MR. HESKETH ON MR. RUSSELL'S CLAIM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5636, 9 December 1879, Page 6

MR. HESKETH ON MR. RUSSELL'S CLAIM.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Tin general public are under a debt of obligation to Mr. Hcsketh for his letter on the above claim, which appeared in your issue of Wednesday last. The letter is very interesting and complete its way, and it gi\es an insight into the nature of the claim, in very many particulars. The letter, however, is looked upon as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, whose object is to prepare the public mind for the favourable reception of Mr. Russell's claim, when it is brought to a real issue in the proper quarter. If ttiis is Mr. Hesketh's object in writing the letter, it requires neither " a prophet nor the son of a prophet " to predict for it a moat consummate failure in that direction. There is one feature in connection with Mr. Hesketh's letter, which produces, in my j mind, the most hearty feelings of satisfaction, and which should leave room for the greatest general gratification, inasmuch as it implies a recognised necessity to consult public opinion, w hen dealiug with the public estate. It is only a few years ago, when large blocks of land—over which the custodians of the country had, perhaps, a better and more defined claim than the preseut Government have to the Te Aroha block— were conveyed to private claimants. The public not only were never consulted on the matter at all, but they did not even take the slightest iaterest in, or recognise the importance of the case. I do not consider tbat more convincing evidence of the change in this particular could be found than what is producible in Mr. Hesketh's letter, although it might not be admitted. If it were a fact that this feeling in the public mind had cost the country tha whole sum total of the deficit in the revenue which the present Government charge to the maladministration of the late one (which charge, of course, I do not believe, or the deficit either, for that matter), it is the cheapest acquirement in the possession of the colony. Mr. Hesketh says that he communicated Mr. Russell's claim to the Hon. Mr. Sheehan when the Grey Govirnment took office ; but my impression is tbat the matter never came before the Cabinet, or it would have formed the handle of a weapon with which the late Premier would have smitten the Philistines, "hip and taigh" during the late election campaign. In your well-put paragraph which related to this claim coining forward, you called it a "new one;" and, notwithstanding Mr. Hesketh's opinion to the contrary, it is new, especially to the public ; and now the matter has comc so fully to light it will be very interesting to know if there are any more modest claims ot a similar or kindred nature. I believe that the present custodians of the people's estate would manifest no undue hostility to Mr. Russell's claims, or to any of the claims brought forward by that gentleman's friends, and there never will be a more farourable opportunity than the present affords to bring them on. The taxpayers have a right to demand this to be done, and the matter cannot rest without full investigation. I know nothing whatever about the legality of Mr. Russell's claim, but should think it likely that he looked after that part of the arrangement. I am far more clear about the equity and justice of the case. In your paragraph on the claim you said Mr. Russell claimed the best part of the block. In Mr. Hesketh's letter to the Government, dated 26th of March, IS7B, he states that the agreement is prejudicial to Mr. Russell, aud the second clause of his letter altogether implies snch an advantage to the public that some astonishment is felt at Mr. He-keth's not having finished his public letter by declaring Mr. Russell's share in the transaction, aB the unmistakable manifestation of philanthrophy pure and simple. Seriously, Bir, it is time that those gigantic claims to land were settled in a way unmistakably suggestive of the undesirability of claimants entering into any future things of the kind. Our present commercial depression is largely attributable to the acquirement of largo blocks of land by men who cannot use them, and don't know how to do so profitably, except for speculative purposes, and, though the evil is sapped by and must succumb to the force of a healthy public opinion, we cannot well afford to endure the present scarcity of money here, which is the direct result of those great land speculations.—l am, &c., FbjLNK La why. Epsom, December 6, 1879.