THE ELECTIONS.

Southland Times, Issue 711, 19 August 1867, Page 2

THE ELECTIONS.

ME MARTEN AT THE THEATRE BOYAL. A meeting of the electors of the "Waihopai district waa held at the Theatre Boyal on last Thursday evening, to hear the political opinions of Mr Marten, a candidate for tfie representation of that district. The house was crowded to excess, and Ihe limost attention was manifested throughcut the proceedings. Mr Lumsden was Bpeatedly hissed throughout the meeting. Mr Eussell vas called to the chair. Mr Maetet, who was received with continued appiuse, said he came forward at the request fa number of the "Waihopai electors, and he had invited them to meet him thai evening, as he was very desirous thert should be no doubt or misapprehensin as to his views. He should be sorjy if any man voted for him under such msapprehension, and equally sorry to lose a vote, owing to insufficient knowledge of Ms opinions. He had observed with surprise that . a candidate (Mr Clerke), had recently told them he would pledge himself to no principles at all*, they must leave it entirely to iis judgment. Now he thought this- was decidedly an impertinence to the electors. If a man wished to represent his own views he voted for th< candidate who supported them, but wlen anyone came forward himself as a caadidate, he did so to represent not merely his own ideas but those of the constituents. (Cheers.) It was not only a question of honesty or trustworthiE3S3, but> also whether he agreed vith them in politics, and till they leard them they could not judge if. this were the case. He therefore would state his views on the principal subjects of interest as clearly as possible. The chief point of interest now was the Railway question. (Hear, hear.) In a new colony easy means of transit is of paramount importance, as .the only way to open up* the country. , The value of land was determined more by its distance from town : than its intrinsic worth. Distance meant, not so much the number of miles as the time occupied on the journey. Hence if it took an hour to travel 4 miles on a road, and only half an hour to go 20 miles on a railway, the place 20 miles off by rail, was for all practical purposes much nearer than another only 4 miles off by road. Thus all places near a line of railway became almost suburbs, as produce need merely be delivered at the railway, instead of carted many" miles into town, and farming could be carried onja distance from town which would otherwise be impossible, owing to the expense of a man, horse, and caft for anight in town every time a load of corn was taken to market. Again, Southland had for years been in, what his medical friends would call a state of "coma," a sort of desponding apathy, and needed the stimulus which would be given by the recommencement of public works and the circulation of large sums of money. He denied that the prosperity thus caused would be temporary. It had been so before, because no land was cultivated, and all the money was sent out of the place for imports, but now there were thousands of sheep and cattle, and hundreds of thousands of bushels of corn only awaiting a remunerative market. (Hear, hear.) Further, railways would be an advertisement for the Province to capitalists, an inducement to immigration, and we need chiefly consumers, as all now are producers, whether farmers or tradesmen, and every consumer adds through the customs to the available revenue. As a means of transit, roads might be very well in some cases, but he believed it was impractible, owing to the soil and climate, to make roads here which would stand the winter traffic. In Otago, as Mr Paterson told him some time ago, they were going to have railways, chiefly to escape the expense of maintaining their roads. He therefore believed that a road would in the end be more costly than a cheap, but not a wooden, railway. (Hear, hear.). The compound rail was not a new but an old exploded idea, and as he had heard it well called a " wooden swindle." But the question was, as they had already been told over and over again, not between roads and railways, but between railways and nothing at all. (Hear, hear.) Besides they could not have metalled roads unless they had a railway to distribute the stone over the country —- in fact, if they had railways, they : could do as they liked about roads ; if they had not railways, neither could they have roads. (Hear, Hear.) Then it was evident that the first step towards abolition of Provinces would soon be made by the consolidation of all Provincial loans on the security" of the land ofthe colony. (Hear) Unless therefore we obtained all wo could beforehand, we had, seen the last of our land revenue, Wq had v?it& tywtfMUa pjutoe

