THE SUPERINTENDENCY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 12, 15 April 1871, Page 5

THE SUPERINTENDENCY.

THE DOMINATION Took place in front of the Supreme Court House at noou on Thursday, 6th inst;, and a very large body of electors was present. The Returning Officer (Mr Crawford), after reading the writ, called upon the propoflers and seconders of candidates to come forward; and intimated he would take the candidates in alphabetical order. Mr TbueMan then proposed Mr H. Anderson as a fit and proper person to be elected Superintendent. The speaker depicted the woes of the province, its bankrupt state, and after eulogising the abilities of Mr Anderson generally, and reminding the electors of the way in which he had advocated their rights and fought their battles while Editor of the Independent, hoped they would at once show their gratitude and confidence by placing Mr Anderson at the head of the poll, and by so doing for ever knock off the chains which had so long been rivetted round them. John Babeett seconded. Mr Cornelius Croft then appeared as his own proposer. He didn't want one, as he had the high authority of Sheridan, who, in an election for Westminster, proposed himself. He (Con) did not mean to say that be had been altogether without a proposer, but the fact of it was he had got so drunk that he could not come to time. The Ketpbning Officer referred to the Electoral laws; and insisted upon Con finding another proposer, but failing to do this, and after some bantering remarks from the crowd, Con retired. Mr A. A. Pilmer proposed, and Mr George Waters, seconded, the nomination of Mr Finnimore. Mr W. W. Taylor said it had been his fate on many occasions to propose candidates on that platform for the suffrages of the electors; but he could say that he never felt so strong an inclination to read the electors a lecture on their duties as citizens as on that occasion. They were prone, occasionally, to talk rather glibly of the privileges of freemen, of the glorious constitution under which they lived, while they were at the same time very apathetic in the performance of their duties. They should remember that that day's work was not a work of amusement. T£ their affairs had been mismanaged, they would not be acting wisely in sending in a man to act as Superintendent whom they knew to be incompetent to fill that office. It was because he knew they were men of intelligence that he ventured to make those remarks. He had no speech to make to them; he merely came to propose Mr Fitzherhert, because he knew that in electing him they would be. electing a man fully qualified to fulfil all the requirements of that high position ; in fact, it would be almost an insult to the common sense of the Province to doubt that Mr Fitzherbert would be • elected. He therefore sincerely hoped that Mr Fitzherbert—who was a man of education, of ability, of colonial reputation —would be elected, and elected by such a majority as would give him heart and courage to face and grapple with the many difficulties that surrounded the position of Superintendent of this province. (Voice: " He's an owld dodger." Another voice: " You ought to be up as a candidate yourself.") His Worship the Mayor said be felt sure, in seconding the nomination, it was not necessary for him to say a single word in favor of Mr Fitzherbert, as it would be only insulting good sense not to think him a more fit person for the office than any of the other persons who had offered themselves. They must recollect this was an important day for the province, and ono on which they were to consider whether they would disgrace themselves in the eyes of the whole of New Zealand. Although he (the Mayor) was generally considered as belonging to the Provincialist party, he hacL always considered a change of some sort necessary; but it must be manifest to them that a man of ability was never more wanted than while that change was being made, and for that reason he thought the present occasion was one on which they should have a man of ability to represent them. Bill Taylor : It's too much ability what's got us into a mess. J. Sims proposed Mr Masters. He fully concurred in the remarks made by Mr Taylor, and if that gentleman had only himself, he (Mr Sims) should not have taken the position of proposing another candidate. But, as it was, he had known Mr Masters a long time, and knew him to be a tried man, and one of considerable experience, who always carried through anything he took in hand. Mr War. Campbell seconded, and added that Mr Masters' qualifications for the office were so well known that he need say nothing about them. The different candidates having been proposed and seconded, Bill Taylor called out for , Mr Anderson, who said that before going into the question as to his own merits or demerits as a candidate for the Superintendency, he would first of all allude to one or two attacks made on his personal and private character in the Independent, one of which especially was of a most gross nature, and calculated to do a considerable amount of damage to him in his candidature. It would not be just to himself nor to those who asked him to come forward not to answer the Independent;—(Voice: Answer the "Wanganui Herald") —but having the wish to do this thing, he was glad to see the proprietor before him. Mr Anderson then again explained why his last meeting was a failure, and how 300 working men were obliged to go away disappointed (the statement was received with loud laughter) owing to the bungling of his committee. He did not mind the skit which burlesqued that meeting : that was a mere electioneering matter j but there, was a certain

