OUR FUTURE REPRESENTATIVES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 86, 7 October 1870, Page 3

OUR FUTURE REPRESENTATIVES.

(To theJEditor of the Mottnt Ida Chbonicle.). . Sib„—Being a regular reader of your I have noticed several letters appear in it of. late on the subject of our future representatives. If you can iallow me space, I should like to njake a few remarks on them, and at the same Itime give my ideas oil the' subject. L On reading a letter,.-signed "An Elector," in your issue of .the 23rd j ultimo,., I confess my curiosity was Ktickled as to who could be the writer. The very day after the letter appeared, while dfscussjng* it with a friend, I hap.l pened By the iher.est chance, to find tire .author mentf is neither a squatter, nor has he any interest iii squatting property, but is simply a working man resident atT Mount Ida ;'' In the same .issue there is'another" letter signed " This, letter,: though yery siinilar. in.ideas iq the former, 1 -I never th ought emanateeL from the same mind. The former was rather in that simple style which showed it came from the pen of a man unac- r customed to write, while that of.lhe latter was evidently written by a,man of education, well accustomed to use . the pen, and savoring of the penny-a-line style. I cannot imagine who the author can be, but sure I am he is no squatter—the letter is far too well written for that. In your issue of the 30th September I observe a letter signed ".Anti-Aris r .- tocrat" It appears to me, ;to make use of the author's own words, "a! series of clap-trapy v and can only have been Writieii by some one who intends to stand for the district; and feels the. term " adventurer " strike home; and also that the surest way to advance his, own interest is to get "up the very old cry—" Down with the squatters; they■ are a bad lot." Now, Mr. Editor, my humble ©pinion on the subject is this, that it does not matter what the calling of our representative may be, so long as he, is. an honest, sober, respectable man, with a moderate amount of education, who. has the confidence of the. electors—a man with the interest of the district, as well as that of the Colony, at heart, and whose vote, can be always depended upon. I must say I should prefer a man resident in the district, • if a good one could be got who would spare the timej but far better fall back on Dunedin for a member than send up a man to the Assembly whose 1 standing' up to speak is a signal for the House to count out. For my own part, I never could see that the interests of the squatter and miner are antagonistic. Any man who knows anything about station property must be aware that no run can pay by the sale of wool al6ne. Any Dunedin merchant or banker could tell you that the wool does not do more than pay working expenses and assessment, if as much; so the squatter is entirely dependent on population to consume his mutton to enable him to get an interest for his capital invested. I have spoken with many squatters on the subject, and they all attribute the present depression prevailing in that particular class of property to want of population. lS T ow, how can population be so easily increased ,as by fostering the mining interest; ? I even .go so far as to say their interests are identical ■;, and were it not-for mining throughout the Province, squatting property would fall at least thirty per cent, in value—for we must remember that even Dunedin is kept up to a great extent by the mining population. .Now, let us take the other side of the question. Suppose we return a man styled by our friend " Elector " as an adventurer (I suppose he means by the j term a man without any private our friend " Anti-Aristocrat" says 44 2S'o mam can fairly, honestly, and in-. ' rlependently represent two interests so

completely conflicting as are " those of a penniless representative and those of fiis constituents. " Man must live," and all a representative is allowed is one pound sterling per day during the [time the House is sitting. This, we know well enough, is not. sufficient to -i enable. •. him to.keep up his:position alf the year rounds and his absence, during three months prevents him taking, part, in any regular' business ; so the only way left to.him of raising the wind is. selling'his constituents. Remember, I do not hold that such is necessarily the case. Far from it. Only; it is,.an ,awful temptation ; and, query:' Should we run the risk ?

m T observe another letter in your last issue, signed " Anti-HrimbiuJ." He appears to take a very liberal view of, subjects generally. I must say I like' his styles taking, irieither the one side nor the other: Evidently the author is an unprejudiced man. He states "that runs are only leased for a definite term of years, and it is an opinion often expressed that in yery many instances only a very small moiety of the capital invested is owned by the ostensible runholder." In this "" .Anti-Humbug" is very possibly correct—l am not 'in*a position to contradict him—but if such is the case,' the only tiling that can put those unfortunate squatters on their legs is a rise in the price of sheep, and this can only be attained by increasing the population, or, in other wordg, tf fostering the mining interest." • Before concluding, I should like to 'remind "Anti-Humbug " : that there ai-e also a number.of squatters who not only, owe no man a shilling, but are ppssessed of la<-ge freeholds in which they have invested their all, ; and now quietly await their fate. Should IVTew Zealand go, "onward and flourish," they will become men of fortune ; on the other, hapd, should she not, they will never realise the thousands they have invested. In- short, they must sink or swim with the country they have adopted. I should like also to remind you that a good many runholders have been diggers themselves at some time or other, and still more hold shares in claims! at the present trioinent. Trusting you will find space for my poor ideas on the subject of our future representatives, I am, &c, - One who was a Minkr.