MEANEE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 453, 14 February 1867, Page 3

MEANEE.

PUBLIC MEETING. A PUBLIC MEETIS(i of the electors of the Napier Country district was held at the Meance Hotel, on Friday, the Blli instant, at 8 p.m., to take into consideration the subject of candidates for the forthcoming election. Mr. Hallett occupied the chair. Hu: Chairman stated the object of the meeting. -Mr. Powdrell could not understand what offence His Honor had given that he should nut lie re-elected as one of the members.

Mr. Tiffen explained that it was His Honor’s intention to offer himself as a candidate for the representation of the town of Napier. The Chairman asked the gentlemen present who might be candidates if they wished to address the meeting. Lieutenant-Colonel Whitmore said that it was impossible for him to state his opinions on every subject te which the electors would look for satisfaction ; and the best way would he for them to ask him questions on the subjects in which they were most interested. The land revenue of the Province had been very unfairly distributed, and the Meance settlement had never had anything like a fair proportion of it. The ronds also in that portion of the country were shamefully neglected—the one from Meanee to Puketapu" being in parts very little better than a hog. Mr. Powdrell asked the candidate the following questions :—l. What was the cost of (he road to Puketitiri, and was it charged te the Provincial Government ? 3. What were his ideas ou an impounding Bill P 3. What kind of Thistle Bill would he support P Lieutenant-Colonel Whitmore could say very little about the first subject, as be had recently been to England. The second qnestj on j )a( j r [_ ference to impounding. Now he did not think the question was a fair one. It was not a political question, and it was unfair to mix private matters with politics He had no objection t 0 explain the matter winch he supposed was Minded to, although a public meeting was hardly the place to do it. Mr. Powdrell explained that he had not referred to any personal matters in his question. Lieutenant-Colonel Whitmore apologised" He thought the question had reference to some matters that occurred last September o r October Hej believed in an Impounding Act which would place the native under the same restrictions as the Europeans—one which would prevent them collecting all the cattle they could find, and charging (heir owners an arbitrary sum per head before they would release them—an imposition he would rather die than submit to. He would also like the Act to set forth that if the amount realised hv the sale of an impounded animal did not cover the damage it. had done, the owner should be liable for the balance. Cases had occurred where a good-for-nothing brute that never should have been allowed to live, hail broken down a fence and done £2O worth of damage, had been sold by the poundkeeper for ss. With regard to the third quest ion —that of thistles —he thought much more could lie done by legislation than was generally sup. posed, lie thought that if everybody, native and European was compelled to cut down all the thistles on their own land twice a year, just before seeding, much good might be done. He was willing to spend as much as he could afford in the eradication of thistles from his own land. There •rag formerly an objection with regard to the natives ; but now that they had Crown grants for their land, this objection could not be made. Of coarse it would need a long pull, and it was no tis 6 for one moil to ersdiente his thistles ’srhile his

neighbour laughed at him over the hedge. He should support an Act ißavin? it to the order of the Council what, districts it should affect. Mr. Bousfield said that Licuu-nant-Colonel

vv nitmore was hoi a lit idau for tlie representative cf tlie Couutrv District. He was one of the salt of the earth—the elect—not one who could represent the electors of that district. He was the representative of that class of Government that had

recently resolved itself into penny stamps—the re-j presentative of all sorts of infernal corruption and jobbery. (Laughter and applause.) He had no sympathy with the electors of the country districts, and looked upon every man in that room as fit only' to carry the hardens of the class to which he belonged. Lot them elect one of themselves—one whom they could trust—not a gentleman who like this candidate, looked upon them as hewers of wood and drawers of water, and as of the ef.rf earthy—one who would tell them there that he would do everything they liked to ask him, and tomorrow do the very reverse. Hid Lieut.-Cokmel Whitmore, on his return from the last session of the Legislative Council, bring his sheaves with IhimP No: lie returned laden with the fruits of a session of log-rolling, Jobbing, and every conceivable tax. Lieutenant-Colonel Whitmore might he a very suitable man for some things, hut whatever he was at lor, tie was not at tor lacia. (Applause.) Mr. Maney said that the meeting was informed by Mr. Tiffen that His Honor Mr. M’Lean was likely to be returned for the Town. This was as it should be. The townspeople wished to have him for one of their members, and he could not well perform the duties both of Superintendent and member for the Country Districts. He (Mr. M.) had been requested by some of the electors to offer himself as their representative. He had no objection to do so, but had no particular wish to be elected. Should any person come forward whom he thought would be a better representative of the inhabitants, he would retire in his favour. If they did him the honor to elect him, he would do his best for the district.

