THE ELECTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 68, 23 August 1879, Page 2

THE ELECTION.

MR. SNELSON AT FEtLDING One of the largest meetings of electors held diving the campaign, assembled at Mays-moi-'s Hall, on Tuesday, night, to hear Mr. Snelson, the Liberal candidate, state his political views upon the various measures likely to engage the attention of Parliament, d r.ring the coming Session. Upon the motion of Ma Macarthur, M»'. E. H. Weight was called upon to preside, and ia taking the chair that gentleman thanked the meeting for the complii ment paid to hiai, stating, that he had presided ovev vevy many political as well, as other meetings, but at none with so much pleasure as the present, for the reason that Mr. Snelson was his oldest and best f.'iend m the d'wtvict. All the speakers would be accorded a fai? and impartial faring- ;> no one should be inte«Tupted, and none insulted if he could p. event, it. "Two men, were pitted against each other, and every failchance should be given the doctors to conclude which would be the most eligible. Mr. Halcomhehad given his views on Saturday night, and he would, theiefove, without fit. frier- p-ef ace, introduce tlie second candidate to the meeting,. Mr. Sye^soN, who upon coming forward , was received -witlr . .considerable applause, said l!-at he. felt proud at Vthe Llavge.iaLlen-_ dauce which he. saw- befo'e him to Ivear hi.xv en unciate bis political vie ws v oon the questions of the day, which certainly was a very pleasing iodex o? tbe interest taken i-i. the various jrnafcierawhicb we"a being brought befo.e the public. Tl'ey need not expect a ny ; gwcrt'e' otorical display from himjashedu .not profess to be aseloquent. as either of his opponents. He was a plain man, and be would give his views m a plain intelligible mn-i ier. Bat although he wo.uld no!., take ' credit for speaking, he could appeal to his past cnveer to prove that be was. a worker— one who believed m deeds move than words. No doubt, most of those present had read frie Governor's S,>eech, as delivered at, the opening of the fifth Session of the last Parliament, and were consequently cognisant of the various reforms there indicated, refbr.ns which all were obliged to ad-nit werea necessity, ahd with which he thoroughly agreed. OE these Triennial Parliament Bill, the Representation' Bill were of the most importance, but there were others of % necessity though the being minor matters, "Vyith regard to the first — that of Triennial Parliaments — public feeling m all sections of the community was; decidedly m favor of siish a measure, as it would have the very- desirable object of b-'ingingme'inbers moria-fiequentlv face to face with their constituencies, thereby actually making electors masters of representation. He held that their latemember had not properly represented them, for there were very, few of -the presidents ~jx\ Manawatn who. had ever seen Mr. Johnston, or even heard of anything he had done for the connty ; while as -was-well known, he rarely, iE ever liaised his voice on behalf of ihe constituents toAirhom he was pledged. He thought, therefore, that the proposed measure would prove somewhat, of a. wliblea wholesome terror over their representatives aod"exeroise au influence to keep them true to their pledges. "In declaring himself a Liberal, lie used the word m 1 bo. broadest acceptation^ the term— »and hot m the .clap? trap se"sa ia which it suited some persons to employ it, and iE elected It would be his aim to car*»y out i*q his. extended sphere,' what he had been given credit for m his •more limited one. In. making his declarations of Liberalism, he contended that he could so without being charged with inconsistency, as those principles ware ?by no ; means new to him. It Height, ha m the ro- ' i meruberance of some -present that eleven or i twelve years ago from then Wellington was ; j suffering from an overweight of Conservative, pqwojp m its municpal body, and an As: soeiation, had b.aen formed, of which he had the honor, to h« elected Secretary; and that organisation did good .service m altering the personnel of the Council, Being succesf ul at the start, however did iy).l cause tbem to relax their, labors and as titqe progressed the personnel of the Corporation became more and more .liberal. He mentioned this mat-, ter as a proof that the adoption of Liberal principles was not" with him— as with some people — an affair of yesterday, ai^d tnteiuip for party purposes. Having thus announced his creed, his next duty: would be, to r proclaim his ; policy^ahd that jftis "*■' Manawatuj; that the constituency shb*ald have that ligitimate representation, of which it bad been deprived for the pastrfbur. years. He need not tell the meeting t^at there "Wferet many, ;very many most AimportantL'^t'ks and claims which required advocating, but wliich to the present had been utterly neglected, for the very excellent -reason-that ! Mr. Johnston had not the slightest knowledge of their existence. <r^}\ganui and the Wairarapa had beeu_ having their, share • of- the good things, while they were left but ; m the cold. Tf be had the ,hono» of reprS | seriting the constituency he would pledge himself that Manawatn should get what it ; was fairly entitled, and that one part of Ilia district should Aofc be tb favored the detriment of another. With regard to the lan,d question, he would advocate! that tlie Waste hW& B _2lji d . °PW4 v ? fyl eet^fcloutt©i^ 4 %^

