Page 3 Advertisements Column 2

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 563, 5 October 1869, Page 3

10 THE ELECTOES OF THE PROVINCE OF NELSON. Gentlemen, —The Governor's writ having been issued for the election of a SUPERINTENDENT of this Province, I beg to solicit a renewal of the confidence you have already placed in me. It is extremely gratifying to me that the important project to which I promised at my election to devote niy most earnest attention, has met with a highly favourable reception at the hands of a body of gentlemen of rank, influence, and capital, in London, and I firmly trust that the negociatious now in progress will result in the speedy commencement of a line of railway from Nelson to Cobden and AVestport. Nothing, in my opinion, could so effectually secure the permanent prosperity of all parts of the Province as the execution of this great work, and no efforts on my part will be wanting to secure it. Of the other public worts which I then specified, I have been enabled to complete the Nelson Waterworks, and the bridges over the "Waimea and Hurunui Rivers.

The remaining one, namely, the Nelson Dry Dock, is still in abeyance. I induced the Provincial Council to vote a sum of money towards its construction, but the great decline in the revenue that year compelled me to abandon the project. But the assent of the Governor having a few weeks since been given to an amended Guarantee Act, I have advertised both in this colony and in Australia for tenders under its provisions, which I hope will produce a practical result. A very large expenditure in public works and otherwise has taken place during my short term of office upon the South-West Goldfields, at one time far in excess of the revenue derived from the district, and from first to last the expenditure within it has fully equalled the net revenue, both direct and indirect. Statements of an opposite character have, however, been industriously circulated, and a petition for separation has been presented to the General Assembly. I shall, if re-elected, take care that full justice shall be done to that district in the future, as it has been done in the past, but no amount of pressure will induce me-to sacrifice the interests of the province as a whole to that or any other district, and I shall also strenuously oppose all attempts to dismember the province, which would, I am convinced, be disastrous to all parts of it, and more especially to the Sonth-West Goldfields themselves. The large reductions, amounting to nearly £12,000 per annum, which I made during the past year in the departmental expenditure of the Province, will, I think, have convinced you that, although I have made no professions about economy, I have neither been slow nor sparing in action. The depression which has for some time existed in all parts of the colony, although I believe more severely felt in most of the other Provinces than in Nelson, will, I trust, soon pass away, and be succeeded by prosperity of a more lasting and wholesome character than that wbich preceded it. The manufacture and cultivation of native flax are now deservedly attracting much attention in this light, and I am doing all in my power, by introducing the best class of machinery and otherwise, to promote so desirable an accession to our small list of local manufactures, as I am most anxious to promote everything which leads to the employment of labor and the permanent settlement of the country. I defer the consideration of many other topics till I meet you personally. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, Tour most obedient servant Oswald Cttktis. Nelson, September, 28, 1569.

TO THE ELECTORS OE THE PEOVINCE OF NELSON. GENTLEMEN—As the election V-T for the Superintendency for the next term takes place shortly, at the suggestion of my friends I heg to announce my intention of becoming a candidate for your suffrages. As I deem it far better to see you personally than write a lengthened address in the papers, I propose shortly to ask you to meet me in Nelson, and at convenient places in the various districts of the Province, when I hope to be able to give you such an explanation of the manner in which I would propose to fulfil the duties of a Superintendent, as to satisfy you that, in the event of my being elected, my conduct during office would bear comparison with any promises I had made. I am, O-entlemen, Tour obedient servant, ¥n. Gibbs. Totaranui, ■ • September 27,1869.