ELECTION MEETING.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 250, 2 May 1866, Page 2

ELECTION MEETING.

W. H. PEARSON" AT WAIANIWA. In pursuance of a previous announcement Mr W. H. Pearson met his constituents at the School-house, Waianiwa on Saturday, 28th ApriL Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, about twenty electors were present. Mr J. Y. Wilson was called to the. chair. Mr "Wilson said Mr Pearson had called them together for the purpose of giving an account of his stewardship, and explaining his views relative to the future, which no doubt would be listened to with interest. Mr Pearson said— Mr Chairman and gentleman. It affords me much pleasure to meet so many of my constituents, notwithstanding the day has proved so : unfavorable. In the advertisement call- . ing this meeting, I stated that I con- i sidered a full and frank understanding i should exist between a representative and • : his constituency ; *this is the more neces"^ sary in my case, for the following -rea- ' sons : — First, because it has been inti- < mated that though elected, I did not, in ] reality, represent the majority of the < constituency, inasmuch as there were so i few present at my election. Kexfc,- be- 1 cause I have, since any election, been a > member of the Government ; which Go- ] verninent has resigned owing to a vote i of, censure, passed by the Provincial i Council, on th.c gr,ound that we jnade an. 1 unaatis&ctory aettleineat with. Mr Dayies, i

rad referred MrMarchant'scaseto ariritrapfrf;' ion. As to my election, I saw Mr John.v Wilson &(d&j "or two before the election , ;ook place, and asked hinv if he was going ", „ }O stand, jpr knew who was. He told ne had not thought about it; and I called . . bis attention to the day. At that time-I " tiad no intention of standing. Aftersvarda I determined to attend, and if no local man came forward would do so myself. The notice had been given by . bhe Officer long enough : if there was not a large number of electors present, whose fault was that ? No resident came forward, and I was elected ; and. I can only say I have done my%best for you ever since. In giving an account of the past, I will refer to the .earliest matter of importance affecting your interests with which I was connected, that is the passing of the resolutions on the Land Act. When the question came before the Council I proposed an amendment on the G-overnment resolutions to the effect that a line should be drawn across the Province east and west. South of this, free selection at 20s. per acre, the Hundred system, with Crown Grant. North, the Canterbury regulations. The land south of the line would have comprised pretty well all the agricultural land in the Province, and would have been more than enough, when realised, to have paid our debt. I maintain that it was the most equitable and advantageous settlement of the difficulty for the two classes, and general interests . of the Province. Being a compromise of the two extremes of either party, it was, of course, accepted by neither. I withdrew it in favor of the resolutions of the Government. Owing ,to some mistake the Act as passed, enabled ' applications to be lodged for depasturing pur- * poses within the area set aside for sale under the Land Sales and Leases Ordinance. The Government, of which I a was a member, took immediate steps to have it proclaimed into Hundreds, in terms of the resolution of the Council. As regards the" settlement of Mr Davies' claims, with this matter I had in reality little or nothing to do, inasmuch as it was virtually ; settled before I became a member of the G-overnment — which did not take place till the 20fch November last. On the sth July, 1865, the . Consulting Engineer, Mr Dundas, after careful consideration, writes to the G-overnment recommending that Mr Davies be offered£2o,ooo as compensation, leaving only the question of his patent right pending. On the 11th of the same month the Superintendent wrote Mr Davies as follows : —"The Provincial Government propose to give you £20,000, in full, for all claims for compensation or damage sustained by you in consequence of any alleged breach of contract on the part of the Government; and to take into consideration, in addition, any other claims you may have . for work done and not certified, concerning which, until the meeting referred to, I had not been aware of the existence ; and to pay you, of course, besides all claims founded on retention money and certified work." On the 15th November last, Mr Davis writes claiming £32,500, as follows :— £20,000, compensation. 5,000, retention money. 7,500, unpaid works. £32,500. giving up the plant which he had purchased from the G-overnment, and all claims on both railways — the offer.' to - stand good till the 18th. On the 17th of the same month the Superintendent wrote to him requesting the offer to stand open till the 20th, to enable him to consult Mr Dundas. On the 20th I became a member of the G-overnment, .and 'assented to what had been pretty well settled previously, for the simple reason that it was the best, and, indeed, the only way of getting out of a. difficulty. -There were three alternatives for the Government to adopt. To pay Mr Davies what he claimed, to go to the Supreme Court, or That he had a claim for compensation for suspension of works prior to their resumption in July, 1864, . was established by the letter of the late Superintendent (Dr Menzies) of date the 7th, which provided for reference to arbitration. The subsequent claims were stronger ; the breach of contract on the part of the late Superintendent being more glaring. And. when it is taken into consideration that Mr Davies, on the 6th of May, 1864, writes to the late Superintendent (Dr Menzies) offering to mortgage his plant and lien on the railways, to assist the Government' to negotiate the £40,000 loan for their completion, which offer was refused ; it will, I think, be acknowledged that the G-overnment had rather a bad case to go either to court or arbitration. Besides, the Railway Engineer (Mr Marchant), in his letter of 18th November, 1865, states to the Government that Mr Davies is entitled in justice and equity for uncertified works to £6743 16s 2d... The Consulting Engineer (Mr Dundas) also writes that, for a full discharge of all claims, he thinks such a settlement as that proposed by Mr Davies, vis?.', d§32,500, would be advantageous. Both these gentlemen, if put on their oath, would, I pr9sume, have substantiated what they had written, aud the Government would have been worsted had the claim been resisted, with the additional advantage of being placed in the position of seeking to repudiate, and having to pay all the costs. In addition, however, to a fulT discharge of all claims, we got the plant for which about ay ear and a half previously Mr Davies had given £2585 Is 7d, and workshops, which had cost him some £800 One of the strongest arguments for imme- • diate settlement was the fact $hat, if we hg-d not arranged with Mr Davies on that day, in all probability the Bluff Harbor and Invercargill Bailway would never have been finished. An injunction of the Supreme Court was on the "eve of b^ing taken , out against Mr Davies, which, if issued, would have precluded the possibility of obtaining possession of the works for months.; in the meanwhila the unfinished works would tare mpltaj

