THE VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS SCANDAL.

Evening Star, Issue 7385, 3 December 1887, Page 2

THE VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS SCANDAL.

Some most interesting iteir.-i of information are to Ire picked out of the maw of papers op village settlements which have-been laid on the table of the House of Representative), It does not say much for the public value of documents presented to Parliament that these matters should have hitherto entirely escaped notice at the H*ai .of Government; for they really are something' quite put of the common. They have an importuned, j"..io, fy;art from a mere sensation, as showing how thoroughly well founded the outcry was against the scandalous maladministration of the Village Settlements eclame by the late Minister of Lauds. It will be remembered that Mf Ballauce explicitly gave the House to believfe that Mr John Lundon, his agent for establishing the village settlements in tjio North, wan unpaid, and gave his services to’the country as a labor of love, receiving only such suma as might be required for necessary expenses in arrying out tips system It now appears that Mr London not only waa ts have a fixed allowance of 12s fid a-day for 401 days, amounting to L2OO 12b fid, but that ho charged various suma varying from LI/) to LSO for “sundries',” in addition to charges for stamps, stationery, and telegrams, and a mysterious of 2s a-day to his daughter for railway fare. Most of these charges, we may say, were quite illegal, and the Auditor-General and tho Under-Secretary f-r Lands resolutely refused to certify them for payment, and some of them have never been paid, and we hope never will be. The difficulty that the oncers had in doing their duty, however, can be judged hy the fact that when they refused to recognise a moat impudent demand of Mr London's for £6O for “ sundrie’,” of which no account jyas giyen, the Commissioner of Crown Lands was ordered to pay it out of imprest—that is to say, out of money in his hands which he has to account for later on. By this means the lawful check on the improper expenditure of public money was evaded. Yet, will it be believed, the Audit Department declare that this LSO was charged over again by Mr Lundon, in a voucher for a large turn for allowance and sundries, and it was only by the vigilance of the Auditor thfit it was prevented from being paid twice over. To realise the full significance of all this, it must be borne in mind that Mr Lundon was all this while a candidate for election for the Bay of Islands in the interests of the late Government. Three days before the nomination the following telegram was sent by the Minister of Lands, who had gone up North on “ village settlement business, 1 ’ to the Under-Secretary at Wellington ; “Send L4o(forty pounds) on account toCummissioner for Lundon, or instruct Commissioner to pay it at once.— John Ballance.” Miss Lundoft figures rather conspicuously in seme of these queer transactions, as will bo seen from the following characteristic letter from Mr Lundon in reply to one from tho Under-Secretary asking for an explanation"of a variety of charges {—“//c memo, of dates required in detail on which 1 travelled to Auckland on the business of the Department, and stating the nature of the duty on which I was engaged, the individual making this remark is impertinent, I being the only judge as to what my duties were, and am responsible to the Hon. the Minister of Lands, and X consider the data already furnished by Miss Lundon are sufficient re the item LG 3s 7d for telegrams, The telegrams charged for were answers to persons requiring information re settlement, also to settlers already located. 4s to requiring names and dates of transmission therefor, you might as well ask the man in the moon. My daughter paid and charged for the telegrams, and I certified to tlw and that must be sufficient.” We need scarcely say that the AuditorGeneral refused to pass the vouchers on such an “ explanation ” as that, TI)P funniest item of all, however, which the Auditor refused to pass, was the charge for the following advertisement in the Auckland papers A meeting will be held In the Temperance Hall, Albert street, on Wednesday, at 7.80, in reference to the opening of further lands for village settlement, and with respect to what has happened about the setMebidnts drosdy formed, also to exp'ain my action in conncoti'dn with the.p. I learn that Alfred Burgoyno bis said Jn Qiie'Cn street that he would shoot John Lundon like a" b——yd.<?fr, on account of my connection with the special setfleciepfs. f. hereby, ask Mr Burgoyne to meet me at the Temperance Hillon theabovo occasion, and he can there do tho shooting. Mr Hobbs, M.H.R.—who, I understand, was in Mr Bprgoyijo’s company when be made the threat — Is also requested tp atf cpd and see It carried out. , Things had some ti> such a gasg that on the. 21st July, Sir Robert Stout, py hfs authority as. Premier, and in the absence of Mr Ballanco,. issued imperative instructions that no more; money was to be paid to Mr Lundon or on his. behalf. Yet, as we have seen, so late as 12th. September, Mr Ballanco, on his own authority as Minister of Lands, ordered L4O to be paid to Mr Lundon, without any vouchers or accounts having beefl rendered. A more flagrant case of corruption’ and iobbpyy, wo should say, never was exposed, The papersTully fieay out all tho hard " things that have peon said about Mr ; Ballance’s administration, and show that he is: totally unfit to be trusted with Ministerial powers.— * Evening Press. , ,