Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4591, 7 December 1875, Page 3

Electoral Notices rim THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY JL OF WELLINGTON. - Gentlemen, — The Evening Post _ of Saturday quotes the Manawatu Times, in which I am described as a pothouse politician. The Times is right; my political education commenced forty-five years since, when, at eight years of age, I was taken to a pothouse on Sunday evenings to listen to the reading of the newspapers, and to discussions on the Charter, the repeal of the Corn Laws, the first Reform Rill, and other questions of the' day, at a time, ■ too, when the discussion ■of political matters by the working classes was viewed by the Government of the day as a crime, second only to a capital one. Are not all politicians'of the pothouse order ? Messrs. Pearce and Hunter, and Gisborne,. and the upper ten discuss politics at their pothouse the “club." Messieurs, the next class below them, discuss politics at their pothouse—the Empire, the! Pier, or other hotels more or less respectable. In short, if any question or policy will not stand the ordeal of pothouse consideration it seldom passes through the Legislature. It was a great treat to me in listening to Mr. Travers on Saturday night,and I may as well state at once, that Messrs. Pearce and Hunter’s tool—Messrs. Pearce and Hunter’s votesplitting candidate—intends to vote for Mr. Travers and himself. But, Gentlemen, I do not endorse all Mr. Travers' opinions ; and I go much farther in many reforms. But he comes the nearest to my ideal of what : a working man’s candidate ought to be. Mr. Ti'avers did not state his opinion of the income and property tax with sufficient clearness. Mr. Gisborne would commence at £l5O or £2OO per year. Very considerate of the interests of working-men is that same Mr. Gisborne, who has, as far as I can learn, been employed by—or been a member of—the Government ever since he has been in New Zealand ; consequently, he has subsisted on the taxes collected in by far the greatest measure from the workers of the colony. And he is, on retiring from office, to be pensioned. Yes, pensioned! Provided for for life, from the sweat of your brow, from your hard earnings. An Hon. Pauper after the approved style of the old country. He has, as I say, been a member of many Governments : yet has he ever introduced or advocated, or has Messrs. Pearce and Hunter ever advocated, that provision should be made by endowments or otherwise for the indigent poor, the aged widow, the fatherless children, that will in the ordinary course of events soon be numerous amongst us. Not they ; they have never thought of the contingency. They have made handsome profits, realised good political pay, accumulated land and houses,and honors have been showered on them—but one thought of providingfor the poor never yet entered their respectable heads. Mr. Travers and Mr. Gisborne have favored us with their views on the education question, and Mr. Gisborne quoted from Mr. Pearce’s speech in the House on the same subject, so that you are conversant with their opinions collectively. Naturally I shall be expected to state mine. . Solomon said, “ Train up a child in the way he should go, and when ! he is old he will not depart from it.” That may have been perfectly true in Solomon’s time, and of his own subjects, who were pure Deists, worshipping the Creator in due way and under one priesthood. But in the present day, when the Christian Church is split up into some fifty or sixty denominations, there is no other plan which so much commends itself to thinking men as that of secular education by the State, leaving religious instruction to be imparted by the clergy or teachers of that particular Church to which the parents of the children belong. But, Gentlemen, while 1 am an advocate for secular instruction alone’ if paid for by the State, I say that great care should be exercised in the choice of the classbooks used in the Board schools, more especially in the choice of historical subjects. History, we know, is written by historians, with a leaning to or a bias in favor of that particular denomination of the Christian Church to which they; happen to belong ; and such being the case, I can conceive no greater insult than that the children of Rpman Catholics, for instance, should be compelled to read portions of an historical work in which the spoliation of the Catholic Church (the Church of their Fathers) in the reign of Henry VIII. is described as a glorious reformation. Gentlemen, were I a .Roman Catholic, no child of mine should enter a Board school where such historical readings are a part of the secular instruction imparted. Not one penny of the State’s money should be expended in proselytising for one sect to the detriment of another. I shall revert to this subject at a future time. I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, C. MOODY. TO THE ELECTORS OF THE WAIBARAPA. Gentlemen, —Having had the honor to represent you for the last eleven years in the Parliament of New Zealand, I again place iny services at your disposal should you think fit to re-elect me, While not thinking it necessary within the limits of an address to’eixpress my views upon all the important questions to be discussed during the next session of the General Assembly, yeti think it .right to state my opinion upon the proposed constitutional changes now before the country. ' In reality, alterations in the forms of Government are not of such great importance as many people imagine. The success'of all Governments entirely depend upon good administration, and without this no form of Government can be of advantage to the people; therefore, as in the i late session the abolition of the Provincial form of Government was decided by a largemajority, and as the electors generally seem to approve of such decision, I shall be. prepared if reelected to give my assistance in framing such measures as will give to the people the best form of Local Self-Government, with large powers and means to carry on the important duties which will then devolve upon them, but in order to furnish such means the manner of raising our revenue will have to be considerably altered, and property will have to contribute its fair share towards the taxation of the country, whilst the necessaries of life must be relieved from the high Customs duties now charged upon them. I also inform you that I will be no party to any scheme which might tend to bring about the disunion of the colony. As soon as the writs are issued, I shall hold meetings in the several centres of population, when I shall be prepared to express my opinions upon the various matters which will have to be dealt with by the Parliament about to be elected. 1 have the honor to be. Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, HENRY BUNNY. Fernside, Wairarapa, November 30, 1875. Government Notices TO CONTRACTORS. CASTLE POINT TO ALFREDTON ROAD. CONTRACT No. 12. Provincial Secretary’s Office, Wellington, November 24, 1875. TENDERS will be received at this office up to noon of WEDNESDAY the 15th day of DECEMBER, for the Formation of Ono mile twenty chains of Road,- and the Erection of two small Bridges. Plans and specifications may be inspected at the Club Hotel, Masterton; Engineer’s Office, Tinui, and Provincial Engineer’s Office here. The lowest or any tender not necessarily 'accepted, HENRY BUNNY, Provincial Secretary.