THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1881.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 5996, 4 February 1881, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1881.

It .was .understood; that when the Crown Lands Board accepted the terms offered; ,lby Captain Steele, as the agent of Messrs. Grant and Foster, for a ppr-

tion of the Te Aroha block, the matter had been-disposed of, "but": it again engaged the attention of the Board at its meeting yesterday. It wilL.be re-' membered that concessions were:made to Messrs. l Grant and Foster, but with these ■ they do not appear content. They assent to the price fixed, thirtyfour shillings per acre, ; but they, require that: the portion of the Manuwaru reserve which was withheld shall now be granted them; that the reservation of royal minerals shall not be insisted on, and urge that it was understood certain drainage should be done by the Government. It is by no means satisfactory that the question should have been re-opened, and there appears no certainty that Captain Steele's present authority to make a final arrangement is any better than the first, and it will probably be correct to say that it is identical with that which lie first held, and by which, so far as we can see, Messrs. Grant and Foster refuse to be bound. They may dissent now from the concessions made by the Board as they rejected the original agreement. The Board has been placed in a very unsatisfactory position, but whether it be the result of the indefinite .nature of Captain Steele's instructions or his exceeding them is at present a mystery, but of his bona fides in the matter there can be no question. He, no doubt, is as mucli annoyed by the turn the matter has taken as the Board niust have been surprised. It is certainly no encouragement to the Board to endeavour to meet the demands of distant selectors that concessions should only lead to further exactions, and it will probably in future state its terms, and leave them either to be accepted or rejected.

Whilst Messrs. Grant and Foster were quite entitled to endeavour to exact the best terms possible for themselves and those for whom they act we much mistake if there will not be a general feeling of -dissatisfaction that, conceded so much, they should like Oliver, still cry for more. There was a disposition to.think, on the first occasion of their offer being discussed, that the outsider was being more liberally, treated than the man resident in the colony, but the balance of public opinion was greatly favourable to an arrangement which might be the prelude to an immigration of-■■farmers ■with capital. It may • be found that the feeling of jealousy aroused by the ' exceptional nature of the terms conceded will now be renewed, but it is a matter for congratulation that the Board, resolved to bring the negotiations to a satisfactory conclusion, has not, looked behind it, but endeavoured as far as possible to meet the wishes of Captain Steele's clients. It was quite open to it to ask how the matter had come to be reopened, and, deeming itself subject to pressure, to refuse to recede from the position it had taken up. It might have required Captain Steele to produce proof that he was authorised to bind his clients, remarking that, in the absence of any assurance on that point, it was not in a position to deal with the matter. In the ordinary course of business that would have been its procedure, and it says a good deal for its temper and its judgment that it did not stand upon its rights, but directed its efforts to endeavouring to bring the negotiations to a satisfactory conclusion. Whether that has been accomplished time alone will show. The further stipulations insisted upon by Messrs. Grant and Foster were that the whole of the reserve should be included in their purchase ; that the roj'al minerals should not be reserved, and that some drainage should be done. The two first points the Board yielded, the last it refused to entertain. As regards the two first points, we do not know that they were worth fighting for, and as regards the second of them it is questionable whether the concession can be of any value unless expressly approved by the Government. AVe take it that the Board has no power to dispose of the royal minerals, and that this can only be done by the Government, and even that is by no means certain. The drainage which it is alleged on behalf of Messrs. Grant and Foster that the Government had promised should be done, was a matter of which the Board had no cognizance, unless it was referred to in j the documents presented to it yesterday, as emanating from members of the ■Government, , but not made public, in ! consequence of the objection of the | Attorney-General, who held that they were merely a private reference to the members of the Board, and could not, therefore, legitimately form n. portion of the proceedings. This is the first that has been heard of the matter, and whilst it is evident that Mr. Whitaker was entitled to claim that the papers forwarded by him to the Chairman solely for the information of the Board should not be made public, it is to be regretted that it should therefore be left in the dark with respect to an important - subject. It does not appear that under any circumstances the subject concerned the Board in any way, and it appears to have adopted the proper course in refusing to entertain it. . \ ;, It is a somewhat interesting question, however, -whether, drainage granted by the Government, was to form an addition to the terms conceded by the JBoard, because if so, we have been.in a measure in the dark with regard to a portion of the terms, a p'ortion of considerable importance, and have hiad that most objectionable thing, divided authority. If Messrs. Grant and Fps-

ter are to obtain drainage at the pease of tlie country other benefits «onferred upon tl, they must be' deemed "the most £' note of men, and a good many o i t will wish ourselves outsiders, that might have the advantage of sJmii importunity.- If the the promise, it will of course <nve > effect; if not, we are still left to cnn jecture whether Messrs. .Grant ai 1 Foster and their friends are to fo an addition to our population T? however, they have a sincere desire t close their bargain, it may be assumed that they will be content with th many advantages granted them.