SUBURBS ELECTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 112, 10 May 1873, Page 2

SUBURBS ELECTION.

■j -The nomination of candidates for the representation of the Suburbs took place at the Provincial Hall yesterday. Tbe writ having been read by Lowlher Broad, Esq,, the Returning Officer, Mr: A. S. Qollins bisgged to nominate' Mr Charles Elliott as a fit and proper: person to represent the district in the House of Representatives. His long pub- > lie and political career was well known to have been honorable, consistent, and use-: ful. He had been- intimately connected with every step Nelson had taken to prosperity, and as editor of one of tbe best conducted newspapers in the colony. had had great opportunities, which, be ;had never neglected, of guiding public opinion, and of advocating reform whenever -it was necessary. He was not one of that Useless class of men who, having opinions, on t public matters, neglect to bring thera forward, but had always honestly advocated what he considered to be the best course.? He (Mr Collins) did not intend either to initiate or follow a bad example in saying J. things hurtful to the feelings of those to | whom he was opposed, but he might' say that if the efforts of the other candidates for the public good were compared with those of Mr Elliott, the balance would be iii I favor of the latter. He was quite unaware what were Mr Kelling's views, on. any important public question, as untilquite lately he had been remarkable for nothing but extreme docility, and the skill; with which he played the game of. follow-my-leader in the Council.,, Itmight be that he was an. authority on immigration matters, but if his. views coincided with those i of the General Gpvernment on this question, tbat certainly would give him no claim on the electors. It **vas a good, plan to encourage and assist settlers in the country in getting out their, friends from home, but to inuudate the colony with men' who were unfitted for the life, and only calculated either to be a nuisance to the country or to leave it at the first opportunity, , was ka, most unwise policy. The Public Works i policy was favorably accepted ■„ by Mrs. Elliott and his. supporters,', and if MrYogel would only honestly and economically carry it out and make it reproductive, and 1 if he would endeavor to do away with the prevalent' corruption -he/ would haye'nb; stronger supporter; tha-d^Mi; 1 Elliott.. ..Mr, Collins then aliudedto^he services rendered; by Mr Elliott to the; province,' namely, the assistance he rendered in obtaining ; representative government; his advocacy, of the Education sy stem of which -we were all so proud, the?prominent part he had taken in initiating and establishing steam: coastal communication, and ihe scheme for a dry dock which be had passed through 1 '■'. the Council; He had- also .been ' the! 'tirst 1 ' 1 '■■''.'' ...''-■>.''!/. '. T-ii.,'" ■':'■' ■■■'/y.f.i. b :■■;-; -Yf li.,' i*i~ \Vr.o i Fon remainder-see 4tkp^e and Supplement Y-yy.

Ytofad^ ? '-^reasons*:? for? settirig?*l*«ide an old friend? Y*who??h^vb^ 'to the mark of confidence he had asked them to ?!'lfe**Hb-^?up^him.'*^,_YY' „ '■.".'''] " ■■ Y • -■ "\ V Y^rY^iAJ^aYyM-AicKiLY'^. tehius; the nomination in a written speech. Prom Yaibby of tenyearslpf age , he had; known Mi*. E!Hott ? and he;looked upon him as a ißtraighHorward and tough politician . who V wa¥fnot easily bent. His private character had been; mutilated, but he Twas- not so much to blame as people thought. He ? (Mr Mackay)vwaß manager i. of .the Hon. •Dr Ren wick's run in the Wairau in 1858, and knew something-, jof-: Mr, ;. : Elliott's affairs in the WeirauL His run was superintended by a manager, and a manager of a run was much the same as the Superintendent of a Prpyince. He was generally under an .engagement for two or three years, \and. his employer could not discharge him. He remembered Mr Elliott's manager coming to him at the Delta station, and asking permission to yard SOQO two, s four, and six 'tooth ewes, which were on their way to White's Bay. to be shipped to Otago, but the affair was so grossly mismanaged that it resulted in a loss to Mr Elliott of £10,000. After some' further remarks which it was difficult to follow, Mr Mackay concluded by seconding the nomination. T Mr WisTNET had much pleasure in nominating Mr A, J. Richmond, and