ELECTION MEETING AT ONEHUNGA.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 739, 14 May 1853, Page 3

ELECTION MEETING AT ONEHUNGA.

The following is a Report of the Speech delivered by Mr. Smythies at the Meeting- of the Supporters of Colonel Wynyard, held at Onehunga, on Wednesday, 4th May, to which we referred in our paper of Saturday last:— If agreeable to this meeting, Mr. Chairman, I will make a few observations which, perhaps may, by some, be found useful at the present crisis. Suppose, fellow colonists, I were to consult any one of you upon the merits of a horse which I proposed to purchase, would you not enquiro for what work the horse was* intended, whether for the plough, the cart, or the saddle? And must I not inform you upon this point, before you could form an opinion upon the merits of the animal ? If this be true with regard to a horse, is ;it not at least equally so with regard to the subject before us? You have, no doubt, most of you, been asked to vote for this person or for that to be Superintendent of this Province, and you have come here this evening to discuss the rival candidates; but let me ask you,—Do you know the meaning of the term Superintendent-? Are you acquainted with the duties which are attached to the office ? Have you studied our new Constitution sufficiently to inform yourselves of the position which the office of Superintendent bears in the governing body of the colony ? And are you aware how the performance of the duties of that office will affect you individually and the province generally ? Because, let me tell you, that unless you are thus informed, you are not in a position to exercise the great privilege which has been entrusted to you in a manner creditable to yourselves, and beneficially to your adopted country. If there are any here who desire information upon these points, I shall have much pleasure in imparting to them such knowledge as I have, myself, with some care and diligence, been able to gather from the documents which have been published—a knowledge, though, I must admit, crude and imperfect, but which, though partial, may call forth further and better information from others, to our mutual advantage. [The meeting, having intimated a wish that Mr. Smythies should proceed]— I will then, gentlemen, continued Mr. S., with as much brevity as is compatible with a clear exposition, lay before you the principles upon which this colony is for the future to be governed under the new constitution ; principally with a view to the subject before us, and ascertaining the position and duties of the Superintendent, the better to enable you to judge of the merits of the candidates for that office. First, then, the new constitution establishes that which is a near approach to the British Constiiution of Queen, Lords, and Commons, under the title of the General Assembly, which is composed of the Governor, the Legislative Council, and the House of Representatives. With the Governor and his position you are already well acquainted. He represents the Queen, and is, in the colony, what the Queen is in the parent country, acting, nevertheless, under the directions of the Home Government, communicated to him through the Colonial Office. The Legislative Council is assimilated to the House of Lords. The members of the latter are appointed by the Queen, and their office, if I may use the term, is not only for life, but hereditary, which posseswes this great objection : —that a man may be, and frequently is, created a legislator for life for the great talents of which he has shown himself possessed, and his laws receive the ready sanction of the people from the known wisdom of their framer, but his son, who succeeds to his title and

legislative powers, may be very infirm in intellect, or what is worse, positively mischievous, and his laws may not only he despised, but dreaded. In this respect we have the advantage of the mother country, ihe members of the Legislative Council are appointed by the Governor, but thev hold their office for life only, and as we may presume they will be selected for their virtues and talents, we shall obtain all the good to he derived from tbeir personal abilities, leaving their sons, upon their decease, to be raised to the position of their fathers, or left in harmless obscurity, according as they shall appear to inherit or not the virtues and talents of their ancestors. The House of Representatives, like the British House of Commons, is elected by the people. It consists of thirtyseven members, twelve of whom are to be returned by the Province of Auckland. They hold these seats for five years, subject to deposition (among other causes) by absence from the Assembly for two successive sessions. These three bodies, the Governor, the Legislative Council, and the House of Representatives, conbired, form the source from which all future laws for the General Government of this colony are to spring, with a few excepted subjects, reserved for the more matured wisdom of the parent country ; and although a considerable power of legislation is granted to the Provincial Councils (of which I shall speak presently), yet the legislation of the General Assembly is paramount, and not to be controlled or repudiated by that of the Provincial Councils. There is one subject embraced in the sphere of legislation appropriated to the General