not think of contesting it with Mr M’Lean. Mr Tiffeu had argued that because he had performed these duties well he would make a good represent tatire. He might as well have said a good geologist, and recommended that be should be sent into Dr. Hector’s place. Last session of the Assembly some of the squatters of Canterbury sent a draft of the tariff which they considered most equitable to the General Assembly, and what was this tariff? They proposed to import woolpacks, fencing wire, tobacco, for sheep-wash, buggies and harness, in fact, everything required by a sheep-farmer, duty free, while some hf the necessaries of life wore heavily taxed. The squatters of Hawke’s Bay already sent a member who would support such a scheme; would the electors of Napier district also send another? His (Mr C.’s) idea of taxation was a remodelling of the of the tariff by impartial men—neither merchants nor sheep-farmers; there were many things im ported free which might very fairly be taxed. 5. The electors. The electors of Napier had once made a mistake ; let them beware lest they made another. When they put Stark in and he deceived them they made a fatal mistake. Had he (Mr C.) been then elected the Stafford Ministry would not have been defeated, the temporizing ■Fox Ministry would never have come into office, and most likely the war now devastating the Colony would have been prevented. They would remember that it was a majority of one that had done all this. It was now universally admitted that Governor Browne and the Stafford Ministry were in the right. In conclusion, he would direct their attention to the late dreadful news from Jamaica. Such scenes wou'd, be believed, ere long take place in New Zealand. The natives were well armed. And the poor working man would not be ground down by men having 100,000 acres and wanting 100,000 more. The greed of the squatters was unmistakeable. It was only the other day that Mr M'Lean bought 8,000 acres of land in the province of Wellington at 5s an acre." He might tell them that he did not occupy the lowest seat in the house, the eyes of New Zealand were upon them at this present moment, and if they did not send him to the General Assembly, they need not expect him to retain his seat in the Provincial Council- He hoped that they would give the matter before them their earnest consideration. A show of bauds was then taken and decided to he in favor of Mr M'Lean, the numbers being about—Mr M'Lean, 35 j Colenso, 30. A poll was then demanded for Mr Colenso by bis proposer and seconder, and granted, to take place at Ihe Government Buildings between the hoars, of nine

a.m. aud four p.m., Tuesday the 20th (to-morrow.)

NOMINATION FOB- THE CLIVE DISTRICT. The nomination of a candidate to serve as a member of the House of Representatives, for the Clive District of Hawke’s Bay, took place at Mr Ferguson’s store, Clive, at noon on Saturday last, 17th inst., as advertised! There were not many electors present, and the whole proceedings were over in a few minutes, —resulting, as dur readers will presume, in the unopposed return of J. D. Ormond, Esq., the former member, —that gentleman being proposed by Mr Joseph Rhodes, and seconded by Mr James Hallet.