THE Thames Advertiser. SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1874

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1874, 25 July 1874, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1874

«, b The Public Works Statement was [ delivered iu the House of Kepresentat tives last night, by the Hon. E. i Hichard-ion, and a summary of it will ' be found iu our telegraphic columns, 1 but the late hour at which the message r came to hand prevents us from criticis--1 iug its leading features to-day. WhatJ ever satisfaction it may afford to other } parts of the colony it is not likely to j be received with much favour at the , Thames. -o ; We have heard many opinions and '. conjectures as to the real cause of the i long coutinued absence of the Native J Minister from his seat in the House of e Representatives, and there is a very general opinion prevalent that it is r attributable to a reason other than the fc one advanced by the Premier when ' apologising to the House for the ab- [ sence of his colleague. It will be reQ membered that Mr Vogel offered a very e lame excuse to the Assembly, which '» was to the effect that Mr McLean went l£ to Australia under the conviction that e the openiug of Parliament would not e take place until the middle of July,' ,(i instead of the beginning of the month. |£ This excuse, however, did not satisfacU torily account for Mr McLean's ab(l sence, for it was patent to every one 13 that Ministers could have apprised him n of the change iu ample time to enable !r him to attend at Wellington on the .',. opening day. He, however, took no •J notice of the meeting of the Assembly, 3 „ but continued his " starring" tour in ;t Australia, and evideutly reached the ie climax of his ambitiou, when he " sat - e upon the floor of the House,"—so the f t telegrams tell us,—of the Victorian j. Assembly! The absence of the Native Id Minister has, however, created a bus'f> piciou in the public mind that it was a ■' preconcerted plan to avoid some very j 3 troublesome aud annoying inquiries, er which Mr McLean could see were of likely to be made during the early days of the session. His absence enabled the Ministry to postpone many of the inquiries; and the returns that were

*** a "'' J **-"^**"-'«^'f4Wwt l^-? _ J ,..._. <tT . : _ :|Mr 'asked for by the House, as a preliminary to further steps being taken to unravel some of the mysteries of the Native Department, have not been laid on the table. In the meantime the Fiuaucial Statement has been delivered, and the attention of the House has thus bann diverted from the iniquities of the Native Office. But we do not think that Ministers will escape by this delay, for many of the Southern members are beginning to see that the money borrowed for the purchase of native lauds is not used for the purposes for which the loan was sanctioned, and is' bringing ruin upon the native race. A Southern journal of some standing and position -the'Bruce Herald'-has late published statements from its Wellington correspondent, who is a well-known member of the House of Represents tives, in which some of the evils of the native policy are revealed to Southern readers. He tells the following story: In a district that, for obvious reasons, will be nameless, there lived some natives who had spent their all in strong drink, and still thev desired more, but the retailer of the fire-water required something in exchauge. Money they had none, and there was nothing else left "for it but to assume the name and profession of a Hauhau, and, under such, apply to the Native Department for a horse, cart, plough, and other implements of husbandry. This was done, and although the horse was not obtained the other articles mentioned were, and brought triumphantly home. Given, of course, with the best intentions, at all events given under the plea of encouraging the Hauhaus to settle down to industrial pursuits: what was the climax of the farce! Why, simply this, these articles of husbandry were, to use a common but expressive expression, "duly melted "for one-half their value, and the proceeds ex. changed for alcoholic poison. This is no individual case, and it is generally acknowledged that the largest proportion of the loan expended, outside the salaries of officials,'has gone to increase drunkenness, encourage demoralisation, and hasten on the gradual and certain extinguishment of the race.

That -the Native Department is beginning to excite considerable interest, and even alarm, in the South, cannot be surprising, when such scandais as those recently brought to light by a member of the Provincial Council of Auckland are published throughout the length and breadth of the colony. And we do not see how the Ministry can expect to escape a discussion upon their native policy, and a searching investigation into the working of the department.

The correspondent we have referred to above, tells us that the, trip of Mr McLean to Australia was not one of pleasure only. It may be that the Native Minister desired to be absent during the early days of the session, and saw an opportunity of combining business with pleasure, and so departed to be out of the way. We do not like to attribute unworthy motives, and merely give the story to prove that the opinion in the South regarding the purity of the Native Department has undergone great change during the past year or two. We are told that:—

_ The Hon. Mr McLean has been for some time on a visit to the Australian colonies, accompanied by Mr Kenneth McLean, who, it is paid, in additio 1 to being on the pay of the Native Department (his duties I cannot find out) is considered a good judge of sheep. It is understood that, on purely patriotic grounds, the lion, gentleman has secured some valuable sheep, which will, no doubt, prove like administration in the Native Department, develop into great benefits to the colony. Of course primary immediate advantage must be looked upon as a mere bagatelle, and under such circumstances I daresay the services of Mr Kenneth McLean will be all returned to the country,