SUPERINTENDENCY ELECTION.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 260, 31 March 1875, Page 2

SUPERINTENDENCY ELECTION.

UNOPPOSED RETURN OE SIR GEORGE GREY (From the Evening Star, 24th March.) The nomination for the election of a Superintendent, in the room of the late John Williamson, Esq,, took place to-day at noon. Mr. G. M. O’Rorke proposed, and Mr. Robert Graham seconded the nomination after which the returning officer asked if there was any other candidate to propose. —[A voice :“ I should think not!”] The Returning Officer : “ There being no other candidate, I hereby declare elector Sir George Grey duly elected Superintendent of the Province of Auckland.”

The announcement was followed by loud cheering and waving of hats. Sir George Grey, on coming to the front, was received with loud and prolonged cheers. When these had subsided his Honor said he had a mournful duty to perform to begin with, and that was to allude to the death of the Superintendent. He had known Mr. Williamson for upwards of thirty years, and his opinion of him was that he was a great and good man. He would not ■ promise that he could do more for them than that gentleman had done. He had another somewhat unpleasant duty which was to controvert to a certain extent the assertion of his proposer and seconder. (Laughter). His proposer stated thatthe province of Auckland was in a stale of destitution. He denied that. There were willing hands in her midst to save her, and while her resources were what they were, there was no chance of her coming to that pass. Then his seconder had stated that he (the speaker,) came forward to save the province, That was not so. He could not save the province by himself, but perhaps altogether they could do it. By himself he was powerless, but with their help he hoped to do some good. A state off affairs had been brought about by which it was possible for others to come and say to them, “ You are destitute, and we will help you by giving you some of our plenty.” Their answer to such offers should be : “ No, we don’t want your assistance ; we claim it as a right to be put on the same footing as you; we ought all to sail in the same boat. If we sweep away our provincial institutions you do the same. Let all go together. Before committing themselves to any change of this character they ought to see what is to come after and determine ,what they are to substitute beforehand, like faithful and true men. And when it was settled what was to be done, everv man ought to forget if possible the convictions which he had been unable to maintain and join in carrying out the scheme agreed upon. (Hear hear.) It was for them to establish their credit in the eyes of the world by establishing a good foundation and system of Government by which others might recognise at once complete security for their loans. He had stated that he did not consider the office of Superintendent a political office. He was aware, however, that there were some questions which were of a political character, in which he should feel bound to take part. To explain himself he would give an illustration. A sum of £700,000 had recently been voted for the purchase of land in the North Island. The first condition al tached to it was that the lands when acquired are to be made to repay their eost. Our share in Auckland was £309,000, which, iu comparison with the large sums swept into the coffers of the Southern Provinces, was nothing at all, andlie gave it as his opinion that they were entitled to a share of the large sums referred to. (Hear hear.) Then in reference to the £300,1)00, the Government should have handed it over to them to expend it, not keep it on their own hands as they had done. (Cheers]. Such a proceeding was an intolerable injustice, and further, it was an insult io tiie people of the province. Were they not to be trusted with the spending of such a large sum ? Were they so inferior to the General Assflnbly that they were likely to spend it more corruptly or unwisely ? (Great shouts of indignation.) They ought to have had it,and even that was far less than they n ere entitled to, perhaps there was someo her reason why the General Government wished to keep the expenditure in their own hands. Perhaps it was for the sake of the patronage whichic secured. (Hear, hear.) If anyone in the world was entitled to a voice in the spending of the money he himself might be considered so, as having purchased more waste lands than anyone in the c< lony. For those purchases not sixpence had been charged to the public by himself or his companions. It was done on their ordinary salaries. On the present system one individual might receive more than he himself had clone as Governor, Purchaser of Lands, and in every other capacit y. (Hear, hear.) Then to insist upon the immediate purchase of

the lands it was most impolitic. Was it consistent with any of their ideas of business that they should rush into the market and raise the price against themselves all because certain gentleman were anxious to secure their commission? (No, no.) That was a question on which it was necessary for him to watch their interests. Had the Provincial Government exercised a supervising function here it would have been very useful, For what was the result of, close . watching even /to the extent of' positive hostility ? Extreme care, for when one knew that there was jiuo,ther,.watching to pick .a.hole, it made him very cautious. Then it saved solicitation. For if h?, as a public man, was known to be continually watched and and if it was-known that any questionable favoritism would only end in the exposure of the giver and receiver, no one would come and ask it of him. Therefore, he thought the Government iu establishing a system of Press support by which their actions were subjected to persistent adulation—(A voice : “ Luckie,” and laughter)—was injurious to themselves and to the public. It encouraged others to go into jobs which they would not otherwise have dared to. If that £300,000 had been handed over to them o expend as they saw opportunity, and no private individual had been allowed to touch it, it would have been better for them. He would keep them no longer ; but before he went away he wished to add a word about what some people had said, viz., that it was unbecoming for him to come forward as their Superintendent after being Governor, (No, no.) A word or two would explain to them how he fell on the matter. Let them, if they could carry themselves hack to the heyday of youth, and imagine the case of a man selected by the British Parliament to come out here and assume the head of affairs, who had also left a lucrative and honorable position to take it. Then after a space of thirty years, during which interval the people had become the representatives of great institutions, they came to him again and asked him to take again the leadership of their affairs. Would not such a man feel proud ? That was his position, and he did feel proud of it.