Assembly to which I wish to draw your particular attention, namely, the control of the public funds. It is provided that "After and subject to the payments to be made under the provisions hereinbefore contained, all the revenue arising from taxes, duties, rates, and imposts levied by virtue of any act of the General Assembly and from the disposal of waste lands of the Crown under any such act made in pursuance of the authority herein contained, sball be subject to be appropiiated to such specific purposes, as by any act of the said General Assembly shall be prescribed in that behalf; and the surplus of such revenue which shall not be appropriated as aforesaid shall be divided among the several provinces, for the time being, established in New Zea 1 nd, under, or by virtue of this act, in the like proportions as the gross proceeds of the said revenue shall have arisen therein respectively, and shall bo paid over to the respective Treasuries of such provinces for the public uses thereof, and shall be subject to the appropriation of the respective Provincial Councils of such provinces." By this you perceive, thai all the monies received in the Province of Auckland rre to be subject to the appropriation of the Legislative Council, and that it is only such residue as they may be unable or unwilling to spend which will be applicable to tbe making the roads, the bridges, the wharfs, and other public works of the Province. Another feature in the General Assembly, worthy of remark is, that it may be summoned to hold its sittings in such place as the Governor shall appoint. Under existing circumstances, it is not preposterous to suppose the case of the General Assembly being called to sit at Wellington, in which case, your representatives will be required to leave their homes, their farms, their warebouses —the sources of their wealth, or the means of providing their daily bread; the scenes alike of their cares and their endearments, and to banish themselves for an indefinite period, probably every year, to a place which in respect of at least present intercommunication, is infinitely more distant than any spot in the United Kingdom the most distant from the metropolis. And should this sacrifice not be made, should your represen' t ; ves prefer ease to duty, business to honour, your interests must give way to that of other Provinces whose representatives shall be possessed of more patriotic zeal; and you must not then be surprised if you see the commerce of your ports drawn off to rivals possessing better accommodation from their public wharfs, and an improved navigation, from their light-houses, tbeir buoys, their surveys, and other advantages, obtained by spots favored with the command of the public purse ; or at seeing your Province, pre-eminently endowed though it is by the gifts of natnre, waning intojpoverty and insignificance for want of the improvements to be derived from art. I need not, for our present enter into further details of the General Assembly, but I will therefore proceed to a consideration of the other legislative body,—the Provincial Council : The islands of New Zealand are divided into six provinces, in each of which there is to be a local legislative body, or Provincial Council, upon the principle of what I may call the late Municipal Council, hut possessing, I conceive, greater powers, and promising, I hope, greater utility. The Council of the Province of Auckland is to consist of twenty-four members, to be elected by the inhabitants, four of whom are to be returned by the Pensioner Settlements. As at present arranged, the four settlements are to unite in electing the four members ; but it appears to me at this first view of the subjeer, that it would be more for your interest and convenience if each settlement elected its own member ; because the several settlements must be, in most important matters, antagonistical, and tbe joint representatives will find a difficulty in giving satisfaction to their separate constituencies, in supporting their opposing interests in the Provincial Council. But this is not the time for discussing this subject, and 1 will therefore proceed with the matter before us. The Provincial Council will confine its sphere of legislation to the local Government of its province, and more particularly to the appropriation of tbe public money yielded up by tbe General Assembly for its particular benefit. In immediate connexion with the Provincial Council, but forming no part of it, nor having any seat in the bouse, is the Superintendent of the Province. As the Governor represents the Queen in tbe General Assembly, so the Superintendent represents the Governor in the Provincial Council. It is his duty to fix the time and place of its meetings ; to recommend to them the several subjects for their consideration ; and to consent to, or dissent from, the acts which they sball pass. In this he is to act under, and in strict obedience to, the instructions of the Governor, with which he will, from time to time, be furnished for that purpose. And here I wish particularly to impress upon your attention that the Provincial Council is not empowered to appropriate any money to any purpose, except to such as the Superit iendent shall have first recommended the Council to make provision. The Superintendent is elected by the whole body of electors of the Province. The