WELLINGTON LAND BOARD ELECTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3179, 3 May 1909, Page 4

WELLINGTON LAND BOARD ELECTION.

A poll for the election of a member to the Wellington Crown Lands Board, to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Mr J. M. A'Court, will take place on the 31st inst. Candidates nominated are Messrs J. M. A'Court. Robert Bould, J. Bremner, H. T. Ellingham, L. Houlbrooka, A. J. Joblin, C. Mclntyre, W. McLennan, and T. H. Robinson. Sub-section 5 of clause 27 of the Land Laws Amendment, 1907, states that "every elective member of a Land Board shall be elected by the persons who on the first day of January preceding the election were the owners of any lease or license of or in respect of Crown Sands situated within the land district of the Board. Every such owner shall have one vote, save that if two or more persons are the owners jointly or in common of any such lease or license they shall have one vote between them." Mr J. A. Joblin, of Tuheroa, Hunterville, elsewhere publishes an address to Crown tenants entitled to vote. Although any person, not a member of Parliament, is eligible for a seat on the Land Board, Mr Joblin contends that the spirit of the clause referred to "is to give the settlers themselves a chance." Mr Joblin has had ten years of strenuous residence in the backblocks. and he declares that that is his leading qualification, while he truly remarks that "such an experience tends to enkindle the warmest sympathy for the people on the land." Mr Joblin asks for support on the ground that he is a bona fide settler, while he, a<? a democrat, believes that everv member of the Board, with the exception of the Chief Commissioner, should be elected by the Crown tenants.