TARANAKI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 750, 14 January 1860, Page 5

TARANAKI.

"We have files of the local "papers to the 24th ult, from which we take the following extracts:— A payment of one hundred sovereigns was made ™' Teira on Tuesday on account of his land at the Wai bra. Ifc will be remembered that his Excellency the Governor accepted Teira's offer last March, on the understanding however that his title to the land should be found valid, and not to interfere with the rights of other natives. Much opposition was shewn at the time and since towards •leiraby a comparatively considerable section of natives interested at the issue, but his Excellency notwithstanding, received a flax mat (parawai) iromi him figuratively to express that he was preCrea. w accept what was Teira' B own to dispose of. « might afterwards have been discovered that the ™at, or the land it represented, belonged to some w? la -Ut ifc was known at the tirae»sndeed twi? i ni, ed by the opposing natives themselves, SpJ; h?T doffered wa» exclusively Teira's; the c ermination waa undisguisedly to prevent land jemg disposed of at all, and as loud talking had simil» I on former occasions, a nted "Thf eT tation they were t0 bo the Ton -i natlves were invited to see prevent X and finding ifc impossible to !. 7\ *T> they ado Pted their *«fi? ff^rS ofMMng the meeting, the land should never be occu-

pied. This, like their previous threat that the land should never be paid for, need occasion no apprehension, as hitherto _we must say tho important and somewhat delicate business of treating with Toirii has been judiciously done on the sido of tho government. Tho interval that was allowed to elapse before making tho payment has dono much to conciliate and allay irritation. The natives see on the one hand that the Governor will buy no land in the faco of an opposition without first satisfying himself of tho rights of tho parties, and on tho other that an opposition must substantiate its claim to bo respected. The question then was not one of mere local interest— the purchase of a few hundred acres of land in a district from which the settlers.were unrighteously expelled by a former Governor, but was to bejudged of by the influence it promised to exercise on our future relations with the natives throughout the island. As such it was watched by them far and near, and even emissaries of Potiitau were busily engaged in it. Had the attempt to prevent the sale succeeded, it is not too much to say that the purchase of land would for the future have been impracticable. The stand on Teira's offer was doubtless taken with a full sense of its responsibilities, but founded as it was on a rigid observance of treaty it really involved little risk, since the natives conld not reasonably object to this. And moreover, the course taken by government throughout in relation to land in Taranaki proves that the natives at least have nothing to complain of.— T. Herald, Dec. 3. «

We are extremely glad to find from a notice in our columns that some Maori reserves of land are announced for sale by the Commissioners. la the early purchases of land, the government, anxious to make provision for the natives, set apart properties for the settlers far above their requirements. These lands have never been occupied by them or realised the object contemplated. The tribal tenure under which they are claimed is a fruitful source of contention amongst the owners, As regards the province the roads traversing these reserves, mostly, main lines, are made and kept in repair by the settlers—the provincial revenue is annually taxed to keep down the thistle, and disputes are always occurring with the owners,of neighbouring land from the want of boundary fences. A remedy is fortunately provided by the New Zealand Native Reserves Act, 1856, passed by the General Assembly, and the Commissioners are losing no time in exercising the full powers conferred upon them by the act. — Ibid.

On Thursday, the first of the month, the surveyed portion of the block of land called " Tarurutangi" was offered for sale by public auction under the Provincial regulations, at the Crown lands office. The attendance was unusually large. Twelve allotmentsj varying in size from 40 to 240 acres, were disposed of at prices ranging from twenty shillings to thirty-eight shillings the acre. One thousand eight hundred and forty-two acres were sold, the proceeds amounting to £2,360 16s. nearly all of which was paid in scrip.— Ibid. Auckland to New Plymouth in Five Days. —The overland mail from Auckland by the coast road has hitherto reached New Plymouth in about ten days: thanks to the energy and indefatigable exertions of the Key. John Morgan, of Otawhao, it will shortly be delivered here in five, and at Wellington in ten or eleven days. The Central Government, aware of Mr. Morgan's srreat influence with the natives, wisely intrusted him with the opening of the inland route to Motukaramu and Hawkes Bay, a task so beset with difficulties that its successful accomplishment entitles the reverend gentleman to the warmest thanks of the colonists of the Northern Island. It will appear by Mr. Morgan's letter, which we publish herewith, that he suggested a line of rpad from Motukaramu to - the head of the Mokau river, which Mr. Parris has succeeded in inducing the Mokau chiefs to make during the present summer. The opening of this road and the completion of the tunnel at Parininihi will enable us to drive fat stock from Taranald to Auckland in fourteen days. The last mail was conveyed by the new route to Motukaramu and down the Mokau river by canoe. The delay in its arrival was occasioned by the natives attached to the king party, at Mangatiki near Mania, having refused to allow the mail man to pass and sent the mail back to Otawhao. Mr. Morgan, thereupon, despatched a messenger to Potatau, and that chief not only expressed great indignation at the obstruction, but sent peremptory orders to his adherents not to interfere with the mail man, who experienced no further interruption. We are informed that the mail for Auckland will be made up at 11 o'clock this day, instead of at noon on Monday, as heretofore; and that in future it will be despatched fortnightly instead of weekly. Communication with Kawhia and Whaingoa is provided for by a branch mail from Otawhao, by which letters will reach their destination as expedi-. tiously as by theold route.-— lbid, Dec. 17.