TO THE ELECTORS OF THE EASTERN DOWNS.
The Brisbane Courier, 26 August 1868 p. 1
GENTLEMEN,—I regret to say that circumstances will prevent
me from again offering myself as a candidate for election to the Legislative
Assembly. On retiring from the representation of your District, permit me to
say a few words to you in reference to the prospects of the country, so far as
they are affected by political considerations. Associated at various times,
both in and out of office, with men of different political tendencies,
including both the present Premier and the Leader of the Opposition, and having
represented at different times constituencies both in the Northern and Southern
portions of the Colony, I am more and more convinced that party combinations,
to be of any real service to the country, must represent certain intelligible
political principles. How far such principles have hitherto been represented in
the Government of Queensland it is not for me at present to enquire; but now,
after the struggle for expenditure has moderated, and when, as we are told, a
Liberal party is in course of formation, it is not an unfitting occasion for
you, and for the constituencies, to consider whether it is really worth while
to have a policy deserving the name, or whether it is more in accordance with
the necessities of our position to drift on unintelligently the victims of
capricious impulse, and of the personal antipathies of our public men.
First and foremost, far exceeding all others in importance,
because it includes all others, is the question of Representation. No Liberal
party having any pretention to consistency, can for one moment admit that
interests—whether those interests are pastoral, agricultural, mineral, or
commercial—should be separately represented. In proportion as they can exercise
their influence they will find representatives to advocate their special claims
to consideration; but a liberal party in any country, most certainly a liberal
party in a new country such as this, can never accept any other basis of
representation than that of population—established and industrious, at once the
source and product of wealth and enterprise. No party denies that the
representation requires re-adjustment; the Liberal party, I presume, must
assert population to be the only basis upon which it can accept a re-adjustment
of that representation, and as a preliminary step introductory to effectual
legislation in this direction, the repeal of the two-thirds clause of the
Constitution Act, so far as it applies to the Legislative Assembly, is
absolutely essential.
In connection with this subject the eventual division of the
present territory of Queensland into two separate colonies claims attention,
for it is simply impossible to provide effectually for the representation of
the outlying Northern Districts in a Provincial Parliament of Queensland
sitting at Brisbane. I had hoped, if the late Parliament had been in session a
few weeks longer, to have succeeded in persuading the Legislature to remit this
question to the consideration of Her Majesty's Ministers, who are well
qualified to treat with disinterested impartiality, and by whose authority the
separation, which is inevitable, must finally be carried into effect.
Next in importance to the question of Representation, comes
that of our Land Laws. I impugn neither the motives of those who passed the
present law, nor the intentions of those who desire to maintain it in
operation. The interpretation put on the previous Agricultural Reserves Act—an
interpretation which had never been put on it until the present Administration
came into office—has been productive of a most demoralising system of fraud;
and I believe that, in spite of all precautions, these frauds will be
perpetrated under the present Act, wherever the inducements are sufficiently
strong. It is singularly inapplicable to your district, and has been worked
with disastrous effect; but I believe you have seen the worst of it. The
special value attached to land on the Downs requires exceptional treatment, and
I feel satisfied that no mode of alienation which it would be possible to apply
would give anything approaching to general satisfaction. I would say, then,
with regard to this experimental land legislation—give it a fair trial; do not
make another sudden change too suddenly; correct the administration; and for
the future, it can be no part of the policy of a Liberal party to oppose the
alienation of land, or to clog it with abortive conditions. Free trade, ample
right of selection before and after survey, together with the competitive
system of sales by auction, judiciously applied by a discerning Administration
alive to the real necessities of the country, may in this, as in almost every
other case, be safely relied on.
Then with regard to our financial position, and, as
intimately connected with this, our Railway and Immigration Policy. It must
surely be admitted by the party of progress that the development of both the
one and the other are as essential and as inevitable as the development of the
country itself, of which, I presume, no party has any doubt whatever. But, as
to the method of giving effect to this policy, I fancy that there must be a
change both in principle and in practice. The [uncertain: juggle] puerile
[uncertain passage] of the last few years cannot [uncertain passage] much
profit; what, for instance, could be more unreasonable than the [uncertain
passage] ventured to question the [uncertain passage] for Warwick, that he [uncertain
passage] from a Government [uncertain passage] previously supported because
[uncertain passage] of their [uncertain passage] during the present year in
order to complete the extension from Allora to Warwick?
That the railway will be completed to Warwick at no distant
day admits of no more reasonable doubt than that it will be extended to
Brisbane, as in like manner the railway from Westwood will be extended towards
the rich pastoral and mineral district of the Dawson and Peak Downs. But to
make these demands, or any demands beyond those of immediate necessity, upon a
Treasury already seriously overtaxed, is so manifestly unreasonable to those
who are aware of the real position of the country that I cannot understand how
they can be urged by men who, in ordinary matters of business are capable of
estimating what is expedient, much more what is just and honest.
If it had still been my privilege to have become a candidate
for the representation of the Eastern Downs, I could not have pledged myself to
have claimed any further votes for any portions of railways not under contract,
because I know that the circumstances of the country do not at present justify
a large Railway Loan, and no such Loan can with justice be authorised until we
are in a position to treat the question in a systematic and sufficient manner.
I give you my disinterested advice, when I ask the future
members for Warwick and the Eastern Downs to believe that their best policy in
the long run on this question will be a policy which is consistent with justice
to the whole community. The increased value possibly provided by these
considerations which are not to be weighed [uncertain passage] against a
consistent policy based on reason and justice, which might entail a further
delay of some twelve or eighteen months.
There are other matters to which I might refer, but I have
already exceeded the bounds of such an address as this. Permit me, however, in
conclusion, to give you my very warmest thanks for the very kind and
considerate manner with which I have always been treated by the majority of my
constituents, among whom I have valued friends of many years standing.
My best wishes attend you all, rich and poor alike, and with
regard to this election—and to all future elections—I hope that you will send
to the front, men who will fight for your rights, and whom you can trust, and
men who will adhere to their colors, whatever they are.
I am, your obedient, faithful servant,
J. DOUGLAS.