persons having the right of election, are the male inhabitants of the province, of the age of twenty-one years, who, having a Freehold Estate of the clear value of £bo, and of which he has had possession for six months previously to the time of registration ; a leasehold estate of the annual value of £lO, having three years at the least to run, or of which he has had three years possession ; or being a householder, residing within towns proclaimed for that purpose, of the annual value of 101 , or without such townsjof the annual value of £5. and having resided therein six months previous to registration, shall register their claim to vote at the place appointed, and which, for the Pensioner Settlements is the Police-of-fice in Auckland, this year, previously to the 15th day of May instant, and in future years in the month of April. And here '«dme diverge a moment from the general thread of my relation, to impress upon you the necessity of each of you holding a qualification, to register it, and not only that, but also to register a qualification, if you have it, in each of the districts; because you may, as a householder in Onehunga, vote for the representatives of Onehunga, and, as a freeholder in Auckland, vote for the representatives of Auckland, and so with each of the districts. And let me beg of you to consider this as a duty which has been imposed upon you for your own benefit and for that of your children, and for the neglect of which you will be answerable to your own conscience, and to them. Shrink not from the small trouble which it requires, under the supposition that you are indifferent as to who is Superintendent or who is Councillor. This may be so, but you are not indifferent about the prosperity of your adopted country. You are not indifferent whether tbe advantages of the Port of Auckland, and I may now say, of Onehunga, induce the shipping of the neighbouring colonies to resort there, and raise the price of your potatoes from 40s. to five or six pounds per ton. You are not indifferent whether it requires one or two horses to take your cart to Auckland, or whether you can go thither dry shod, or be just smothered in mire. Act, then, as if these advantages were to be obtained by your single vote, and leave it not to others to be the arbiters of your fortunes, under the common, but most fallacious argument, that there will be plenty without your troubling yourself about tbe matter. But there is another reason why you should be diligent in registering your vote. We have just been entrusted with selfgovernment, and the eyes of England will be upon us with eager curiosity, to see tbe effect which it will produce upon the colony, and whether or no its inhabitants prize the boon which has been granted, and in this We shall be judged mainly by the electoral roll and perhaps other favours may be waiting the result of this experiment. There exists, unhappily, some jealousy between the several provinces, and of course each one very naturally is desirous of presenting itself in the most favourable light, to attract the hesitating settler; and do you not imagine that the electoral roll will often be applied to, to ascertain tbe relative value of tbe Provinces as a place of settlement? But to return to our ques-

tion. Such, then, gentlemen, are the prominent features of our Constitution, promising to us much good if the forces placed in our hands are properly directed; but at the same time rife with much evd to any province which may be careless or improvident in carrying out its provisions. There is a great difference between the present system of local government and that attempted by the Charter of Incorporation. Under that we might either progress or remain stationary. We were at liberty either to take advantage of its benefits, if it afforded any, or to leave it as a dead letter if it did not answer the purposes for which it was intended ; but under the new Constitution, the several provinces are started in a race for national prosperity, in which we must either gain or lose the prize. There can be no indifference, no remaining stationary, and Auckland must either sustain its position, or fall back to a second or third-rate settlement. Now, gentlemen, you cannot fail to perceive that the Superintendent holds a very important position in the race which is set before us. It will rest with him to support our representatives in the General Assembly, and to supply any deficiencies which may occur through their want of attendance, with a voice which may extend to the Seat of the General Government, wherever that may be, and with a force of argument which shall carry conviction to those who will have to deal "with our interests. It will therefore be necessary that our Superintendent be a person of high moral courage, known integrity, possessing abilities both natural aud acquired, calm in judgment, persuasive in eloquence, and possessing the suaviter in modo so useful in convincing an opponent of the value of an argument. Again, he must be one to whom the members of the Provincial Council shall look up to with respect, and with whom they can work in perfect unanimity. He would be better for possessing such a stake in the country as might act as a spur to his exertions, but at the same time that stake should not be such as might tempt him to recommend an expenditure of the public