vested ali our land, in the, General Government, in „ consideration of its undertaking our x debts ; we were now offered part of it back and should be foolish indeed to refuse it. "With; reference to the opposition that had* been offered to railways it was hardly /necessary to notice the ignorant and narrowminded, minority, who although it had been shown that it was not a choice between railways or roads, but between, railways and nothing at all, still clamoured for " roads." (Hear, hear.) Then there were the weak and vacillating individuals, who althoughprofessedly favorable to railways, fell an easy prey into the hands ofthe squatters, who led them as sheep to the shearing, and thoroughly they were shorn. It was for the electors to say if those who had once betrayed^their trust, could again be depended upon. ::(No, no,) Mr Stafford's letter already showed that the original resolution brought in by the late Government, must again be brought forward in the next Council, that the amendment was (as one of its supporters had lately confessed) a " meaningless amendment " (he would ask that gentleman why did he then vote for it?) and the only way to to show the General Government clearly the feeling was in in favor of railways, was to return by a large majority those known to be favorable to the resolution, and to reject those who voted against it. (Lould cheers.) The resolution would have put ho ♦power into the hands of the Executive, (had the Council done their duty none of rumored "jobs" could ever have been allowed) and on the terms proposed by Mr Stafford the General Government supervision would prevent any fear of " compensation ' ■ difficulties in future. (Cheers.) Of course the real source of opposition was the squatters. (Hear, hear.) The present Government were merely their helpless tools caught by the bait of office (laughter.) He had always objected to class antagonism, but the squatters persisted in throwing down the gauntlet, (hear hear) They said they were large freeholders, therefore their interest .was identical with the rest of the community ; judge them by their actions — the tree by its fruit. . They evidently value the land they do not possess far more than the land they do possess — the leasehold more than the freehold— for obvious reasons. The one was safe, the lother they would lose if immigration set in. It would be to their interest to .see. Invercargill reduced- to one store, and a jetty to ship their wool (hear.) The fewer people the more room.ior sheep, the less danger of losing their runs. They caused the price of land to be raised: to £2- — the first check to Southland's prosperity-p-and. they did all in their power to: prevent the reduction, the only means 'of escape from our difficulties, it was for the electors to say whether the interests of 7000 people were to be sacrificed to ; those of 25 squatters (Cheers.) Astothe Superintendency, he had heard of no candidates actually in the field but Mr Taylor, but he^ pledged himself to vote for no one who would not promise to support the railway principle. (Loud and continued cheers.) They ought to sink personal questions and support "measures, net men" — though he was almost ashamed to use such a threadbare quotation.. Mr Marten then reviewed the various points of political interest both general and: provincial, but owing to the pressure on our space we are only able to give a condensed report. After speaking above an hour, he concluded amidst great applause, and then offered to \ answer any proper questions put, not only by Waihopai electors, but by any one present. Mr Lttmsdek— You stated that the present Executive thinks ' that a conditional contract should have been entered into before the land was allocated,? and that Mr Stafford thought different, (groans.) Mr Marten said, that the offer having been made of the land, the first thing required was, that the Council should 1 have recommended the setting apart of a specified area of land for the works contemplated. That the original resolutions did this, while the amendment did not. (Loud cheers.) Mr Lfmsdeit— (after some opposition) was allowed to read a letter from Mr Stafford, under date 3rd June, upon the question; and contended that from it, conditional contracts were imperative before any action could be taken. (Hisses and groans.) \ Mr Maeten explained that sueh 1 was not the correct reading, and in proof of the correctness of his views, read another letter from Mr Stafford, 3rd August, showing that such an interpretation; was not correct. (Cheers.) (Both letters have been published in this paper.) \ Mr Lumsden — Do you believe that owing to the amendment, the offer ofthe General Government has been withdrawn P Mr Maeteit-^No. Mr Lttmsdbn— How much of the customs ravenu© does the Province get? Mr Mkwsm-*X wa not PrgyMal T?§asw^i jw» dwnl* oik Ut Clwtat