such a step would prove a boon to farmers and those with small holdings. He was perfectly m accord with tlie pla'i adopted by t e| ?eildiiig Co p r*.tun fri» ing ; inesand clearing ana forming roads before throwing the.<n open for sale, and he thought that it would be very advisable if the Government were to tale a leaf out of the Corporation's book. Further, such large blocks as were thrown open. should m his opinion, begivea to the people upon the deferred payment principle. This being essentially a- timber ountry it should be the: duty of those m cha-ge of the interests of the district to see that that industry was developed to its ut-.->iosfc .- but what was the result. Millions of feet of white pine, representing a_ Large amount of capital, were recklessly going to waste, and to utilise that now seemingly worthless commodity, he would advocate the construction of pickling tanks and the adopl ion of a process iiow m wide use on the Continent for Ithe hardening o? soft timbers^ By that course what was now almost a useless, and unsaleable commodity could be utilised for sleeuews, thus conferring an iui'al;olable benefit upon the district, and keeoicg wit hin the Colony the money now expended for the importation of jarrab apd otber hardened timbers. He had touched upon Triennial Parliaments j_ be would now deal with tlie matter of' a redistribution of seats. Ten years from that time the total ; number of electors in| the Manawatu was 1-0, represented by Guerme»abej now the voters had reached' the amount; of IBMV a id, preposterous as it might appear, their rep.*ebe_.Lative power was just the same. Waiiganui, with only a voting power of ; 1-00 — or 410 less than Manawatu — had I two members; while Taranaki, with' cent j siderably gloss than either, had three. ! Viewing, then the representation which -Manawatu had m the past— -that is* evea pres;iuiiug that the one luember bad done his duty— -could any assert that she had | been fa<v4y fcrwted, and jf not, upon whose shoulders, if' hot upon Mr. Johnston's j should the bla-ve rest. He was an adyaI cate for a broader extension of the franchise, believing that, those who, though perhaps bumble i.istrnmeots, helped to lay the foundations and build no the p*rospev.ty of a Kommnnity, should have a voice iv making the laws by which they were governed. He would , not Ago altogether manhood suffrage^ but he world be ia support of thatmeasore qualified by a six montbV ov evena u tb ;, eem /nLhs* resindetial qnalificition giving*" t!ie>n also tlie privilege of being placed on the roll aiy time within the *ear. (Applause.) One very grave matter neit presented itself before him» and that was the urge*at\iece._ity|for §ponQby- and. ret trench ment i» the Government expenditure; He did not inhis remarks refer especially to the existing Government, as to his mind the evil bad been chronic; and had been, passed down from successor to successor. In that pa\fcicu!i*tr matter be could say that he was entirely at one with Sy? George Gvey, who m speaking of v proposed re*raedy said he was o? opinion that tho pruning knife should be applied to tho beads of deoart aenta and then tnw el downwards.. A*\d then he (Mr. Snelson) came to a matter which .apparently had .v,ecy gpfeai interest for the bulk of tjte etectors, aud that was upon whioli ride of -the* House would he take' his seat, if etoctecl, He wished to tell them plainly that if they thought he wai going .to give a blind adherence to Sir George Grey or his Ministry, they were mistaken.. He - would go in ;' to support a Liberal Government to carry out tbe Liberal programme enunciated m the Governor's Speech^ and as he looked upon the Minj-t^y at present m power > as a liberal Gbvei-ibment, : they decidedly should, have his support and a fair chance to tarry out their meinives. He adtaitted they had been tried ; in the ; pa%t .andi foundfaulfey, but he would consider it his,' duty to deal with what be would be . elected for—legii--lafcuve for the future, and uot|for- thapast. Were he setlt iftto the House he would look upon the Government as comi-ig before the." counti'y with a clean sheet and- a; whe policy, and so long as they faithfully carried that policy out with entegr.ty- they should have, his strongest support. (Loud Applause). He would.flupporfc liberal reforms m many of the. statu! es,. as. hje considered a remodelling of many ol the present Act was most desirous i but such a step would have to be taken with a judicious care; :He I woujd bst a strenuous ■ advocate for the prosequi ion ofPublic Works, but they ahonld be of' a/, thorougMy.A reproductive; nature, such as railways. Coming to. the matter ol education, he would stajte- that ha saw considerable difficulties m the , ca^ying out of tlie denominational system, and therefore-be-would be-in favor oi