away before our eyes by the action of the weather, particularly with winter ap-. proaching ; and the thousands already spent have been so in vain. Nor would the General Government, in all probability, have sanctioned, at a later date, the escheating of the waste lands for the purpose of completing the line. Had Canterbury and Otago obtained an inkling of such an intention, the pressure they would have brought to bear on the General Government would have been fatal. It is, doubtless, very disagreeable to have to give any compensation, but we have to thank his late Honor, Dr. Menzies, for it. The next matter in which I have been blamed is the reference of Mr Marchant's claims to arbitration. What are the facts ? The Government which preceded the one of which I was a member, and which I may call as Mr Stuart's, agreed to put certain questions, having reference to the nature of Mr Marehknt's agreement as. Eailway Engineer with the Government, to Dr. Menzies and Mr Heale — the only persons cognisant of it. It stipulated, also, " That if upon receiving replies to those questions the Provincial Government should still adhere to its proposition, that MrMarchant is not entitled to any special remuneration for services rendered in connection with the Oreti line, then the questions in difference he referred to arbitration in the usual manner." This was on the Ist of August ; I did not join the Government till the 20fch of November following. In referring the matter to arbitration, I, as one of the Government, was merely carrying out the action of a former Government, instead of repudiating it. If the Provincial Council will pass a resolution to the effect that repudiation, when advisable, is the duty of a Government, the course would be clear ; until then, it is not uunatural to suppose that even a Government should be bound by the ordinary ties of honesty and integrity, which are considered necessary in the conduct of affairs by private individuals. That Mr Marchant was entitled to remuneration for the conduct of the Oreti Railway there can be no doubt. Dr. Menzies replies to the questions asked — "That Mr Marchant was engaged at a salary ol £600 a-year to act as .Resident Engineer of the Bluff Hallway." Mr Heale states—" The Bluff Harbor and Invercargill Eailway was the only work of the kind then contemplated, and there can be no doubt that Mr Marchant's engagement at that time was solely and specifically for the engineering supervision of that line." If anything was wanted to call the attention of the late Superintendent, Dr. Menzies, to, Mr Marchant's view of his engagement, it would be found in Mr Marchant's letter of 27th September,- 1564, in which, while" consenting to a reduction of salary ,he states specifically, own engagement was to act as engineer for the construction of the Bluff Harbor and Invercargill Eailway, and as required by your Honor in reference to my Town Board engagement at ail times to give the Provincial Government the preference in cases of conflicting professional engagementj for the salary of £600 per annum." If anything could have opened the eyes of anyone rejoicing in a semblance to common-sense, this would. Dr Menzies, however, took no notice of so broad a hint. Mr Marchant throughout has acted most fiurly. n Ee offered to refer the settlement of his claim to Dr Menzies and Mr -deale as the 'persons best acquainted with the circumstances. The objection raised" in the Council to the conduct of .the Government, of which I was a member, was, that we did not let Mr Marchant take his case to the Supreme Court. What would have been the result ? He would have got at least between three and four thousand pounds, instead of the fifteen hundred which has been awarded. The most favorable evidence on the part of the Government wasthat of Mr J. T. Thomson, the Chief Surveyor of Otago, who stated that Mr Marchant ought to get only two and a-half per cent on the cost of the work, instead of five per cent 3 inasmuch as he had had office accommodation and clerical assitacee supplied. This would have given him close on four thousand pounds. If we had allowed the matter to go to the Supreme Court, any engineer put in the witness box, would, of course, have stated that, in the absence of a special agreement the ordinary professional charge would be considered due ; and that charge is five per cent, on the outlay. When such a decision had been made known, we should have been howled at by the Council for not settling it by arbitration, when the person interested was willing to do so. When you are in a difficulty, the best thing to do, is to get out of it 'the best way you can, "and, as subsequent facts have proved, we did get out of it in the best way. The only thing which could possibly have been said against us, was that we did not press the matter on the attention of the Council at the session before last. But the Council was distinctly informed that Mr Marchant had made a claim, that it was resisted, and the matter had been referred to arbitration. It took no action on the information, and I for one, concluded, naturally, that it was satisfied with the conduct of the Government. I have been- accused of special pleading in Mr Marcuant's case. Why ? In the first session of the Council after my return, I noticed that the Government of that day had arbitrarily reduced Mr Marchant's salary to £300 a-year. Happening to know the real merits of the case rather better than any other member of the Council, and feeling sure that Mr Marchant bad a legal claim, I endeavored to induce the Council to raise the salary to £400, the reduction which Mr Marehant had previously consented to ; and which the Government bad to do afterwards whether they liked it or not. When a man has the* whip?hand of you it is surely better to treat him. justly and equitably than to irritate him into extreme measures, and because I wished the Council to take the judicious' course, in order, if possible, to prevent Mr Marpha.nt from, being exasperated into taking