in doing so he might 'almost reiterate with reference to him the remarks made by Mr Collins about Mr Elliott. Mr Richmond „ "had taken much interest in public affairs, and, he was sure, might be depended upon to give an unbiassed and unbought vote. He did not wish to detract from Mr. Elliott's services rendered by him in his position of editor of the YExaminer, but it was going rather too far to say that that paper was a supporter of the Public Works policy. He should support, and he hoped the electors generally would support Mr Richmond. Mr Bout wished to second the nomination. Good wine needed no bush, arid there was no occasion for him to expatiate on Mr Richmond's good qualities, which were well enough known to make him the popular candidate, and he sincerely hoped he would be returned., Mr C P. Kearns felt proud in proposing Mr Fedor Kelling, who well understood public matters, and had always rendered good and consistent services, notwithstanding Mr Collins crude remarks about his docility. If Mr Collins lived in the Waimea; he would soon find out that Mb Kelling bad a mind of his own. He remembered Mr Elliott advocating representative government, and was entirely with him him in doing so, but Mr Elliott had now gone over to the other, side. Mr Stafford was the first Superintendent, but what had he. done for us in the General Government ? He bad called this only half a province, and endeavored to throw . dust in our eyes. He hoped the Suburbs would not repeat the error of last election, but return Mr. Kelling. Mr Rowbotham had. great pleasure in seconding the nomination of one whom he had .known for 28 years. Mr Kelling had helped to bring into the country people he was proud to see here, and who worked hard at raising produce from the land, and thus .creating new property. He would not have any slur cast upon Mr Kelling. No other candidates being proposed, Mr Elliott said that be presented himself with considerable confidence as a candidate. He believed that the opinions of the electors were more in accordance with his own than with those of his opponents. Some remarks had been made with reference to his private business ten years ago, but no one had come forward openly in the question. If any elector had anything to ask him about it he was prepared to answer him, but in the absence of such enquiry, he should, not . now enter upon the subject. One charge against him was that he was brought forwWd as a follower of Mr Stafford, and was going in to turn out ;^^r::VogeVb.Qt-h^.Yba-l- been brought forward by tfo man nor set of men. He had ; come forward at the request of several ?of V the electors, and no one who knew him .7 would accuse him of being a follower of V any m^'.^^erh^ own, and -while ,-tielhad tM Yhe thought he was right, he bad opposed c iiim > iiejti ;?h^ Itobe in the; 'vj^on^ continue to do s so J ? All^into-^ f^sfcarj^l^ r ; ;;-$^ t^was^a^ time of great difficulty and danger, but be had failed^to discern in the addresses of his opponentsthattheycompreliended the dangerous' position ofT the' colony. However much we might desire Railway sf and iinm iYgratioD^ first see we .'; bad fo pay^fo^ them, andf cut pur^^coat according topour; ; cloth. It was better that we should mode-

rjate our .'desires/ than ; 'buraelves in ob> taining them/^]fe^ returns the ordinary revenue of the colony for the lost ten years, showing that -in 1862? "it was jE74oiOob, in 1867 : had increased to i 1,225,584, C but had ./-., since then? steadily fallen to in 1871, and in 1872 -was £1,1.18,600. And. yet while . the: revenue -was decreasing, the population had increased from 218, 000 in 1867 to 280,000 in 1872. This did not' indicate a healthy state of things. It was said the colony was prosperous, but why did it seem to be 807? Not because it was producing more, but because it was borrowing more. , Our debt had increased enormously, and that must prove the necessity of some radical reform. It was impossible to avoid seeing that going on as we were now, a crash must come before the railways already begun? were finished. Before two or three more years bad elapsed we should have interest to pay to the amount of a million out of a revenue of only a million, and a-half. The whole interest was yearly added to the principal, and all knew how rapidly a debt accumulated at compound interest. In fifteen years