HAWKE'S BAY HERALD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1883.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 7, Issue 441, 28 November 1863, Page 2

HAWKE'S BAY HERALD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1883.

A PAEAGKAPJa under the head of parliamentary proceedings would almost lead one to suppose that nature is about to furnish an effectual means for the removal of the native difficulty— to compass that which, so far as our iuformatiou' extends, art has hitherto proved incapable of dogin. We allude to the rumoured discovery of gold on the Waikato river. That it has been found atthe mouth of the Thames we all know — the i*esult of mining operations at' Coromandel having proved this beyond dispute ; and evidence has ofteu been afforded of its existence higher up

the river. But it is new to hear of the Waikato as a gold country. Mr. Turton, however, in seconding a motion by Mr. Yogel for the production of any papers or information in possession of the Government, relative to the finding, or probability of finding, gold in the Waikato, said " there was no doubt that gold was to be found in the Waikato district, and thought the auriferous land should be exempted from the operation of the Act. He believed there was far more gold in the country than would be sufficient to give compensation to all the settlers who claimed it."

Should this prove to be true — and we think it very probable — the phase of public affairs -will undergo a radical change. It has long been admitted that population is the grand desideratum in the settlement of the questions which agitate and disturb the Northern Island ; and hence it is that the efforts of our statesmen have been much directed of late to the subject of immigration. A scheme of immigration, however, such as wiil prove effectual to meet the difficulty, can only be carried out by the expenditure of very large sums of money, and not without great loss of time. But a gold discovery — one at least attractive from the richness of its finds — would, in a measure, render immigration schemes unnecessary. It would give the colony a stalwart population as it were ready to hand ; it would save time, save money, save all reference to the circumlocution office ; and quite as effectually overawe the disaffected native population as if the most elaborate scheme had been carried into effect by G-overnment agency.