full advantage of Ms position. • I am stigmatised as a special pleader. The next ' subject of interest to you si the construction of the road from the Oreti bridge to the Waianawa Bushes. I pressed the importance of this work on the attention of the Council, not merely because I was your representative, but on behalf of every settler in the Province ; it is a main thoroughfare and is in so bad a state as to demand imme diate alteration. I obtained a promise from the Government that it would receive immediate attention. Two days after the prorogation of the Council I wrote to the Superintendent reminding the Government of its pledge. It replied — That the subject was under consideration. What has since been done, I cannot say. You may rely that I will spare no exertion in the matter. So much for the past. As to the future, when one recalls how brightly the sun rose in the young existence of the Province, how miserably it has set, one may welThesitate before touching on it. ' | In my opinion the Provincial system is ! inapplicable to the present time, particularly to small communities. However well adapted it might have been for colonising a country with so extensive a seaboard as New Zealand in its earlier days, it has served its purpose, and is at present too costly and cumberous. Look at us at present ; with no Land Fund ; the ordiuary revenue barely sufficient to meet the official expenditure which, so long as thepresent form of Government continues, cannot be curtailed ; no public improvements can be made ; yet we have a Provincial Council consisting of twenty men, who meet every six months, to do what ? To twaddle legislation for four weeks ; the result Deing a "Pig in the Poke Ordinance," for it is a toss-up whether it will be sanctioned by the G-eneral G-overnment, or if so, ■ be of real service. Half the ordinances which have been hitherto passed have been disallowed by the Gfeneral Grovernment, the other half are virtually inoperative, simply because they are inapplicable to our requirements. Having achieved this work the Council next spends three weeks in quarrelling over the distribution of eighteen-pence, which the Provincial Treasurer informs them is " the sum the Government anticipates having at its disposal for the construction of roads and bridges, and other public works." You have then to wait six months more, when the House is informed that the Government has been unable to expend the eighteen-pence, for the simple reason that it had'nt it to expend. You must recollect, however, that you are paying the country members 20s per day for attending — and very properly ; you cannot expect men to devote their time to the public for nothing, even to twaddle. The last session cost upwards of £100 for this purpose. It is probable the General Asse in biy co uld legislate as well lor the whole colony as the Provinces for themselves. You want roads and bridges, not legislation. If you will have your whistle, however, you must pay for- it. Perhaps the best thing would be for the General Government to put us into commission — suspending the Constitution Act as far as we are concerned— send down some one disconnected with local prejudices and politics to act as a dictator, who, if a road wanted making, and there was money, could do it at once, without waiting for a Council ; if a bridge repairing, have it repaired. Yet, after all, the problem is to be worked out; the question ..is, have we the men to do it ?' or, rather, can we afford to pay for ability. Brain is a marketable commodity ; if you want it you must pay for it. I have now, gentlemen, touched on most of the important points connected e with the past and future, and will be happy to answer any questions To the question whether he would be« favorable to the lowering of the price of laud. Mr Peabso:^ said no. He considered the land worth 2p3 an acre, if the public was assured it would not be lowered, and that sufficient would be sold yearly at that price to pay the sinking fund and interest of our debt, he did no* see why Southland should not have he* debt as well as other ? settlements. To the question whether there was not a vote of the Council that £60 a-year. should be given to subsidise local schools, Mr Pearson said he did not recollect but if such was the case it was of little use, as there was no money. Question. — Would you sell the steam tug. Mr Pejlbson" — Certainly ; but if we did we should not get the money. The General Government would take it. A Government has no business to have steam tugs. We are worse off with this one than the man who won the elephant in a raffle : he could get rid of his beast by shooting it and got it cheap. We got the tug k©rribly dear, and would not be allowed even to sink her. The Chairman moved " That the thanks of this meeting be tendered to Mr Pearson for his kindness in coming out to explain his views, and the satisfactory manner in which he had done it J l —^Carried unani- i mously. Mr Pearson thanked the electors, saying he was sorry he could not, under the present circumstances, do more for them. But he felt pretty sure if lie could not no one else could. The meeting separated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman. — {Communicated.)