Page 3 Advertisements Column 1

Southland Times, Issue 1138, 29 September 1869, Page 3

RequisitionTO THE HON. BR MBNZIES. DEAR SIB, — We, the undersigned electors of the town of Invercargill, have the honor to request that you will allow yourself to be nominated as a candidate for our representation in the Provincial Council of Southland at the ensuing election ; as we feel convinced, at this crisis in the affairs of the province, you are well qualified to render it important service. In. the event of your compliance with our request, we pledge ourselVes to use our best endeavors to secure your return. Mataura, 25th Sept., 1869. Gentlemen, — I willingly comply with your desire that I should become a candidate for a seat for Invercargill in the Provincial Council. At a crisis like the present, it is the duty of those whose advice has some value in the opinion of many, to give all the aid they can. The pressing question of the hour is twofold. How can the burden of the debt be lightened, and the recources of the province developed? The latter consideration is the most important, for in proportion to the success of its solution will the pressure of the former be mitigated. Some say, " .Re-unite with Otago — that is the remedy." This, in effect, would be equivalent to Southland's casting herself at Otago's feet, to be dealt with as Otago pleases. No matter what terms the delegates may agree to, they cannot limit the subsequent action of the Otago Provincial Council, still less can they 1 bind the General Assembly. Indeed there are no properly authorised South, land delegates at this moment. Ec-union is merely suicide for fear of ruin. Why should re-unionists deßpair of Southland's power to recover a better position ? Her resources are unimpaired. < The land is not less fertile ; the forests have not been destroyed; grass grows i more abundantly than ever before (new ' and better grasses, too, daily extend their ' area) ; her mineral resources are not exhausted ; the waters of the Straits teem with fish; her unsold lands are valued at a million of money ; and a considerable annual land revenue can be relied on. i Cannot industrious men find a living in 1 developing one or other of these resources ? Those who are willing to work need not rely for support on Government expenditure. All that they can fairly t ask will be a cheap and easy means of , getting their produce to market — to a seaport. i The policy of the new Council should be to encourage the extension of branch lines of light railways worked by horses — ' much cheaper to construct in the lowlands of Southland than metalled roads — to feed the main line, and enable producers, whether of wood, grain, coal, preserved meat, or other article for market or ex- • port, to ship their produce at the least expense. This would be tiue policy in 1 any country. In Southland, it ia especially the true policy to multiply the branch feeders to the railway, in order to increase its value. By-and- bye, when the i Winton line is at work, and perhaps a ? Mataura branch also, the traffic on it ! and the branches will pay so well as to , relieve the debt charges on the revenue ; > and it may be thought advisable then, and possible, for the Government to float i successfully on the Stock Exchange a pro- . porial for the purchase of the Southland ' ! railways at a price sufficient to redeem a part of the debt (and thereby lessen the i annual charges), form a permanent fund . for immigration purposes, and leave a , balance to form other branch lines.