PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Tuesday, November 15, 1881.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 999, 15 November 1881, Page 2

PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Tuesday, November 15, 1881.

The big guns fired by Capt. Porter, last night in Gisborne, and on Thursday last at Tologa Bay, may be said to be the first booms from the main army in the electioneering campaign in .which the East Coast Candidates are engaged. There is one noticeable feature in Captain Porter’s addresses, and which we trust will be followed by the other candidates, viz., a total absence of any hostile reflection on the candidates opposed to him. If each man rests on his own merits, rather than seek to pick holes in the political garments of his compeers, it is far more likely that the electors will be able to make an impartial choice. The lateness of the hour at which the meeting separated precludes our doing more than making a few running comments on what Captain Porter said. He evidently did not confine himself to the beaten track of other men’s thoughts. Here and there will be found scintillas of freshness of idea, which, although some may not agree entirely with them, they claim the merit of being something new. Captain Porter scored a point in the first “ break,” by emphatically announcing; himself as a supporter of the Hall Government, a fact which, owing to the comparatively liberal’ treatment this district has received at its hands, and the lasting effect for gook the recent Parihaka arrests will have on the colony, may serve as a trump card at the poll. The laws relating to Native lands, and permanent settlement of titles, as also the rating of ./Native aud Crown Lands, are promised to be matters of solicitude. Captain Pobter gives the very satisfactory reason for his advocacy of the latter, in that he estimates the revenue from that source would be doubled, or at least £4OOO per annum in the gross, in Cook County alone, while that of Wairoa County would be about £6OO in excess of what it is at present. Captain Porter is opposed to placing the administration of Waste Lands in County Councils as at present constituted. He favors local control of the Land Revenue, but suggests a jiew feature with regard to the machinery. If we caught Capt. Porter's meaning, it is that, in order to avoid local jealousies and squabbles, two conterminous councils should constitute a Board by the election of two members from each, with a fifth nominee member, appointed by the Governor—probably to act as president or chairman. We are not prepared to say how the conservative nominee element would fit in with the more radical and independent one of election. At any pate the idea is worth thinking out, Relatively to this subject is tbe one very clearly explained by Captain Pobter in regard to local government.

He thoroughly deprecates the present system, considering that the Hoad Boards clash too much for the general good, with the powers and duties of the County Councils. He, therefore, proposes that the several Ridings should be Road Districts, with Boards of elected members, the Chairmen of which would be, ex officio members of the County Council; thus, in effect, creating a new franchise, for, before a County Council man can take his seat at the Board he must have been elected to a Road Board, and to qualify him for the latter he must possess qualifications fitting him for the former. He must, in fact, occupy the dual position or none at all. Captain Porter would have the lesser, or Road Boards, administrative only—in short, to have nothing to do but allocate the votes of money made to them by the Counties. Hence the power to assess, or strike rates will be taken from them ; to be held exclusively by the Councils, and to be exercised annually. Captain Porter appears to be thoroughly in earnest, and spoke almost enthusiastically with regard to tbe settlement of our waste lands. He will be prepared to advocate the passing of a “ Promotion of Settlements and Farmers’ Aid Bill,” the principle of which would be the borrowing of £3,000,000 of money, say at 5 per cent., and letting it out, to bona fide settlers at 10 per cent. The idea has been mooted in other places ; and if it be not entirely original, is one which may be worked to good issues. Captain Porter presented some astounding figures in connection with public works, and the indebtedness of the Colony. In round numbers tbe Government debt is £30,000,000 ; that of the local bodies £2,000,000; and that of the Banks, and other money lenders, £14,000,000, making a total of £46,000,000, which, according to the speaker, caused something like three millions sterling to be sent out of the Colony in the shape of interest. The equalization of the distribution of public monies, was next touched on. Captain Pobter will support the formation of arterial roads ; and an extension of the telegraph line to Ormond and Tologa Bay. He also approves of a harbor scheme for this port, but not on the basis proposed in Mr. McDonald’s Bill. He considered that measure altogether inadequate for the requirements of the place, and considered that a work of such magnitude, involving so many large, outlying interests, should be undertaken by the Government, and not by private speculators. ' Captain Porter proposes an alteration in the educational scheme of the colony, which he correctly characterized as an unequal burden on that portion of the taxing public least able to bear it. We are inclined to an opinion expressed to us lately by a talented teacher amongst us, that the present system caused both parents and children to have far less appreciation of the blessings of education, and mainly from the fact that a thing cheaply obtained is little prized. There is, however, this to be said, that if the State do not hold the education reins, it cannot compel parents to send their children to school. The great error seems to be in placing rich and poor on the same footing, so that a man with an income of £2OO a year subscribes more, pro rata, towards education than his neighbor with £2OOO a year. To avoid this, Captain Porter might gain parliamentary distinction if he moves a step further and inserts a clause, that no one with a given per annum income should be permitted to send their children to free • schools, or let each pay according to his income. The education vote for this year is £386,616; while, since the inauguration of the system in 1877, the expenditure tots up to about a million and a half sterling ! Captain Porter touched on a variety of other subjects, including the Property Tax, Separation, and Free Trade, a full report of which will be found in another portion of this issue.