Page 2 Advertisements Column 1

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 653, 17 July 1852, Page 2

PENSIONER SETTLEMENTS.

To the INDEPENDENT ELECTORS of the PENSIONER SETTLEMENTS. GENTLEMEN—A Government Gazette, issued on the 6th instant, informs you that W. C. Lawlor, Esq., has been appointed Returning Officer for the Pensioner Settlements. The Resident Magistrate of Onehunga would, in the ordinary course, have been the proper officer to perform this duty ; 'out Lieutenant Symonds, it seems, is a candidate, and as such cannot be Returning Officer ; though vihy he should not attempt it I know not, for it would in no respect be more absurd or inconsistent to be both candidate and Returning Officer, than what he now seeks to be — a paid magistrate and an independent representative of one of the largest and most important constituencies of the Province. At all events we are now assured of one fact, that Lieutenant Symonds has for some time past really been a candidate, and one, too, of such high pretensions that he treats'me as beneath his notice, and you as too contemptable to be worth even half-a-guinea, the cost of publishing an address in the newspaper, At present there is not a single other candidate in the whole Province of New Ulster that has not paid the electors, whose votes he solicits, the usual compliment of publicly announcing himself to them by an address Why has not Lieutenant Symonds condescended to a like course'? Gentlemen, ask yourselves the question, — have you not though Pensioners, the same rights, the same feelings as other men ? and are you not entitled to the same courtesies ? To these questions, I presume, there can be but one answer — and then ask yourselves whether you will vote for a man, who by his conduct spurns those rights, outrages those feelings, and denies those courtesies, which are respected by every other Cnadidate in the Province. So much for Lieutenant Symonds as a Candidate. Now, what would he be as a Representative ? Suppose it were proposed to improve the Manakau harbour ; or to cut a canal from that harbour to the Tamaki, at Otahuhu ; or to make a great trunk road through Panmure and Howick to the rich and important distiict of the Thames ? Any one of these schemes would require a considerable outlay, and the money must be obtained by savings and reductions somewhere. The question really might be whether the money raised by taxation should be spent in such works or in Official Salaries. — Lieutenant Symonds's own Salary even might be in jeopardy. Can you doubt which way his inclinations and his vote would be ? Is it right tren, deliberately to place any man in a position where he would be compelled either on the one hand to make selfsacrifice or on the other to be false to the trust reposed in him, and act destructively to the interests of his constituents 1 You should recollect, Gentlemen, that it is now clear that there will be returned at least eleven members free from all Government influence and control, the nominees will be but six j will you add one to the former or to the latter. A liberal Liieutenant-Governor has distinctly informed you that you are to act as you please. This is as it should be. If the Government had required seven Official Members instead of six, a stroke of the pen would have made the alteration ; you are therefore neither expected, desired, nor asked by the Government to add another member of the Government to the Council. On the other hand you are invited by the other Constituencies of the Province to join them in electing independent representatives— if you neglect this invitation you cannot expect from those to whom you refuse co-operation either sympathy or assistance in matters which particularly affect yourselves as a body, or the villages in which you reside. You can gain nothing by electing a paid officer whose services the Government neither ask for nor require, and you have everything to lose by setting yourselves up in direct opposition to the eleven representatives of the people.. Be cautious, then, what you do, for you may rely on what I say, that the decision you will come to will operate most materially, either for good or evil, on your future position and prospects. In my first address I told you plainly that you were doubted by many, and as plainly that I was not of that number. A canvass in the different Pensioner Settlements assure me I was not deceived. I have met with a most friendly reception and liberal support. I shall ! ■undoubtedly, if it be necessary, go to the Poll, and if such be, I call on you, by an overwhelming majority in favour of a free and independent, over a paid and fettered candidate, to shame your traducers, to justify the confidence of your friends, and show to the world that as you have been good soldiers, so you are capable of becoming good citizens, and that you are ready to fight the battle of civil liberty at the hustings, as you were ever, and still are, I doubt not, if need be, to meet the enemies of your couutry in th« field. I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, W. Mason. Tamaki East Head, July 15th, 1852.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, 28lh June, 1852.

Sir,— With reference to your letter of the 25th instant, requesting to be informed whether the Local Government propose to exercise any influence whatever in the e'ection for a member for the Pensioner villages, I have the honour to intorm you, by direction of the LieutenantGovernor, that the Government have no wish, nor indeed any inclination to interfere with the freedom of election, either in one settler ment or another. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, (Signed) Andrew Ninclair, Colonial Secretary. W. Mason, Esq. /Tamaki.

FOR SALE.

QUBURBAN LAND at £7 per acre, within \\ miles from Town. Two Allotments, ho, 4 and 6, containing 25 acres, 0 roods 26 perches. Apply to Joseph Newman, Land Agent, ilemuera, 21st June, 1852.