SUPERINTENDENCY ELECTION.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 210, 13 September 1873, Page 2

S UPERINTENDENCY ELECTION.

In accoi dance with advertisement, Mr J. M Dar-'avillc addiesaed the electors at the Delta Hptel, lycaruawahia em Wednesday evening Mr Holloway was voted to the chair and briefly introduced the candidate to the meetlug, and asked that he be accoidetfa patient healing Air Dargaville then rose and said he was pleased to see such a good attendance, as, considering the inclemency oi tne weather, a large attendance was not to be anticipated. It was evidence that the electors 'took an inte-i<-t in Provincial politics. He was glad that there was a j,uun jrlt'i.d.iin,e, as he had been submitted to a treat deal of adverse and unfair criticism; he would not. however delay the meeting by entering into person alifcies. If elected he should go, in fpr ietrenchmen.t, as the provmce was not m a puaition to support the costly staff of .initials being paid from pipyincial levenue. When tbo income of the province varied fr^m £140,000 to £100 000 they could afirtrd to support a large statf'of official), 'but tne revenue had descended to £70,000. and then to £4p,000, out of which £33,000 has to be paid for salaries and administration. H e was not an advocate for the continuance of provincial institutions, as they multiplied tbe expense of government, and the number of petty governments precluded the possibility ut concentrated opinion. Iho provinces m the South were wedded to ?!2X i I " stl f tut . K)ns « Vt they baJ not a revenue of £40,000 but of £200,000. Most people are aware that the land was Q,ngmal}y placed at the disposal of {he provinces, and any money tl*at accrued from them became provincial revenue. At that time we m the North had little laud, it being for the most part in the hands of the natives. In the «outh the laud only reyuired time to become valuable. K\erv citizen has a claim to the revenue abandoned Vy thop who had tbe fcad in political matters at,,the time in consideration of a debt of £13,000 hem* remitted. IJaf contact bad placed us ip the humiliating position we hold to-day. If we require £15,000 or £20 OOJ lor any necessary work we cannot raise it except' by unjust and unpopular taxation. It becomes U to examine our position and take every opportunity to reduce the expenditure. It cost at the profit £33 000 to support our police force, lunatic asylum, gaol., and all the harbours except that oi Auckland. The only altcrnativj .8 i Cm ° < T e "' ral ««Tcruiiieiit to take u» ov^r ; they doubtless say you uiubt maintam jour owq police, &c, and would tax WS lor (he urn^c, and ne should hand ove?to he aovernment ,„ Wellington thr power tp do so. He beJit yea that Jic tould B u»e between £13,000 and £14,000 out H* 11 ' "J'cncliturp oi £33,000 ; this «as not a large Z'A V.V7? dott Swat deal for this province. Heuoufd point out tlia the vh^ q f the rates levied last M-nr on y ' amounted to bet «oen £13,000 and £1 1,000. He centered the principle oi lloud Boards an admimble one, as the only KccietHrv. Ihe »|,ole of the money is" expended by l.o« *ho are dui-ctl, interred in spending it properl/. Jlp uished that any gentleman »bq doubted, his flg U £. Kuld flucrtiqn him as cWely as poMiblep 0M ible ; he asftd this aa a kindnew. He was tt new man m pohtioi, but ho bad been a man of common .ense. 1U- wa* therefore able fe> hold such criticism, as those of the A. Z Herald mthe cflnfenipt the> devrved H f «ould show ,n drtai\ how ho purposed to pniw abq H t the reductions he had spoken qf. He would commence i^th the salary of the Superintendent. £800 per annum was, perhaps, not out of the wav at one time: but phqn it «iv consideml that after pajing for the support of necessary institutions, under £s,oodonlyVemained for the prosecution of puWw woiLs, ho did think that BU m excessive. Ho would, if elegied wdufo the .Superintendent's salary cry conside.ahly, uud he would state (hat he did not intend to pocket any oi that salary. He should be just as anxious Jo go in if no salary was attuched to the olß^ ; if he drew the salarj, it should all go a«ani. There are many calls on a Superintendent in the «hupe of bubswqiiion*. He next can.c lo the item salarwb and departmental expenses, £3,000 it appeal dthutMoik costing £4,000, cost £3,000 t« super\«e. rcgarcU the £2,165 for Executive, he intended if i-lect-d to aboluh the Exeeiitiio. At present, it consists of iV? nUl>eln UI>el a " d Ulbh Mr Ltwk ib aMilv electioneering, •aid Mr Ilui-ht is conducting tic buMiiws of 'the province. If

