Page 4 Advertisements Column 4

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 160, 2 March 1871, Page 4

Glenkenich, February 25, 1871. TO THE ELECTORS OF THE MATAURA DISTRICT, PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. /GENTLEMEN, —Although, I had not intended to come forward as a candidate for re-election to the Provincial Council, I feel it to be my duty to the district with which I have been so intimately connected ever since my arrival in the province, not to refuse my consent to the wishes of my fellow settlers, who had done me the honour to request me to stand. In consenting to be again nominated, I feel that it is due to those electors who may not be personally acquainted with me that I should give a short statement of my views on certain questions. Before doing so, I wish to state that during the long period I have held a seat in the Council, I have never, in my place there, voted for or against any individual member^ having always exercised my own judgment, and endeavoured to do the best of my ability to guide the affairs of the province in such a manner as might most conduce to the interests of all its inhabitants. In the matter of the Hundreds Regulation Act and the financial scheme of the General Government, I voted against those who claimed to be the popular party ; not because I did not approve of the ends they professed to have in view, but because I feel that the means they proposed could never conduce to those ends. The result in the first matter has proved my advice was sound, and the Reid Government adopted an]irnpolitic course, for, as I predicted, the land has been locked up for two years, and an Act recommended by the Reid Government is now law, and which Act is, if anything, more objectionable than that fir3t passed by the Assembly. I believe that the legislative powers of the Provincial Council might, with much benefit, be abolished ; that roads and other public works could be more economically and etficiently constructed by Shire Councils. I consider the expense of two Governments, constantly pulling against one another, as the Provincial and General have done, far to costly a luxury for a hurd working population such as ours. I believe that the settlement of the country would progress more rapidly and successfully were more of the public money spent on roads and bridges, and less ou officialism and fancy legislation, and I shall hail with delight the day when but one Government exists for the whole of New Zealand I consider the law should provide for the expenditure of a fixed portion of the price of the lands sold in each district, within that district. I am very strongly in favour of the immediate construction of a line of railway from Invercargill to Longford, believing, as I do and always have done, that Invercargill is the proper outlet for all the country on this side of the Mataura from Waipahi westward, and that nothing would tend sooner or more certainly to induce a large population to settle between Tapanui and the Mataura than the construction of that line, which I consider, looking at the immense extent of settled and unsettled agricultural land which it will command, is the most important line yet proposed in Otago. To my efforts to obtain a share of public money for my district in the past, I need not refer further than to state that before I entered the Council, almost no money had been spent on this side of the Olutha, and though never satisfied with the sums since voted, I claim to have something to show for my past labours. I assure you, gentlemen, if returned, I will never cease to use all my influence and political knowledge, acquired by long experience, for the benefit of both sections of this district, which I believe will yet prove to be one of the most important and prosperous in Otago. That the true interests of the northern and southern portions of Mataura are identical will, I feel confident, be amply proved so soon as the railway to Longford is opened. I remain, gentlemen, i Your obedienb servant;, FRANCIS WALLACE MACKENZIE. TTALANCE AND M'ALISTER, V Cabpektbes, Wheelwrights, &c., TAPANUI. Estimates given for contract work. Furniture made to order on the shortest notice. JAMES X E I R , House Carpenter, Builder. Wheelwright, &0., TAPANUI. Plans drawn, and Estimates given for contract wofk , on the shortest possib'e notipe. On hand, a variety of well-seasoned Timber, S for Furniture and other purposes,