Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6999, 23 April 1884, Page 4

The 'speech of the Attorney-General, Mr. Oonplly, to his constituents at Picton last night was really, on. the whole, a sensible one, and will ba read with satisfaction' throughout the colony. Mr. Conolly is a very matter-of-fact man, and, co uae a colonialism, ia free from the vice of having peculiar fada. He may emphatically be regarded as the safe.member of the Ministry. Land nationalisation "has no attraction for him, and his legal mind has failed to' detect a better land tenure than-that of- freehold. The only point on which he may be said to have gone astray is that of endorsing the intention of.;, the Ministry to revert to the pre-emptive right of .the Government over native lands. "We are sorry to see a man of his ordinarily sound judgment carried away with the cry about land sharking in the North,-and yielding to the delusion tlrat the sale of their lands by the natives to private parties is injurions ■to the interests iof -the aboriginal proprietors and the settlement of the country. Oiir experience in the North Island proves that the private purchase of the3o lands has done more - to further settlement than the purchase of them by Government. . The real truth, of the. matter .is that the. Government have no money wherewith to complete -the purchase of- the extensive blocks of land owned by natives, and the only effect of making a part purchase, and 10 precluding private parties from dealing with the native proprietors for the transfer of their rights, is to prevent the advantageous occupation of the' country with industrious settlers. - Considering his usual impasßiveness, we would not have expected the Attorney-General to have .been : led . astray. in this matter. But even Jupiter nods betimes. It is not unlikely," however, -that-he may-be . recalled to his senses by the firm attitude which most of the - Northern members will assume on this question, and when-the 5 choice will be put before him as well as the other members of the Cabinet, of either : abandoning this part of their native land policy or, accepting the alienation of a considerable number of their supporters. If, he is. the wise man we always have taken him to be, he _will give his counsel against a dog in the manger policy,-- of neither themselves completing the purchase of native--lands, nor allowing the native owners to disposeof them to- other parties. If he should disappoint public expectation in this respect he will have to share in the penalty usually adjudged to pervorseness, and give, place, ..along with his colleagues, to other men who . hold more practical ideas abuut the way in _ winch the settlement .of the North Island may be effected. With the exception of this question, however, Mr. Coaolly's views on all other referred to by him are such as to invite commendation.' The expression of his opinion respecting the law, that, it were . better if such a law were altogether dispensed with, and partiesleft to' settle all business transactions between themselves, showed him to be a shrewd observer of human nature, and that his mind has.a capacity for growth and independence. " Taken as a whole, his speech moat judicious .Ministerial utterance thatthe country has thus far b9en favoured with. a ..