ho can do this properly, ho should bo Superintendent, a< the Superintendent cun only ba a dummy. Tile BmcUiVS order to maintain power must comrawd, a nfavty in.tlie Lou .oil and in order to do tins they g.^Yffie here ajul a billet there to home friend; the cost of the ExequtiTe is therefore, LOjwidei ably greater than the apparpnt £2,165. lie would, if elected Superintendent, be' responsible tor f| je proper conduct of the business. Mr Ghlhfla haa admitted he was in error when he established un ExeeuI tuo. Mr Lusk sa\s they act as bulk™ to shield the Superintendent from rough shucks Allowing that tb» be fie case tfiey were only m use. during the ses»>on. The Jlirala had stated that he htd objected to the payment of country numbers; he had never done so, as he was of opimou fi.it unless they were, country members would not attend, and i p wa^ desirous of seeing the country districts fully represented. He considered thai, the principal duty of a Supeiintendent should bo to foster the country districts ; larger centiesof population like Auckland andthe'L'liami's could take care of thera e eh es. He objected Jo the payment of £300 per annum to tho Speaker of the Council, and not as he had luea l ©presented by the Rti;ali,to the gentleman who held the position., H$ objected that an annual salary should be paid for 6or 8 weeks 1 woik. The next item he came to was i,17,d00, of winch the clerks m Shortland street got £12,500, and trigonometrical surreys, and the survey of volunteer land scrip cost the balance. It is true that we do occasionally sell a piece of this hmd at from £3 to £7 The gross return on this account at present amounts to £1500, we are therefore receiving £250 por annum for tha alienation of our land. He laid that a great proportion of the above sum could be saved by handing tjio duties over to tho Nature Department, and General Government. If we go on at the present mto we shall shortly begetting into debt, for the payment of salaries, lie, if elected, would use the knife; iie luul no friends ho wished to give billets to. He did uot cure lor the Auckland people. He had'seen the jobbery that has been going on, but had hitherto restricted himself to attending to bis own business Thingi have now, however, come to such a pass that we must bo tax.cd directly, as additional revenue cannot be raised by' other means. They had alri-iuU got 411 educclion tax ; the next would probably be a poll tax, m they had had once before. He considered that it was incumbent upon every man to try spd, put a stop to the present state of things. (Cheers). It is quite time that a stop was put to the land jobbing that isgoiugion by capitalists In Auckland vant tracts of land are passing away,— as mucb as. 350,000 acres have gone m one block at n mere nominal price. Seeing that the extension of railways h being carried on at the cost of the colony, it is only equitable and reasonable that tho people should derive th» benefit of the consequent increased price of land. He considered that the Government should interpose between tho speculators and the natnps, so that when the railway is, made, we may all have the benefit, aud some of the coming taxation obviated, in place of nil the pro/it passing into the hands of a few individuals. He knew that he had an up hill game to fight ; those who fear loßing their billets are vyriting anonymously to the newspapers. He considered that he would be doing any young man a kindness by getting him discharged from Y falling service. If any gentleman wished to ask him any question ho should be happy to answer him if it lay m his power. On taking his »ea/ the speaker was loudly cheered. Mr Newell asked whether be was in favor of taking the railway across the river at Ngaruawahia p Mr Dargaville would certainly urge the speedy construction of the railway to Ngaruawahia; also the making of a I viaiuct as well as a. railway bridge across the river at that } place. Mr Fitznatrick asked what opinion he held with regard to the holding of the land in the neighbourhood of Ngaruaw ah m from sale. Mr DargaviUe said he considered it a short-sighted policy on the part of the Government to withhpld land required ior immediate settlement, in order to obtain at some future date higher prices than those obtainable Mr Fittpatriek moved, and Mr Newell seconded :— " That a vote of thanks be returned to Mr Dargaville for the lucid explanation of his opinions." Mr Davidson moved .— " That this meeting desires to express confidence 111 Mr Dnrgaville." The amendment was duly seconded, and on the Chairman putting it to the meeting it was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated, the proceedings.