letter which appeared in the Independent. For that letter the proprietor of that paper should be held to answer in a court of law. (Hear, hear.) Mr Anderson then proceeded to comment upon the obnoxious letter—this vile and wicked thing. He would pass over that part oY the letter which dealt with the relative merits of the other candidates, and come to the last paragraph, in the opening lines of which it said, " Well, Mr Anderson has ability of a certain sort." He humbly bowed to the Independent for the admission, for it ought to know. He made the Independent during the ten years he was its editor (A voice: It's a lie ; you nearly ruined it). The letter then said he had no experience. But he could confidently ask them did these ten years afford him no experience—a period during which he had been brought into contact with all the leading public men of New Zealand, and during which he had been consulted by them again and again on all the great questions affecting the country. The real truth was that he knew the ropes too well, and they knew it, and that was why he was being so Btrongly opposed. Then, as to the ineligibility of a man who had not a seat in the House of Representatives : it was a perfect piece of humbug to say it was necessary that a candidate for the Superintendency must belong to that House. As to his absence from his first session in the Provincial Council; he alleged that that paticular session was an extraordinary one; and when he re cieved notice of it—he was at the time assistant editor of the " Cross"—he could not have attended, even if he had started by the first steamer. This he assured them on his simple word of honor. In fact very few of the members attended at all that session, and thp reason wasvery well understood by everyone,and by his little round friend in front of him, who now opposed his old editor, because he would not work his little fakements for him. However, he was large-minded enough to forgive all that. As to the aspersions made on his private character, " that the records of the Resident Magistrates' Courts, both in Welling- ! ton and Wanganui, show his election would be a disgrace to the province, and to every individual elector in it"—that was the kind of slander which the little round man assailed him with. Well, he would answer these. When be was young and foolish, when he had more biceps and less temper, when he was in the habit of knocking down people who insulted him or his nationality, he had been guilty of some of those things, though he was ashamed of them now, as he had seen their folly. Mr Anderson then recounted his horsewhipping exploit, which he asserted was done on behalf of the Independent, and in which Mr 'M'Kenzie stuck to him like a brick. v Beyond that there was nothing that could possibly be obtained against him, either in the police court in Wellington or Wanganui. He admitted he was sometimes a violent man, but, as he said before, he had learnt the folly and error of that. But he had forgotten : he was once fined one shilling in Wanganui for, kick ing a man out of his office ; and any mar, or body of men, who would get up such charges at a time like this, and when they were done in his interest—(Voice: " What about Cattell ?") —was no man. The speaker then referred to his pecuniary circumstances. He was poor certainly, but not so absolutely sunk in poverty that,he could nob fight the battle right through the province—he would fight it to the death, Mr Anderson then referred to the sublime narrative in that good book (which he was afraid too many did not pay sufficient attention to) wherein is told how our Saviour delivered the woman taken in adultery by writing on the ground —" He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her." Let the Scribes and Pharisees —the aristocrats and wealth owners —who were opposing him take'thathome to th<sir own consciences. The speaker then dropped personal matters altogether, and began abusing the other candidates. Mr Masters was a poor old man —or old maier, as he had been, called, which meant old woman, —who did not represent one-tenth of the electors. , The other nine-tenths were represented by the speaker. Mr Fitzherbert had deliberately insulted the electors at the Athenaeum, and had been happily-named when he was called the political Fagan of New Zealand—the title had been admirably deserved by him. Place, and pay, and power, had always been his creed, whether serving in a Fox, or Weld, or Stafford ministry ; but he did not blame him, as the man had only acted according to his lights. He too, (Mr Anderson) might have made his little game ; but he had never done so. because he stuck fast by certain old-fashioned principles, whether his proprietor liked them or not; and he advocated them until he advocated himself out of his situation. The next in order was Mr Finniniore—the best auctioneer he ever saw, but who only came forward because he was offended that the Provincial Government had not given him certain auction sales of Manawatu land. He was a capital fellow, who would make an ' excellent bank clerk, as he had been but certainly was not the sort of man to make the best possible Superintendent. He was not gifted with that high order of intellect—that creative power, to devise great, schemes and make others work them out; and if they put him in they must expect to see the province come to unmitigated grief. He would say nothing about Mr Masters. The poor old man knew as much public affairs as a Hindoo did about skating ; and considering there was no ice in Hindbstan, that could not be very much. He hoped the old man would go back to the Wairarapa and frisk up his heels in one of his own grass paddocks, as that was about all he was fit for. Mr Anderson then proceeded to deal with the finance of the province, bb shown in the last Estimates brought down in the Provincial Councel, the backwardness of surveys, and added that he would be prepared to submit a scheme to effect a transition to a more econo-

