Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Thursday, November 17, 1881.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 1000, 17 November 1881, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard.

PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Thursday, November 17, 1881.

IFe shall sell to no man Justice or Right; We shall deny to no man Justice or Riyht; We shall dtfer to no man Justice or Right.

It does not fall to the lot of every aspirant to political, and above all, Parliamentary honors, to. “pull off” so unqualified a success as that achieved by Mr. M. J. Gannon in his address to the electors at Gisborne, on Tuesday evening last. We use a somewhat sporting term to denote more particularly the fact that it was no mere accident that led to the success to which we refer, for nothing but a masterly command of language, and thorough knowledge of the subjects treated of could have enabled the speaker to hold the meeting, as it were, in the palm ef his hand, during an hour and a quarter’s uninterrupted speech. Mr. Gannon rivetted the attention of his audience, from the start, and kept their minds intent on his utterances to the finish, and in such a manner as to leave nothing to be desired, while it stamped him as one pre-eminently capable of holding his own in the coming contest. Mr. Gannon may be said to have made his maiden speech, for, although he has often, casually, spoken at public meetings, he has not before made such a formal, well-digested address as on this occasion, and it was observable to all that, as he proceeded, he advanced in public favor,’ thereby causing a feeling of surprise that he had not come into the field earlier, when his chance of election would have been guaranteed from the outset. Mr. Gannon is fluent of speech, and has a good address ; he is a capital framer of sentences ; he has an intimate acquaintance with politics ; one who will he ready in debate ; quick at repartee, and possesses a fund of wit and humor, which the occasion of his demolition of Mr. Wilson’s string of absurd questions, fully proved. Tuesday’s meeting, may be said to be a turning point in Mr. Gannon’s political life. He has taken the public entirely into his confidence, which was not the case before. In fact Mr. Gannon’s candidature was regarded by those unacquainted with him, and unobservant of his ability, as the presumption of a young, inexperienced man ; but that error was chased away into outer darkness, as he disposed of his subjects, the continued plaudits ■ that greeted him at the conclusion of

each sentence—together with a most marked attention—testifying to him being master of the position. There can be no doubt that he played the honors he held with great tact, and with an ably discriminating power of judgment. And there can also be no doubt that he has decided many waverers in his favor, and will, probably, draw many to his side, who, before,’ were indifferent as to whom they supported. Mr. Gannon speaks hopefully of his success, and naturally so, for a man without heart in his work, is a bad worker, either for himself or others. And if that was so before his spoken address to the public, the chance of his election is greatly increased now ; but even should he fail to top the poll in this first contest, he will have, at least, the satisfaction of knowing that his entrance to Parliament cannet be longer delayed than the allotted term of three years, for he has laid the foundation of what, if guided by moderation and firmness, promises to be a most successful, useful, and honorable public career.

The foregoing remarks bring us to the consideration of another question, and one which we have always advocated, namely, the necessity for not pledging one’s self until all the candidates have had their say. There are those who differ from Mr. Gannon on some points on which he disagrees with Captain Pobter, while, again, Mr. Locke, who speaks to-night, will, possibly find adherents to his idea of subjects on which he diverges in opinion from the other two. Instances in point arose on Tuesday evening, notably on the subdivision and rating of Native lands, and the settlement and administration of our waste lands, of which Mr. Gannon differs largely from Captain Porter. Mr. Gannon’s idea of the system to be followed in the formation of settlements, and inducing small holders to pioneer the country, is a new one to this colony, although not so elsewhere, and it is worthy of consideration. Instead of borrowing money, as he says, “to dole out charitable aid to small “ farmers,” Mr. Gannon’s opinion is that every facility should be given to .small holders to settle, by offering them such terms for the acquisition of the soil, as will enable them to get a living off of it afterwards. Mr. Gannon deprecates the Homestead System, and lays down a thesis which he thinks would be more acceptable to bona settlers, and which contains the principle of deferred payments, only on easier terms. We are not prepared at this stage to express an opinion on it; but it appears to possess the very attractive feature of drawing men’s minds to the means by which an economical stake in the colony can be obtained.

Mr. Gannon is opposed to both Income and Land Taxes, and on the very reasonable ground that each would bear unequalle on all classes. And he is opposed to an export duty on wool, because the sheepfarmer is taxed already in this direction under the Property Tax. He looks differently on the sheepfarmer, who has a few hundred or a few thousand sheep, to those who possess similar numbers of acres of land. It is not every large sheepfarmer who is a millionaire ; as a class they have exceptional exigencies to contend against, which the mere landholder or speculator has not.

Mr. Gannon favors a harbor scheme for Poverty Bay, but disagreed with Mr. McDonald’s proposals made last year. Mainly, Mr. Gannon agreed with Captain Porter on this point; but expressed his opinion that, in order to test the real desire of Parliament to recognise it as a matter of Colonial necessity, a joint Committee of members of both Houses be obtained, who would take evidence, and report thereon. There is one point Mr. Gannon scored, and which should not be lost sight of in our future course in this matter, and that is the immense increment of value, property, and especially the Crown and Native Lands, would sustain from the possession of a har bor here; and it is one that, whoever is elected, must be pressed upon the House and the Government, as an argument in favor of the Colony undertaking the work. Mr. Gannon was not too severe on the Otago and Canterbury leases, and protested that, if elected, he should oppose, according to his principle of sub-dividing the lands, their renewal. It is monstrous to think that so large an aggregate area as nearly eleven millions of acres of land should be held by only 821 persons. “No wonder,” says Mr. Gannon, “that the taxation of the “ Colony is so great when we find such “a state of things exists as this.” And as a cure for this evil, we quite endorse his views, that runholders, and men having sympathy with their class, should not be returned to Parliament unless under a pledge to break up so monstrous and monopolising a system. The other questions treated of by Mr. Gannon will commend themselves to the careful attention of the electors. He gave abundant evidence of having given them careful study, while the answers he gave to the several questions upon all kinds of appropriate and extraneous subjects, indicated something more than a superficial acquaintance with their import. A full report of the meeting will be found in this issue.