money, rather for the promotion of his private interest than the public good. But above all things it is absolutely necessary, for the perfect protection and furtherance of our interests, that the Superintendent stand on terms of the most friendly and confidential nature with the Governor of the Colony. It can require no argument, gentlemen, to convince you that between principal and agent, not only a confidential, hut a friendly feeling ought to exist, and that without them business cannot be properly con > ducted ; and should the individual elected as our Superintendent not stand in such a relation to the present Governor Sir George Grey, who will be the sufferer? Of course, the Province. It is from the Governor alone that we can obtain any amelioration in our laws, for his consent is necessary to every alteration in them, and it is in his power to extend to us or withhold from us many advantages, both of a public and a private nature; and by whom can he be more readily influenced while absent from our Province, which he needs must often be, than by his own deputy, the Superintendent ? If, then, it is neces* sary for us to take advantage of every favourable circumstance, to clear our course of every impediment, and to gain over to our side every assisting power within our reach, how necessary it becomes that we be careful in the selection of a fit and proper person to become our Superintendent, that he possess at least this qualification, of holding a good understanding with the Governor. Now, in looking at the respective merits of the candidates before us, Mr. Brown and Colonel Wynyard, without paying attention to what has been urged against Mr. Brown's private ar.d public character, it appears to me that he has, by his own acts, wholly disqualified himself for the office of Superintendent, by the bitter and uncompromising personal hostility which he has shown to the Governor. We all recogn'ze in Mr. Brown the proprietor of the Southern Crnss 7 and know that that paper is put forth as giving publicity to his sentiments, and no one can peruse his paper without perceiving how mercilessly the Governor has been treated in the columns of that paper,, Whether or not the charges brought forward are true, whether or not tbe Governor is the malefactor he is there represented, is nothing to the purpose ; we have not to try the merits of those parties. We have no voice in the election or removal of the Governor. Sir George Grey is the individual appointed by Her Majesty to preside over this colony, and whether he be good, bad, or indifferent, we must take him for better, for worse ; and in spite of all that has been said I think we have every right to expect that he will do all in his power to promote: the best interests of the entire community. It is our duty to make the best of our position, and our care is limited to the election of such a person as, with a firm, yet conciliating manner will check any tendency on the part of the Governor to neglect our interests, and with an earnest zeal assist him in promoting our welfare. Taking no wider view of the subject, then, than regarding the hostility towards the Governor, as exhibited in the columns of Southern Cross, as the personal hostility of Mr. Brown, I think he is not in a position to be set forward as the medium of communication between this Province and the Governor, or that in his hands the office of Superintendent will aflord us every facility in running the race of national independence which it is capable of affording. But there is another subject of disqualification of Mr. Brown which must not be overlooked. By tbe Act giving birth to our Constitution, Her Majesty is empowered to delegate to the Superintendent of any province her power of purchasing from the natives any of their lands within the province. It is very probable that "it may be of great advantage to a province that this power should be in the hands of one who, from his local position, would be peculiarly fitted to judge of the merits of the case, and whose immediate connexion with the province would be a guarantee for the power being used in a manner the most beneficial to all parties. This delegation would be made or withheld, doubtless, according to the advice of the Governor; and can you suppose that Mr. Brown is such an one as the Governor would recommend as a fit person to be the delegate of such a power ? Mr. Brown is a gentleman holding a large stake in this colony, and he has certaiily qualifications to fit him for n sent in either the House of Representatives or the Provincial Council, but I do not deem him a fit and proper person to hold the office of Superintendent of this Province. With regard to the other candidate. Col. Wynyard, I confess that, though it may be but a prejudice, I would rather see a civilian than a military officer the occupant of the office, but we have had the advantage of seeing this gentleman in a somewhat similar position,— Deputy Governor, and fulfilling the duties of that situation to the mutual satisfaction of the Governor and of the Province ; we have good reason to believe, therefore, that should he be elected, he will promote our interests with the same zeal and ability as he displayed under his former trust, and I have, therefore, made up my mind to give him my vote on the day of election, and I hope you, gentlemen will do the same.