our debt would be doubled; this showed how long our -present prosperity would last. The only way tp save the country was to check all wasteful expenditure. But while advocating retrenchment, he did not wish it to be supposed that he was averse to railway extension; on the contrary., he looked upon tbis and immigration as the salvation of the colony, but the latter must be better conducted than at present, and a more desirable class of immigrants introduced. Another mark of our decreased progress was the decrease of tbe amount paid annually to the Provinces by the G-eneral Government, which was absorbing nearly the whole amount raised by taxation, leaving the Provinces to shift for themselves. The~ result of this extravagant .expenditure must be increased taxation.It was advocated by some that the sponge must be used (o wipe out all our debts, but tbey who talked in this way could not be aware of the lamentable effect any attempt to repudiate must have upon, our credit. With regard to Mr Yogel, be would say that he should go in to Bupport him in carrying out the present scheme of railways, but not in extravagant expenditure.' He should insist upon a thorough reform of the Civil Service. It was absurd to think that so enormous a number of officials was necessary for the government of 280,000 souls. It was nothing less than a gigantic robbery from the bard earnings of tbe people. It would be a misfortune at the present time to turn Mr Yogel out of office, and would only lead to a waste of time, and endless and useless divisions. The question was sure to arise what new taxes should be imposed. He should like to see some tax instituted by which the absentees could be reached who were deriving their means from New Zealand but spending them elsewhere, and contributing nothing to our revenues. With regard to education, he certainly should require that any general scheme that might be introduced should be based upon the. Nelson Act, which bad been found to work so well and so efficiently. Without pledging himself to compulsory education, his inclinations certainly tended that way, and he should like to see some effort made in that direction. There was one question of no little importance to country settlers, namely, the subsidising of Road Boards, whioh fully deserved support; Trom ihe Government. The 'Waimea Road Board for instance had done well the work it had undertaken, and for half what it would have cost had the Government undertaken it. The Suburban North Road Board, too, bad laid out the small funds at its. disposal ■■ most judiciously, and had constructed a road to the dividing saddle between this province and that of Marlborough, while be who! was spoken of as tlie energetic Superintendent of, that province, who it was expected would have finished his portion of the road first- bad yet not made a commencement except by talking. When we found 1 the Road Boards doing their work so efficiently and economically, it was quite sufficient proof that, they were deserving of encouragement,.; With regard to Special Settlements .he must express his regret^ at /the treatment the. resolutions of f the? provincial Council had received at the hands of the Assembly, as-, if they were to supceed,?it must be|by planting upopthem the syo.ung men who had grpwii up in the colony .V ' ; r . r . p.„ ; Yy Mr Richmond would not m rate i a speech as . that ; to which they; had ."-justYjisteri^ jformida^ 'i:he> ; hlad^vyer/ Y.litUe '-Vnioref to ''My than had ; /i-Urfcad^,:^ Jgn^^ V ?ss^ ■' uppQ *?? one r whp - was ; p^*pared jbstauncbSyL xbu ppbrtj tte ''••^present; Government; a i only?, one that had brought forward a pro- > ygreseive poljcy;^ /so^puld^e^ sue- , V

: -/r •.,,)- ,'\, p;.'-': '. jf) ;\. .: + , - « ,?. jj, ;|- ; - ,-.; ! ,. , ,' . . 'ceßsfuj:- ■ter**jQi-^a'.ipfa|Y |Mr f i pihott had eo'deavbreiirl to tak^,. ereo*.it*'tq* bimself, '; Mt? J; G; Richmppd, Mr Stafford, and ,b there for .being the first to propose such a policy, but ""he could ODly characteriao this as bosh." They had neVjer ?Yqri«ioated ajoiy-. thing bPthekind^aDd;' if they hal?