THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1878.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5064, 8 February 1878, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1878.

TIIK completion of the purchase of the Ohinemuri goldlieM is olio of tlmsc things which stv.iu to be like an amount Spanish game of chess : player after player passe.-; away, but the game is taken up at the last move ;i:ul carried on. Jn IJSO7, the <nie.stiou of opening Ohniciniiri was" to be sol veil in six months ; in Ib7-J, it was .so far solved that a lease uf the country was taken by the Government, which lease in 1.578 was to In; formed into a complete purchase! of the lund, if it should happen that thu native, owners are unable or unwilling to pay oil' a mortgage debt of £15,000 upon a block of 1:32,71(i acres of land. In this year of grace the native oivners are both unablo and unwilling to pay oil' the lien ; they have said to the Government, in a petition sent by them to the Native Minister by the hand of a special agent, written the last month, " We are unable to pay our debt to you [ the Government], and we are also sued by pattellas for debts which we owe and cannot pay, and there is every likelihood of our being sent to gaol. Why not then, O father, take the land and pay the rest of the purchase money 1" The Native Minister and the Premier are delighted. It is just the thing that the Thames people have been agitating for during the past ten years ; wo will have no more land purchases on commission ; no more will the knowing pakeha storekeepers delude the trusting and innocent Maori to getting into debt; no more niihaua : we will appoint a salaried ollicer to complete tlioiJiirchases; aniP if that ollicer should buy for himself or liis friends —he will In; sacked next morning. Cut here an odd diiViculty crops up, and it puts us in mind of what used to happen in the days when Policeman X was unknown. Jt"wjis not uncommon fur a company of street acrobats to have a donkey as p. prominent member of their troupe, and that quadruped was to climb a ladder so soon as tin; small sum of twopence more was forth-

coining from the crowd. It was always however observed as a singular fact in natural history, that at least a penny or halfpenny of the necessary twopence was always wanting, and as a consequence the donkey never went up, and so it is here. The Government have appointed a highly skilled and efficient otiicer to complete tin; purchase of the Ohiiieimiri block ; but at this precise point wo are in want of that additional penny. .Mr. James Jluekny, for so many years Lane I Purchase Agent to the Government has an nnsatisljed claim of some £K>,ooo for unpaid commiosion upon the whole of the laud purchase transactions during the past sown years, and he declines to hand over to Mr. J. W. Preece, the officer appointed to complete the purchase, the deeds and papers necessary until that little claim for £13,000 is satisfied. The late Government appointed, the Hon. Mr. Whitakur, and the head of a Civil Service Department, to arbitrate the claim of Mr. Mackay, and they awarded a sum of £8000 : this amount has not been paid, owing to opposition, wo are led to believe, within the Cabinet. On the other hand, while this is going on, the natives exhibit dissatisfaction, the purchase is blocked, and those who have taken up blocks of the goldlield on lease from the Government are gravely dissatisfied with their position. Having been so long promised redress which has never come, these now look anxiously io the Premier, who has expressed his earnest desire to have this long-standing grievance of the Thames set at rest. A last eflbrt was made yesterday, we understand, to arrange the point in dispute ; and a:; all parties have proceeded to Wellington, it may bo hoped that the dibit will be successful. On one point we have been earnest and constant, and we intend t<> persist, in season and out of season, if, indeed, any time can bo out of season lor such a wold and that is, in urging tho Government to open the unsettled districts of the North island for beneficial occupation. The obstacles dill'er in the dillerciit. districts. In the North, the native difficulty exists only in the mild, form of Maori occupancy or ownership uf particular blocks, and as natives cannot be rated like Europeans, roads cannot be made to blocks which might otherwise be made accessible. The nature uf the country makes settlement almost impossible till roads are formed. In the Upper Waikato district, on the western side, the native ililliciilty exist:; in all its foivr, as we look on a large aud fertile district on which wo are not allowed even to enter. The existence of this district has been the means of greatly retarding .settlement on the part of which we had possession, as

i'.c I'lVjiK-iif alarms of incursions liy the Kiiigites was :i great hindrance to the investment nf capital in cultivation. This obstacle ij now, however, wearing awav, and the progress .if Wnikaio has lately been exceedingly rapid. l!uL in lliu extensive districts of tlio Thames and Piako, ilie obstacle to settlement is simply Oovornment bungling, and nothing else. Somewhere about £100,000 have been paid, and there is not an acre to show for it, and every day the chances seem to be getting smaller i'..r any substantial result. Duly the other day a native, who is put down on the Government returns as having sold large tracts of country, paid •■ !t is ii-ue (hat .Mr. _\[aekay i;;ivo 113 ,•.-;/,.<„.. (oider.s) for goods, btit'l have not been paid the lest of the money at the time agreed upon, and I don't see that I ought' to give up any land at all." Probably there was more of " bounce" in this than anything else, but the longer a settlement is delayed, the more difficult it will be to ell'eet. It lies with the (iovci'Dmunt. that within a very few years, the district stretching from the Central NVaikato over to the Thames and Piako 'Valley shall be occupied by Kiuopeans.