The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, MONDAY, NOV. 10, 1866.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 941, 19 November 1866, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, NOV. 10, 1866.

SFKCTiiiIUa AGENDO. u Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice : Tate each man's ccn-mro, but reserve thy judgment. Thia above ail, —To th.iue own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not tben be false to any man."

"Wu are constantly asked how the balance of the compensation awards for losses through the war will be paid and when. There is naturally very considerable anxiety upon the topic, and a desire to have the thing settled as speedily as possible. The General Government have now the matter in their hands, and as the re-investigation is closed, we presume they will come to some decision upon the question, without any unnecessary delay. The claimants have had their claims very fully and carefully investigated—a work which ought to have been done when they were first made—and final awards have been given in each case. The length of time that has elapsed since the losses occurred ia another argument for speedy payment of the balance due, as also the vast amount of good such payment would be to the three hundred and fifty claimants, and to the province generally. As the great bulk of those to whom awards have been made are country settlers once more engaged on their farms, the money paid would be immediately spent in reproductive work, in setting in motion the bushman's axe and the plough, in increasing cultivation and stock, and directly adding to individual and national wealth. The balance due to tho claimants must be somewhere about thirty or one and thirty thousand pounds, and the paj'inent of that amount to our settlers would increase the circulating capital of the province by that extent. It would, probably, all be speut in the next twelve months, and spent, not in importing foreign bacon, hams, potatoes, butter, cheese, cattle, sheep, and so forth, but in producin"these things from our own lands. It would remain with us, circulating from hand to hand, and benefiting large numbers of people. Thirty one thousand pounds would clear a very large quantity of land, would purchase no small amount of bone-dust, would pay for a great deal of ploughing. It would give employment for six hundred men for a year at one pound per week, it would clear and sow with grass six thousand two hundred acres of land at five pounds an acre, buy 31,000 sheep at twenty shillings a head, and do a great deal of work of the most important character, which iu its turn would again cause more work to be done, more crops to be raised, more benefits to accrue to us.

Again, supposing the claimants had all of them borrowed money to the extent of the balance now due to them, at ten per ccnt., the immediate payment of the money would enable chem to clear off their debt, and be an annual saving to them of three thousand one hundred pounds a year, they would have then much more annually to spend on their farms, on farm labour, on manure, on increasing their stock, and the produce of their land. .The scattering of thirfcy-one thousand pounds among our country farmers would be casting good seed on good ground, and it would bring forth ample fruit for many a long year to come, ever improving in quality, ever increasing in quantity. Of the importance, therefore, to the province of a speedy settlement of the account there can be no question. And as to the best manner of that settlement there can be no doubt. A direct and immediate money payment would alone secure all the benefits we have named. Waikato lands or laud scrip would not benefit to any great extent but a very few indeed. Debentures would bo better, and we see no other way of paying these claims i at pro .sent. But what we wish to point out is this fact, that as many of the claimants have only a small sum to receive, it would be very much better il the Government could act as their own agents as it were, and instead or paying in debentures to each claimant arrange to dispose of debentures themselves to raise the gross amount required, and then pay the claimants in cash. The Government could do the whole thing at one operation and at little cost. At indeed a less cost than making out and issuing a large number of debentures for such small amounts, and the claimants would be guarded against depreciation and loss which would be entailed upon them had they to negotiate debentures

: mi CinS | .' ->? were they paid in land scrip. | £ j7 .or would be simply giving land buyer d enormou s profits at the expense of I ; j claimants, the Government not benefiting a single sixpence, .indeed we have not the slightest .doubt but that the claimants would very much prefer dealingwith Government, and suffer a small percentage deducted from their awards to refund Government any loss that might accrue by negotiating the sale of debentures, and paying the claimants in cash. Thus, suppose each £100 worth of debentures sold for £95, that would be equal to a loss of five per cent. There is not a single claimant, we venture to believe, who would not infinitely prefer paying to the Government five per cent., and even more, in order to get cash down and no further trouble, no hawking debentures aud I scrip about, no heart burnings and loss, no frittering away of the sums they had calculated upon receiving, no doubtfulness as to the ultimate amount they would ever get. As a settlement must be speedily made, it behoves the settlers themselves to make their views known. This they can best do by meeting in their respective districts, calmly discussing the question, and memorialising the Government upon it should they so decide. A memorial got up and signed by all or by a great majority of the claimants, would doubtless have some effect, and, if it were thought advisable, a deputation could wait upon the Superintendent, present the petition, and enforce its views. We have thrown out these suggestions, and it now rests with the country settlers to decide whether they will act upon them and speak upon the subject before it is too late. We need not remind them that locking the stable door after the horse is stolen will not bring him back to the stable. It will be no use grumbling after the decision of Government is known ; it may possibly be of some use to the settlers to make their own views known to the Government now. But, "If 'twere well 'twere done, then 'twere well 'twere done quickly."