Mr. Tiffen had very little to say on this occa- I siou. He had already served them* faithfully two i or three times, and if elected, would do so again. ■ He would pledge himself to support Donald i M'Lean as Sujierintendent—not in all his acts, but 1 as a w hole. He would not pledge himself to support the Government. He believed that Mr. 1 M’Leau had tided the Province over difficulties as i no other man in New Zealand could have done, and ] under his energetic rule, Hawke’s Bay had flou- 1 rished when the rest of the colony had drifted into i difficulties. What Mr. Maney had said about the i Superintendent he quite agreed with ; he himself I was fully convinced that the office of Superiuteu- ’ dent and member for the Country Districts would 1 clash. He had been asked to stand for Napier, I but had preferred the Country Districts, as his in- ' forests were identical with those of the settlers in 1 that part of the Province. On the subject of i thistles he could say that a Thistle Act had been i passed in Wellington, and had been found per- i fectly inoperative; and he did not share the sanguine expectations of his friend Lient.-Colonel ! Whitmore. In Melbourne he had seen thistles ’ growing thickly in a place where there was a 1 stringent law against them, and had found that 1 this was caused by the neglect of the Government to clear their own ground. The holders of land for some time, kept them down, but they were allowed to grow freely on thefroads and in the river beds, and increased till it became impossible to destroy them. It might pay to cut- down the thistle on good land, hut certainly not in such places as Te Mata. His own land had cost him IDs. an acre to clear, and it could not he expected that this expanse would he gone to for land, the fee-simple of which was not worth more than os. per acre. [Mr. Tiffen sat down amid loud ap- ' plause.] Mr. PowiVßl.i.i, said he was going to question Mr. Tiffen on several subjects. 1. The Loan Bill: 2. Mr. Buchanan’s motion for 1h» inspection of the accounts of the Director of Works ; 3. The toll-gate (o he placed at the end of the White-road which was one.e contemplated by the Government; •K “.Tosenh’s bridge;” 5. The Wairoa Land Sale —in the first place, how did the Provincial account stand at the Bank previous to tint sale ? and, second, how did it, stand after? lb l would first sneak of the Loan. How did the account of the Province stand previous to the Wairoa sale, and how could the interest of a £OO,OOO loan have been paid? In the second place, Mr Buchanan had moved some time ago in the Council for a certain return. This motion passed the Council— Was it ever carried into effect, nr did the accounts moved for look “ fishy P” Third, his opinion about the toll-gate at the end of the White-road. This would he most unfair to the Meance settlers, by whom the road into town was most used, and the toll would he a serious consideration to them. The fourth matter was about Rhodes’ bridge, and whether it would he self-supporting. Mr. Tiffen said that, with regard to the Loan! Bill as originally introduced into the Council, it| was opposed by three—Mr. Colenso,Mr. Edwards,] and himself. Through this opposition, sundry alterations were made in the Bill, and when iti passed the Council it was only opposed by one member—Mr. Colenso, It stipulated that £30,000 should he expended in the purchase of native land, and. the other £30,000 was portioned out for a lighthouse and sundry other public works. He considered that if £30,000 were spent in the purchase of Native lands, what those lands would bring in to the Government would amply repay the loan. Mr. Powdutu, : Will von show ns the state of the Government account with the Bank before the Wairoa lands were sold ; and also what has become of the. money realised by that sale ? And tell ns, if that money had not come in, if the Govcrnwould not now have been on its beam-ends and down on ns for taxes P Mr. Tiffen said that at the time that land was sold the account at the Bank was largely overj drawn ; hut that he had not the necessary data to answer the question. As to the question of Mr. Buchanan’s motion, he could state that a commi’tee appointed to carry it out fell through owing to (lie non-attendance of members. In this ease, in spite of Mr. Buchanan’s usual shrewdness, it was supposed that if the motion had been fully carried out the results would have been very frivolous, and four or five sheets of foolscap would have been occupied with what could have gone on a sheet of note-paper. Those accounts had been quite sufficiently examined last year, when a eommitte, of which he was a member, had fen days’ hard work going over them. As for tolls on highways, of whatever description, he would oppose them. With respect to what Mr. Powdrell had called “ Joe’s bridge”—a very good name, and one . which he hoped would stick to it, —he did not , think it would support itself. In fact, Mr. Rhodes did not seem to like the idea of any toll being put ;onit at all. He would say one thing more shout i Mr. Weber. He did not believe he had any rea- . son for keeping his accounts from the public gaze, but he. had so many duties that they could hardly expect punctuality. There were too many officers in the Province : it was like the old saying, “ too ' many cats to catch the mice.” The men, many of i whom were earning salaries so small that they did not dare marry upon them, could do double or i treble the work they had to do at present, and in * taint CnSc the Government could, uiferd them better salaries.

Mr, yo’vr'RVLL said that an inspection of the accounts of the Province was a very necessary thing, and a duty which he believed was generally neglected. Mr. Bousiteld said he wished to ask the candidate some questions,

( Lieutenant-Colonel Whitmore said that Mr. Bousfield’s name was not on the roll. The meeting Mas one of electors, and non-electors had no right to question the candidates.

Mr. Bousheld said that this was a public meeting, and no one was going to do him out of his say.

The Chairman said that he was quite at liberty to ask any question he liked, but must express himself in proper language. He had s-ckon abusively about Lieut.-Coloacl Whitmore.

t;—. fi,.i i -nr _ '.‘7 ' , ... »> iiioiuitu sum uiai xle uiu liCi object to the language of Mr. I3ousfieid: but to questions, being* a non-elector.

me CUAI.EM.IN ren-vitrrl that hp «-:ir !ih?r!r to ask Questions, but must express himself in nroper language. 4 *

Bousi'iei.d, evidently misunderstanding the eauurinan's remarks, left the room. uu iiui muimii ui iiir. Tiiijiji, thanks were . voted to the Chairman, and the meeting broke up at half-past ten. °