mical and simple system of Government, and altogether" make the province one of the most flourishing Bpots on earth. All the eleotors had to. do was to show that they were not slaves, sots, and cowards, by breaking the chains in which they had been bound for twenty years by that tyrant Featherston, and voting for Anderson. It was Anderson, freedom, and progress, as against the. Featherston rule, slavery, and stagnation. Mr Finnimore would not make a long speech. He had been a patient listener to Mr Anderson, and his abuse of him. He would not return the compliment in any way, but would merely say it was not so long since Mr Anderson went to Auckland, and whilst there abused Wellington in every possible way, even , to calling it the end of the earth. The electors seemed to have forgotten that entirely. As to himself or any other man being the fittest person to elect as Superintendent, that was for the electors' to decide. He could say he had not been ambitious in the matter; but when asked by a number of electors to'come forward, he/had deemed it his duty to do so ; and although not exactly born in Wellington, he was very nearly born in it. As to his capacity, he was well known as a man of business; and he should be actually ashamed to ask the electors for their votes if his moral character was the same as that of Mr Anderson— (Billy Taylor : Now that's what % I call blackguard.)—He was well known'* throughout the province as an honorable man; and if he had not much political experience, he had at least served the country in a military capacity, and for which he had never received any compensation. He had, however, given these services with good intentions, and he thought he had saved the Government perhaps half a million of money—saved money, too, to those standing round him at present; he would not say he had saved them from absolute ruin, but certainly he had saved them thousands of pounds any way. His thoughts were not collected enough for a set speech, for they must recollect that he had had a hard ride, having come from Wanganui in seventeen hours. In his district he had always opposed Provincialism consistently; still he did not wish to abuse the late Superintendent or his Executive. He did not fall out with individuals; he fell out with a system. They must have a cheaper form of government both by municipal corporation and county boards. That there could be no question about, and he felt they would bear him out in his view. He had opposed the present form of Provincial Government for the last ten years ; and he considered he possessed ordinary ability, although Mr Anderson didn't seem to think so. It would take too long to go thoroughly into tnis question of changing the government, and he did not think a man could be found idiotic enough to come forward and say " Here's a system which will extricate you and place you in a sound financial position." He might say, however, that he was a liberal and progressive man ; and if he. got into office would endeavor to carry out with the assistance of the Council such measures as would save them from taxation. If the Council refused to carry out these objects he should dissolve it and make the country send in men who would support the Superintendent. That would be his first course; but he hoped they would not ask him too inquisitively as to the exact mode in which he proposed to act, as that would be enlightening his opponents to his disadvantage as they must readily see. As to' immigration, a different system alaltogether was wanted. They must strike at once at the root of the evil. They must begin with the land, survey it, and throw it open for selection. As it was now, a man spent perhaps £3OO or £4OO upon it, but very often found himself, through the present iniquitous system, a ruined man after a few years, instead of a successful pioneer. He did not see why they should bring foreigners into the country; if they eradicated the present evil, he could assure them they could get really first class settlers who would only be too happy to leave Australia and the neighboring colonies in hundreds —energetic men with families and a few hundred pounds in their possession—once they saw their way clear and knew of our magnificent climate and fertile soil. The speaker then referred to the disgraceful state of the surveys, by which people had been in possession of land for sixteen and seventeen years, and knew no more about it actually than a stranger in the crowd. Such things were not only a disgrace to Wellington but a disgrace to the whole colony. The fact of it was, we were too much governed altogether, and this was shown in nothing so much as in our taxation, which was enormous ; for we found ourselves paying £lO per head instead of 15s 4d as in America. In conclusion he thanked the electors for the attentive way in which they had listened to him ; they had listened to him in former times, but never so courteously as now, and certainly more so than he expected. (Applause). Mr Fitzherbert then came forward, and was received with groans by Billy Taylor and congenial Bpirits of his order. He had not much to say to them that day, and what little he had he would endeavor to compress as briefly as possible. He was not prepared to make a speech, nor did he think it necessary. He had not come to make any promises, nor to offer any apologies. (Derisive laughter from Bill Taylor and his friends). Norjdid he intend to say a word to induce them to elect him in preference to any of the other candidates who had offered themselves ; and certainly that was not presenting a very enticing programme with which to invite their suffrages for the highest honor they could confer. If they thoughtproper to elect him,he would simply say—not meaning to offer any offence by such curtness of expression—you Can do so if you please. If not, they had the other alternative ; either course was quite open to them. (Oh, oh!) If there were more persons in the province of Wellington who sympathised with

