COUNTY ELECTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 278, 21 December 1876, Page 4

COUNTY ELECTION.

WAI-ITI RIDING. The nomination for . this Riding of the County of Waimea took place on Thursday last at the Institute, Motueka Valley. The Returning Officer (Mr C. Canning) declared

Mr Oliver, nominated by Messrs J. i lower and W. Louden, duly elected, and invited him to address the electors present. Mr Oliver, having thanked the electors present for the fresh proof of their confidence in electing him to represent their Riding in the County Council, and having referred to his former political connection with the Waimeas, said: It is not easy to foresee what wiil be. the precise action of this new Counties system in relation to the good government bf the colony, but 1 am inclined to attach more importance to it than many others, ' indeed it appears to me the most important change in the administration since Sir G. Grey set in motion tbe machinery of the Provincial Councils some twenty years ago, and to the hasty and perfunctory action of the then Governor may perhaps be traced back the worst evils that afterwards grew up in those bodies. We- are now returning somewhat to the form of Government apparently designed for us by the Imperial Parliament in our Constitution Act. Good and thorough local self-government is what this colony needs. The tendencies to centralise at Wellington are in my opinion all in the wrong direction. To one coming from Europe it seems ineffably ridiculous to find a ■handful of Englishmen, in numbers a mere drop in the ocean of people of one of the great cities of the world, submitting to support a huge paraphernalia. Here we have Ministers of State with high-sounding titles, and not far short of 200 members of the two Houses, in fact the whole framework and machinery of some vast and populous Empire with its countless ramifications— to do what? Simply to administer the public affairs of some two or three hundred thousand colonists, and withal the work seems to be done very badly. There are some, present who emigrated from the old country; well, for what did you leave your homes and break up old ties,. and face the hardships of the early days, here? Was it to set up a more arbitrary, and more expensive form of government than the one you left behind, or at a heavy cost to your pockets to be misrepresented by a Parliament sitting at a small sea port town" on the north side of the Straits, the members of which appear to think that the whole duty of public men consists in wrangling like old fishwives during near half of the year instead of transacting the business of the public with despatch audeconomy. You emigrated no doubt in order to be more simply and inexpensively governed; to be relieved from the pressure of taxation incidental to old countries, but intolerable in new ones; to obtain laud; to found homesteads acd farms, and thus secure your own future and that of your children after you. Well, for land to be farmed usefully roads must exist, and in my opinion the maiii roads for opening the country should be made at first at the public cost, and afterwards banded over to the Road Boards for future up-keep and maintenance, at the charge of the respective districts.^ The management of the roads in a new country is perhaps the most important of public duties, and in this matter the Council should be the brain of the county and the Road Boards its bauds. The fewer officials and the smaller the staff of the Council the better, for the settlers themselves are the best of road surveyors and road makers. Now only yesterday I win' by the new road over the ridge into the Brook. There is a mile and a half of side cutting all the way through heavy bush on a steep hillside. It is really, a great credit to our Road Board, and the cost surprisingly small, and altogether a vastly tetter piece of work than the. cutting down Spooner's Range, which was laid off by an eminent Provincial road surveyor over an open fern hill. • Besides it is surely, sound policy to give the up-country settlers employment upon the public works, which in new districts affords them a legitimate help in their Struggle with the wilderness. , Now, if the Couuty Council is not to be a mere dead letter and a sham, in my opinion the Chairman ought not to be a sedentary dummy, he should make himself familiar with every nook and cranny of the County, so as to be able to enlighten his colleagues upon the proposals and requisitions sent in by the Road Boards. The County may ibe -viewed as a great estate to be managed aud developed, and the first thing is to devise a general scheme of roads and public works to be steadily carried out step by step with the concurrence of the ratepayers. The hot haste of the Wellington Government in bringing the Counties Act into operation is even more culpable, and inexcusable than the former precipitancy of Sir G. Grey in establishing the provinces, and the good working of tne measure is thus seriously endangered. No doubt it will be competent for the Councils to investigate and take action upon the circumstances under which they were called into existence, more particularly when the bill of costs is sent in to them, so that the ratepayers may not be made the victims of official carelessness and mis-nanagement. Everyone is ridiculing the blunders of the Central Government, and for what earthly reason, for instance, have they dubbed us the Riding of Wai-ili? But really more serious errors than these are no laughing matter, for the County funds will not bear to be thus fooled away. I hope that the Counties may grow up to be strong and useful political units; their functions and duties appear to • mc to be of a very important character, and the measure itself one of the most serious hitherto put into force in the colony— let us hope the results will be to increase the well heing of the colonists. We are all engaged in building up a nation destined without doubt to play some considerable part in the world's future history, aud these ■first steps in political organization should be taken with much caution. I trust that prudence and economy will be the motto of the Councils, but we must not rush blindly from Provincial extravagance too much into the other extreme. Let us make them efficient and workable bodies even at some little necessary expense. Their power of action will then perhaps disappoint the Centralists. Again I thank you for the confidence you have reposed in me. It will be a privilege to serve you to the best of my ability, and to use my humble endeavors to promote the welfare both of your riding and that of the noble county to which we belong. Mr J. H. Symes rose and proposed a vote of ; thanks to Mr Oliver for coming forward as their candidate, and for the interest he had always evinced in their bedalf; be felt sure that the settlers wpnld from personal knowledge fully agree with him, He then went on to say that always having been an admirer of the Colonist, and considering that that paper had deserved well of the public for its "able and zealous discussion of the measures of the late Assembly, he deeply regretted the personal abuse that the Editor had thought fie to use towards Mr Oliver, as they were well aware that it was only personal enmity and beyond the bounds of just criticism. As regarded the duties of the Council, if the electors generally made as j udicious a choice as they bad done to-day they would do good work, for if the members oi the Council did their work and duty prpperly they would be (the means of opening up eon.tnuiricaiion through the country and from place to place, and having decided ou those roads to be opened up would dq well to leave their construction to the respective lt6ad Boards. Mr Olives said he would be glad if his

remarks or those of other candidates provoked healthy and honest criticism, as in that -way a sound public opinion would be formed, and tbe ratepayers be properly represented, and they would not be working so much in the dark. The meeting then separated.