a continuance of the* secuiav-aduunistration as. at present existing^ Possibly , he would be expected to say sbmethingabbut the Land Tax (hear, hear). WelU all be. couJU aay was that he considered it ft failure, a»dj Vdat,. it bad pvoved afaUure j it was not paying, would not pay its attendant expenses, and .he wouloLvote for- its lepeak Of course if that result were effected^ apd th* m^i»» were taken offithe^ statute A book,, they wo;uJd be called upon to substitute. somethiVig m its place m order- to* create, the.; ravenue. tberelyiost, imadAt^mattorAwas one to which be had giyetf .considerable and mature deliberation. In bii opinion a property tax would be the fairest way of- the diffi-. cultv, as that'would compel every- onp: to contribute according to his means.. No doubt sooner or later an income t«: would ha»e to be adopted, but he did not- think Ihatime had yet arrived, or that fche.coun.try w»s sufficiently ripe for the step; Tender the circumstances,, then, be would be iv favor of a properby tax. He was of opiuion that m many points the Counties Act was a failure, and was open to very great amendment. .Under the existing ar* rangement settlers were compelled to pay one shilling to tt=e Highway and one- shil- : ling to the County, and the consequence was, that the burden became on some oppressively severe. He had not so-far seen his -way to the remedy i he felt a grievance exi^t^d, and be would only he too pleased to supporfcahy workable amendment. It might be argued that the measure was nocessarVvaud the nnposifcion of the rates was required m order to keep pace with the demand for road construction and new works, but that was soarcely a reason why grievances should be. perfietrated and perpetuated, and otberA provision should^ be made. With regard to fte Licensmg Bill, or the propoiitiou of a Local Option Bill, he should support the latter, psrovidiug it contained a compensation clause, at he held it would be manifestly *n,ud grossly unfair andj unjust to sweep away bjr Act ftf Parliament, without any compensation, the vested interests' of any sebtionof the community (Lo\*\d applause), There was one n\ore patter, aqd perhaps ta Manawatu themost important of ;^ll, and that -was, ''tbe' ultimate dbsctionot the West. Coast route. He had been at Fbxton the night- previous and he had repeated! 6$ platform * tb'ere what ha had repeatedly stated both pubUcly and privately. He behavad that not only was the infand route the best one- for the country at." fctge; bu,t it ■ wa? tha ona which would be, most advantageous-ror perhaps ha should hava. said least disadv^t«««>u* — to Eoxtoni^inasnineh *s it was hit. fo^ belief that a. passing through that town lo tha capital meant ruin, to, its port, It was unnecessary then to say that he was m favor of tha pitzherberfc route, althoiigh he believed the ultimate destination of the line woidd depend enthrelf vinon the engi.

! neei?' report. He, however would be infavor of a loop line from Eoxton to touch on to tlie main, and he might tell the meeting that although he would support a movement m that direction he had not told the electors of Eoxton that on tbt previous night, as he thought it might be deemed clap trap to catoh a few stray votes. With regard to the Sandon District Radway, it always had and always would have his support, as he considered that such a projects would be a benefit to Sand nn and develop the port of Eoxton. " _" Al-A . Mr. Snelson then took Tiis seat after a very patient and attentive hearing, When It* was subjected to a perfectjvolley ef question*, one half of which bad been answered m tha address, aqd a great number of the remainder being beyond the province at a candk date to respond to. He, however, again reiterated, that Awere. a vote of want wf confidence brought forward; at the opening of Parliament be would support it* determining to give the Ministry a fair and hohest trial, Hd did not believe ih the. .importation ot Chinese into tbe Colony. In the event of the loan being floated, he would be m. favor oi banking with the As* •ociated Banks. • He would not re-impose thi» duty oni beer, as lie believed m a cheap glass if '1)mrA : : '" :X"' '.-"■'-:''•-' -.-*'*■ -y -.x----He would most dscidly advocate the*, opening np Laf ;' the Monmutu i^utej. and carrying the railway to Auckland bj that route. If a Besident Magistrate were appointed, tie she uld certainly advocate tbat be be lo* cated at Palmerston. He should most distinctly oppose a want of confidence vote at the" outset of the Session, and give his support to the Liberal pjlicy of the Government until they failed to carry out' their programme. There were a number of other qneetion*, hut they were of a frivolous character, or of such a nature tjbat Mr. Snelson would not b^ called upon tp deal with. Upon the motion of Mr. Beading, it was, unanimously carried that a hajrty vet*, of thanks should be given, to. Mr.. Snelson forhis visit to Feeding, aad tie. address d«. iliverfdC . A vote of thank*, was aeco-fded to the, : chair, and m responding, Mr. Wright paid a high compliment to ba audience for tha very ' orderly behaviour during the evening