the opinions of Mr Anderson, it was simply the duty of those persons to return that man. If, on the other hand, their suffrages ought to be given to Mr Finnimore, that ought to be taken as conclusive proof that in the province there were more minds in unison with the opinions on which Mr Finnimore founded his platform. The same remark applied to Mr Masters. With regard to himself: if they chose him, after the experience they bad had of him —he would not say whether for good or for bad—he would only say he would be willing to do his best for them. He originally came forward very reluctantly; but if elected, would undertake the duties —and without pretending to be over-modest, he saw difficulties enough in the position to make any man shrink from them with some degree of apprehension and diffidence; at any rate he saw enough to appal him, and he had not hitherto been accustomed to be frightened at a little. He could forsee numerous difficulties, numerous complications, pertaining to this position, that not many were aware of. Whilst he considered the office of Superintendent to be one of the most honorable, as well as of the most arduous, he who filled it was at the same time the servant and slave of the people, a man at everyone's beck, andone whom no one thanked —it was at once the most ungracious and most honorable office. If the position was so in ordinary times, how much more so was it in the present crisis of the affairs of the Province of Wellington ? No one could say that our affairs were in a flourishing condition, and that the exchequer was full of money ; and no one who might be called upon to assume the government of the province and of the people, could say that he could show them the way out of theii; difficulties. They talked very glibly of the evils of their position, and proposed various nostrums, but very very few had fathomed the full difficulty of their position. At any rate, he was not the man to tell them that he was prepared with a remedy indeed, he doubted very much whether he could do any good whatsoever but whoever was elected should be'supported with a spirit of confidence from the people without which his efforts, or those of any other man, would be rendered of little avail. As it was well known with what reluctance he came forward, they must not be surprised when he told them he did not intend to fight the battle himself. It was not his intention to attend any public meetings, nor to visit the various portions of the province for the purpose of soliciting votes; for he did not intend to take one single step to further his election. He would only refer the electors to hie past acts, and to the speech he made a few weeks ago at the Athenceum in reply to a number of gentlemen who came to him as a deputation asking him to become a candidate for the Superintendency. To what he then said he could refer them, as it was an embodiment of his opinions generally; but in' addition to that he would reiterate one point: it was not his intention, should the electors return him, to hold office later than the termination of the next session' of the General Assembly, say six months from that time. His advice to the Provincial Council then would be to request the Governor to grant a dissolution. Hi 3 object in so doing was, that during the interval the colonial policy would have become a fact; they wouldhave seen how it affected this portion of the province, and they would also probably have made up their minds as to the exact nature of the change they really desired. While considering the office of Superintendent the highest the electors could confer, the highest any one of them ,oould aspire to, he could not hold' up to ridicule those men who sought the honor; on the contrary, they all deserved gratitude of their country for offering to devote their time 1 and intelligence to the performance of those duties; and he might say that it would fare very badly with a country, and the duties would indeed be poorly performed, if no competition was aroused to obtain the honor. He was then delighted to see such an attendance before him, for it eh owed there was something like interest manifested in the government of the country—that it was not allowed entirely to go by default. They would therefore do well to consider the advantages and disadvantages of local institutions, and see how they were placed with regard to the rest of the country. They must not, however, delude themselves there was going to be a period in which every man would be in flourishing circumstances, in which every man would have his bitof land without paying for it. i'hese were all vain delusious ; they must not expect to do anything unless tht-y labored and toiled for it. He was glad to see the interest displayed in this matter by the people, because he even preferred" seeing an excess of interest in fighting the struggle to ari unbecoming supinness. Exertion and activity were as healthful signs in political life as in the every day affairs of the business of the world. Mr Fitzherbert concluded his remarks by assuring the electors that it was from no feeling of disrespect that he did not mean to attend public meetings or visit the various places in the province, and that they might depend Upon him to do his best for them if elected. Mr Masters prefaced his remarks by complimenting Mr Fitzherbert on bis ability, and saying if elected, Mr Fitzherbert would be fhe first man he would turn to for advice. He was not going to make a long speech, as the other candidates had drawn out their remarks much longer than was necessary. He bad come forward to destroy that monopoly under which the province had been suffering so long. He, of course regretted his lack of education; but they 8 must recollect that he was a poor orphan boy. Still, be had common sense and experience. Although he was going to be as sparing of his promises as Mr Fitzherbert, he could safely jjefer them to the history of the small farm movement, which owed its birth to him before' even the introduction of Provincial institutions. As to the objection that

he was old, he could ask fcS*S their judges old ? Were not all the.famousgenerals and politicians of the day old? Did not the Ancient Greeks select their moat Z d men as the mos't wise? Then age had an advantage that had not m such a contest. If a young man disappointed them, they might have some difficulty m getting nd of him; but an old man could not possibly bother them loflg. He confessed to the ambitien that he should like to devote the last remaining years of his life to his fellow-set-tiers Mr Masters concluded his remarks by declaring himself in faror of corporations and country municipalities." (Applause.), Mr Cbawpoed then called for a show ot hands, which was — Anderson •• '••• Finnimore -^ Fitzherbert Is^ Masters 6 A noil having been demanded on behalf of the other candidates, Mr Fitzherbert proposed a vote of thanks to the Eeturning Officer, and the meeting broke up. .