THE Thames Advertiser SATURDAY, SEPT. 19, 1874.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1862, 19 September 1874, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser SATURDAY, SEPT. 19, 1874.

It is clear that the Superintendent of; Wellington has thrown .up., the .sponge in the contest for provincialisn), and has determined to make the most of the time before lie is extinguished, so': that the General Government, when it takes over his province, will have a bad. bargain. A statement went the roundj of, the papers, .a .fe.w (i days,ago,.tha.fc .he, 'bad'sold a block of about v BO,OOO abrei' for 12s 6d an acre, which, if put up to auction,; andthe -sale, extended.: oyer some time, might have brought 50si It was also stated : thatMr Jfttzherbert and Mr Bunny had declared that they would sell. eySry : acre they could at whatever price it woiild bring. The report would appear to have been true, for a telegram received last night informs us that the Provincial Government have advertised for sale 100,000 acres of pastoral and agricultural land ; and are also determined to sell all the land under reclamation in; Wellington harbour. These sales will no doubt have the effect of putting the Provincial Government of Wellington in funds in its last days, but they will impoverish the districts to be created when provincialism is abolished, and will prevent them haying anything like the land revenue which Mr Vogel promised they should have. It is per-: haps surprisingthat when Mr Yogei carried his resolutions he did not bring down a Bill to restrain : the power of Superintendents over the waste lands iuthe meantime; and .now. that he has gone to England, the Superintendents will be able to do pretty well just as they please till he cornea back.

liDgton is the province which will suffer moat. Its Superintendent was greatly incensed at the resolutions, and he has in his bands a laiMquantity of valuable land. "Whether my attempt will bo made by the out-districts to prevent the Provincial Government rushing into the market the estate which might furnish a valuable land revenue for yearn, we do not know,

It seems rather inconsistent that while a large part of New Zealand is closed up from settlement—and people who talk or write: about, the duty of the Government doing what they can to open it, are attempted to be put in the positions of persons seeking to cause disturbance in the colonyMinisters should be seeking to. engage in a great ~ scheme to .establish com* mercial relations and to found a kind of protectorate among the islands :of the Southern Pacific/thickly peopled with savages, and where the proportion of European' -settlers must ever be small. It is very strange, and yet it is so, aud one of the arguments set forth for the creation of the South Sea Company was the skill which New Zealand had attained in dealing with natives. It would be rather difficult, we should think, to prove this, and gainsayers might, point triumphantly to the Thames in proof of the'weakness .of the Government, and its incapacity to deal with an aboriginal race. How the negotiations stand now with respect to the lands of the upper country: we cannot tell, and we suppose that everybody, including those who have been engaged in the transactions, is in.the same position. An amount of money has been paid away amply sufficient to have bought the whole country, and yet none of.it is accessible, and when it is to be so, or what are. to be taken for the purpose, no oiie can tell. Our information of the mind of the natives is, that the' principal men of the: different tribes 1 interested have formed a committee, and that this committee has resolved-to deal only with the Native' 'Minister himself. Two telegrams were lately sent ; down "to him urging him to come up to see' the natives ; to the first he answered that the matter, was in the hands of Mr -Mackay, and to the second, that Dr. Pollen would see them. , ; We should have thought that if the .Maoris of: this district had expressed a desire to see the Native Minister, and' had made it known that they were inclined only to do business with him, he 'would have seen it his duty lo have come North "to try and arrange whit is a standing disgrace to the Government of New,; Zealand—that a large and: fertile/district should be entirely closed up, while settlement, is - rapidly: extending elsewhere.; ••••■ ■.: ■