THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1896

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10127, 9 May 1896, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1896

Further particulars respecting the case of alleged dummyiam at Awakino show that a very great hardship has been inflicted on one of NeW Zealand's besi settlers. Mr. F. Lawry wrote a letter in our columns the other day iu which ho vindicated the Minister bf Lands from being actuated by any party feeling in this matter, All we Can say is, that the circumstances look very suspicious against him. The Taranaki News, referring to this subject, says: -" In all the prosecutions for dummyism, who has ever heard of a Government supporter being charged The particulars of the present case were investigated by the Auckland, Laud Board here iu September last, with the result that the Board came to the unanimous conclusion that there were no grounds whatever for the obarge made against Mr. Elliot. One would have thought that this would have settled tho matter, but afterwards a special ranger was sent to Awakino by the Lauds Department to see if there were grounds for going on further. This man was of course under temptation to obtain something to justify his visit, and to do what he thought would gratify his official superiors. But he reported that the charges which had come to the ears of the Minister were groundless. Here surely the subject should have ended. But in some way the well-known Mr. O'Hara Smith came into it, and he investigated and reported, after having visited the locality, Again the Minister of Lands interfered, and he sent an order to the Auckland Land Board that they must hold a further investigation. It is exceedingly improper for a Minister thus to interfere with and order about a body sitting to administer a statute, and who are supposed to be guided, not by the dictates of a Minister, but by the law. The Land Board would have been justified iu declining to obey Mr. McKenzie's dictum, but they complied, and again at New Plymouth went over a case which they had already fully examined and decided upon. At the inquiry the prosecution was represented by a solicitor from Wellington instructed by Mr. O'Hara' Smith. This gentleman is an inspector; of the Audit Department, but he appears to take a plunge occasionally into the Lands Department and other spheres, his most notable achievement being his investigations into how the Fox letter got out of Mr. Seddon's possession and into the newspapers. The members of the Land Board could come to only one conclusion, and that they expressed forcibly enough. Mr. Bagnall, in moving the resolution, said that" any arrangement between Messrs. Elliot and Kelly was apparently a friendly one, and was devoid of any tinge of dummyism. . . The trouble evidently originated over some fencing, and it seemed a pity that Mr. Elliot should have beet) put to so much inconvenience, trouble, and expense, and the country as well, over such a matter." Mr, R. Thompson, M.H.R., said that "there was not a tittle of evidence that Mr. Elliot had tried to evade the Act, but it showed that he was endeavouring to pioneer the country in the interests of bom fide settlement, and ho sympathised with him iu being placed in such a position." Major Harris, strong supporter of the Government although he is, felt compelled to say that "he did not think thoso in authority should take notice of the tittle-tattle that was flying about in the district. , , . Although he was very sorry for Mr. Elliot, yet he thought it might do good, inasmuch as it would be a lesson to the Board and others connected with the administration of the Land Act, so that they would be extremely careful in future before they took up such a case as this."

The inquiry will probably cost the country £400, and the Minister has seriously injured and crippled a man who was devoting his energy and his means to open up a now district of country. The action of the Minister of Lands in this affair is acontraebto what he is doing with other men in Taranaki. They have been assigned allotments of land, on the understanding that they shall be employed on road work for three or four days every week, the rest of their time/ being' devoted, to improving their sections, But the Minister is giving them full employment in order that they may make money, their land lying in the meanwhile unimproved. And yet he insists upon ha* rassing by successive inquiries one of the most energetic settlers of Now Zealand. He persists in setting up inquiries against the reports of his own; special inspector, and against the con? elusion of the Land Board, arrived at after careful inquiry, '

In v Wi/rf these cirouliiiiteices,.it will be hard for anyone to come toithe conclusion that the .Minister has Mdii entirely u'tiblasseoS ' We wbuld Suggest that Mr. Elliot should petition Parliament next session lor payment ot the costs he has been put to in defending himself against bogus changes brought against him. 3ticn\a claim could not fee listed in" face of the gteterrt&hts made by' the members of the Land Board at the conclusion of the case;.