Three eighths is supposed' to be the i amount. Mr Ibyine — Are you in favor of encouraging' immigration ? Mr Mabtjen— -I am! Mr Ibvine — Have you any plan to. induce it? " "■;.... 1 Mr Mabten — The energetic prosecu^ tion of public works. Mr Ibvine— Are you in favor of land -grants for this purpose ? . Mr "Marten— That is a large quej3tioii upon which it would be premature— to give a decided opinion — I am in favor of Immigration. (Cheers.) Mr Osbobne— What size of blocks of land should you be inclined to give in payment for the Railways ? .Mr Mabtest— The largest possible. Mr-OsBOBNE — Would you support the Railway project, if the .2,000, instead of 26,000 blocks were insisted on ? Mr Mabten— l should wish to see the large blocks taken, and should strive to get such an arrangement, or the largest possible. J am.decidedly opposed to the system of " spotting" by the selection of 2,ooo blocks, and should try my best to get the 20,000 acre blocks adopted, but I look upon -the construction of the Railways as a matter. of such great importance that I cannot pledge myself to any particular limit, but will use my influence to make them as large as possible. Several questions were put and answered,; and a .desultory discussion entered upon the point, which resulted in a repetition of the answer^ previously given. ■""■ ' In answer tcTdther questions, Mr Mabten said :—He did not believe that the passing of the original Railway resolutions could have thrown into the hands of the Superintendent andtheExecutive the independent appropriation of the 210,000 acres; the Council must have been consulted, and the General Government have had the supreme control. He did think that railways would . increase the value of land, both private and public ; but was opposed to the existing system of "spotting." He did think that the General Government would exercise a keen supervision over the works, in order to take care of the security they held on account of the Provincial debts. He was in favor • of a - reduction of the Dog Taxi He could not say that his mind was, made up on the question of "vote by ballot," but the present system of voting, was so, excessively defective that he would .decidedly support the ballot in preference to it. In answer -to Mr Clebke, Mr Marten said •■ . . . that he was not aware that had the Provincial Council passed the < Blacklock railway resolutions _a great power would have passed from the .hands of the Council to that of j the Superintendent and the Executive j but he knew that such were the conditions laid down by the G-eneral Government that the administrative powers, of the Provincial Government would have been very limited. Even the plans _ and .specifications o~f all the work would have had to be submitted to the General Government, and endorsed before even a tender could be called for. No further questions having been put, Mr Marten sat down amidst great cheering. . Mr .81-A.CKLOCK— -Who was loudly cheered, said he came forward to move a resolution, and..in doing so, he must ask the meeting to allow him to make a few remarks. At an election meeting, held on Tuesday evening, in this room, I desired to refute some charges that was made by Mr Clerke ; and to explain some of the statements made by Mr Smyth as to certain items in his settlement account with the, . Government. (Hearj hear.) Mr Smyth had not made clear theamount of work donef or which the item of £1700 had been allowed in his account. From what" r - had been said, it might have been thought that the whole, of this amount was simply for cartage of materials, which, according to his tender, should have been taken by the railway trucks. ... This . . certainly formed '■ a- considerable item, but it was only one of many — the loading of trucks, lighterage, removingballast,andotherextras — orderedbythe Railway Engineer, being included. The i next subject is the ■ statement of Mr Clerke with reference to what he terms the railway " bungle." He, stated that the contract in the first instance was no contract, but simply an agreement, dotted with alterations) erasures, &c. This, I think, . needs no reply, as on a previous occasion I went .fujlyr into the question ;. and I ibelieve, to the satisfaction of all present, sufficiently lucid to show the untruthfulness of the statement. (Cheers.) The chief question — to that I wish to call attention — is one that I, think all will agree I am entitled to canvass. When I recently addressed the electors I endeavored to openly place all the facts connected with the execution of Smyth, Hoyt and Go's, contract, and the conditions on which the final settlement was made iwith them. (Cheers.) Mr, Clerke in . his address has thought proper to impu|jn. the tiuthf&nesa of my statement, He, h.aj" ajssertei ttftt f& cwtifoftte from ifo lMlms

Engineer was given when ijhesetSement"' was made. I now will prove,' iinquestipn- | ably, that this is a false statement,^ malig^- j Bant attempt to . damage my reputation. (Loud Cheers.) i Witfrpermis'sidri I will' read the certificate from' Mr. Dundas, the Consulting Engineer, the report accompanying it, and also ' J that' of the Provincial Engineer. [The reading of these documents claused great sensatioft The feeling of the meeting was decidely against Mr. Clerke. The certificate "was 1 published in our last issue;] .: IVTr, LmvrsDEN asked" if Mr. Paterson had given his certificate^ ' J "; Mr. Blacklock replied that he had Hot, inasmuch as he was " not Railway Engineer at the time. (Cheers.) In answer to a question of Mr. Clebke's. Mr, Bil4.cklock said, that when Dalgety, Eattray and' Cos. claim wa3 first brought before him, the amount was something between twenty and thirty thousand pounds^ He found that they had received provincial "bonds in payment. He went to Dunedin, and in conjunction with Mr. Dillon Bell, had aoi interview with Mr. Eattray in, order to get a settlement. They could not come to terms. Mr. Eattray acknowledged receiving the bonds, but maintained that, until they were retired, his claim was not extinguished. We could do nothing with him, and then the G-o---vernment ' took the course that was deemed desirable to force an equitable and final settlement. (Cheers.). One or two more questions having been put and answered, Mr.. Blacklock was loudly and continually cheered. He moved, "that in the opinion of this meeting, Mr. C. E. Marten is a fit and proper person to represent the Electoral District of Waihopai." It was seconded, and being put meeting, was carried with acclimation. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings.