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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9088, 23 June 1888, Page 4

The Supreme Court has been oceans for the last few days in the trialof? case in which a European, who had been acting as an agent of the Government was arraigned as being in conspire with a native to defraud the Govern, ment, by getting signatures foro-ed ts> a deed of land purchase. The naf i i i AUt5 native pleaded guilty, and the European has been found guilty, and both have been sentenced to imprisonment and fin The case is somewhat interesting t showing how the Government proceed in the purchase of native lands p haps it would be more correct' Z that it shows how the late Governing proceeded in respect to the purchase of native lands. They insisted upon having a practical monopoly 0 f W purchasing. Private purchasers tliev thought swindled the natives w j t could only be protected by Government officers being employed.. Interest ing reports are current as to how the Government determined to rmU the purchase of the Papamoa blodbut, as the facts did not coma out in evidence on this branch of the case, we cannot speak nnitn assuredly respecting them. The peon « of Tauranga were anxious that this, block of land lying but a few miles out of the township, and connecting them with other settled districts, should hp purchased for the purpose of European settlement. The Government, were willing enough to buy, and employed the regular land purchase officers in the transaction. They, however failed after repeated attempts, extending over a lengthened period. It was said that the failure arose through the plotting of Asher, who had married one of the owners, and who was supposed to have considerable influence with the tribe generally. In these circumstances, the Government ought simply to have waited, and their time would have come before long. But the Tauranga people were impatient, and it is said that when the election for the Tauranga district was impending, telegrams were sent from Tauranga to Ministers, telling them that unless something decisive was done in the matter of the purchase of the Papamoa block, the Government candidate would be defeated. This was a serious threat. The something decisive was of course the appointment of Asher as a Government officer to negotiate the purchase. This story looks something like a libel upon the residents of Tauranga, but- it is the current report, and the facte known go some way to confirm it. Of course, it may have been that only a few persons were in the intrigue, and worked upon Ministers, but at all events these persons seem to have impressed upon Ministers the conviction that it was necessary to proceed with the purchase of the Papamoa block, or else Tauranga was a "gone community." politically speaking. The upshot of it was, that the Government land purchase officers were withdrawn, and Asher reigned in their stead. The manner in which he went to work was shown in the evidence laid before the Supreme Court. He was in too great a hurry, and when a signature could not be procured with ease, he simply got another native to sign the name required. There is no need to say anything more about the modus operandi adopted. It has landed Asher in Mount Eden, while apparently the Government have lost a good deal of .money over the affair, and have not jot the Papamoa. _ But it certainly does not show well in contrast with the way in which private purchases are made. Asher was empowered to pay up to 10s an acre for the land, which is more than it is worth all round, and if it bo true that the purchase was gone into as a political matter, and that the Government, by political pressure, were compelled to take into their employment a man who had "blocked" their own officers, then the business is a shocking bad one all through.