*; must bave been sadly -waotiog in admioistrative ability, for they certainly bad never succeeded in putting' it into shape or, carrying : it out. HoweyeriYit %W of inp use 'ip| squabble about who was the father of the echenoe, what now remained for tbe people qf yj,he colqhy rto do was to put their shoulders to the wheel, and- seV earnestly to work in the 1 endeavor to bring it to a successful issue. Some persons had cavilled at Mr Elliott for coming forward but, for his own part, he thought it far better that he had done eoi as the electors" were now offered an opportunity of showing whether they were really in earnest in supporting the Government or whether they were only dallying with them, if, on the one hand,, they were going 'to say to Mr Yogel, "We really are very couch obliged to you.for the courtesy' you have displayed to our deputation, and the promise of assistance you have given them," and, on the other, "We have no intention of supporting you or your Government, but mean to send to Pair ; liament one who will take the earliest opportunity of turning you out of office." At all events let them thoroughly t understand that in electing hini they would be, returning as their representative one who was determined to support a Government that, as be considered, had done and was likely still to do so much for the country. Mr Kelling would not follow Mr Elliott's example in making a long speech, and in threshing old straw* as be had done. A more contradictory: speech he had seldom heard. He had told tbem that he was in favor of the Public Works and Immigration scheme, but that he did not approve of Mr Vogel's extravagant administration, and yet in the next breath had said that he intended to support Mr Yogel, who, he believed, was ruining the country. He also said that from tbe first he had advocated railways, but he certainly never agreed with the present policy",- for the Examiner had~ more than once said that it was a most reckless one, and only such as a madman would propose, to the country. Lately," however, when he found that it was generally viewed as the only means of saving the colony, and that the electors all oyer the country were in favor of it, he had* turned round and said thaWhe. scheme was a good one, but. .that somebody else than the originators must have the administration of it. Where" were the extravagances complained of? Mr Elliott had not pointed out one single' instance. Mr Stafford, he believed, was utterly incapable of carrying -put the policy as Mr Yogel intended it, namely, as a thoroughly colonial one, for he had j stated his intention of not borrowing, any more money for the purpose, except what might be voted year by year by the Parliament for Bpecial works, by which means he would simply lay the smaller provinces at the mercy of the larger ones, which were more strongly . represented in, the Bouse. The large increase;., in the debt <* to which Mr Elliott had alluded was not incurred by tbe present Government' but by those which had preceded them, and it waa extremely unfair of Mr Elliott to insinuate that the former was the, case; the provinces too had borrowed largely, and their liabilities were now included in the Colonial debt. In considering the post and actual returns of the railways, it should be remembered that the Government were not in the.;position of a speculating company who only looked to obtaining large dividends, /but that their object ,waß to open up. thei country.* ?If : these railways were constructed, the pro-; ducti ve power of the colony would, in less ; than ten years be increased tenfold. ? Mr:? Kelling then, alluded, to a irepbrtYof YbTs meeting at Stoke which had appeared in*' the Examiner,- and particularly to a reply : he was reported to have made to a'gu'esti^h' ! 'oh immigration, a question ihat hadneYer been put to hindi arid could, pbly'have;. been inserted for electioneering purposes. .' Mr Keasns asked Mr Kelling if, in the event of any new education scheiahe being brought forward, he would, be in fayqr 71 pf t v the: Bible 'being used as a pbss lbpok r inV schoolsj • Y Y'i ';?:-".; ':%'■, Z'ipY-^ f= ;.?■ Mr Kellik,g- :;-Ce*rtainly'".hptiVnT;r?? i!( Vf f ;Mr? Keabns 'asked ' -.he i would Buppor t the in troduction o^ naviansj; of Uwhdse haMtßland^mode, of Ylife? "we, knew noi hing; J .A f ',' ; . ! : YY-ZZ^ZZYp 'yy, Mr?RicHMON*P: had of v ithV; -^candinayia*fi^v(pu^ 'Be^;6.ur :'q wn-.-'conn^^^ r t Noi more ?q handsj '^'^B&i^^^^\W^^lWo s suit :— Richmond 15, EUiot't'Ti Kelling 6. '■^:j^}:^o^B^o^^^^^^^ • 'plftoe/on^^dnfesd^ [ y .Mr|Ric*aMOTO thanks to the- Returning Officer, and the ■