Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1891. One Man One Vote.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 15 August 1891, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1891. One Man One Vote.

The Manawatu County Council acted wisely in recording their disapprobation of the proposal to amend the Counties Act by permitting ratepayers to exercise one vote only. We consider that this expression is moat useful as showing the opinions of those who understand the working of the Act, and against whom the reproach, as it seems, to be now considered, of being large landowners cannot be urged. The largest property owner on the Council is Mr Hammond, and he, fortunately for our cause, is the representative of the class of sturdy independent men w)io have raised themselves to ;their comfortable position by years of hard work. Men who trom past experience understand how the,rate"pinches, and how necessary extreme caution should be exercised in;;giving th c power to rate others" to those wh 0 would liave nothing to pay, and wh 0 might have a very large interest i n what was to be made out of extravagant expenditure. The next

argest owner is Mr F. Robinson, who owns about • 1000 acres, but he cannot be placed under the large land-owning class, as he has, also, built his way up from an unpretentioMa start, and has resided on his property ever since he acquired it, and thus has advanced with the developement and prosperity of the district, Mr R. B. McKenzie is one who has always taken an active part in the developement of the Carnarvon district, and knows as well as any man how rates can be misspent unless the closest attention is paid to the public works, even though small ratepayers might be the contracting parties. Mr McKenzie would be astonished to find bimself classed as a large land owner, yet he was most emphatic as to the very undesirable character of the proposed alteration. The other members of the Council are small farmers, the backbone of the country, yet there was not a word attempted to be said in favour of the clause, and it becomes more surpriswhat evil spirit inspired the Government to introduce such a deliberate wrong. . We are glad to notice that other Counties are protesting.