LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13370, 27 December 1906, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

AX APPEAL

Sir.—-! stall b« grat«fu! if any of your readers tart tight nw in rclk'ring * peculiarly distressing case- that ha* come under tot own personal observation within the Just week* or two, and which up to the measure of ray ability I have personally helped, A number of children, besides the parents, are involved in suffering and in danger of be. coining homeless unless something can bo don« and that* speedily to succour them. "; The father is in a measure blameable for the position of affair*, inasmuch *3 be lost a good situation tome weeks ago through folly;' but since thru he has striven hard, though ineffectually, to right himself. alien behind in his rent payments and becoming weekly more involved i" debt to tradespeople for the bare necessaries of existence —to say nothing of Faying beano. through worry—he has now well-nigh given way to despair. Driuk does not enter into the case, cither. Tin; family are highly respectable, and the children are of the most intelligent type. They have never known such irardsinp before, and tbeir present circumstances' are probably unknown to their nexl-doo* neighbours. 1 make this appeal on my own knowledge of the case, am' not at the request, of the needy ones. !>• my work I meet as many cases of apparent Distress as most people, and am paiuuilly conscious of tho undeserving character of the majority of those who appeal to us for aid. A CM6 like the present is. in my experience of Auckland, happily rare. So far as food is concerned I can provide all that, is neces/ sary. (MUo.'l A. .1 KacKIIAM. Salvation Army People's Palace, WellesloyrStrcet, Auckland. . THE NATIVE LAND COURT. Sir, —Some few- weeks ago a Native Laud* Court was held here (Rotorua), and the idea, at the' time was that it was to sit continuously until the remaining native lands in this district should have all been Individual* ised and settled, so as to render them capable and amenable for leasing, etc. For some inexplicable reason after a sitting of somo six weeks the chief judge thought, fit to determine tho Court at a moment's notice, much to the chagrin of the natives interested and the public. All sorts of conjectures were advanced at so untoward a *

manoeuvre on the part of the chief judge, until a few clays ago, when he (tho chief judge) had occasion to visit hereto hold an Appellate Court, and lit' was then asked at the conclusion of his labours as to why tho previous Court had boon so suddenly determined. His explanation was in a manner rather lame, being ' that ho was short of judges to do the amount- of work that was required by the Department, and that there were, other places that required a Court far more than this did. He went on to explain that ho was not given a free hand, and therefore could not make, any fresh appointments to cope with the enormous amount of work there was to be'done,* and lie could make no promise as to when a Court would again sit hero. Now, sir, it appears that if more judges are required the appointments should most certainly be made, as the settlement of the native question, which lias been held in abeyance so long, is a vital question to the welfare and progress of the North Island. I should say it would ho wise to retrench in other Departments of the public servico so as to render money available to this allimportant question that so affects us. One Department I might mention in particular in which I firmly believe £50,000 a year could be saved if run on practical lines, and that is the Lands and Survey Department. At 1 present the latter is being run largely on a scientific basis of a most costly kind, and is both derogatory and detrimental to progress of settlement, involving as it does an enormous increase in the cost of surveys, which the country or settlers must pay for, and it is only at the eleventh hour that it has been sought to introduce this aosurd and impracticable system of surveying. It is, in fact," "base line " measurement that is now insisted upon, involving also a needless waste of time and expense. Mi. Hemes brought this question beforo the House last session,* but was assured by the Minister that there was no extra cost involved; but those that are engaged in carrying out this how innovation can easily prove that that is an erroneous statement on the part of the Minister. It is well known that land, say, worth 7« 6d per acre is costing more than half -that! amount to survey it under tho present*ays"*' tem. Wo have had an admirable system in vogue for l the last 30 years, and a system that lias given every satisfaction, but that is now being abandoned to give place to thin scientific fad at tho expense of the taxpayers, which to carry out needs a lot'more assistants at the various offices and consequently more expense. If the extra money that this one Department is so lavishly squandering was dovoted to the payment of extra judges for the Native Lands -Court we should soon have something to show for it (according to the chief "judge). . The first thing to be done is to abolish: tho' genus chief surveyor, who is only a figurehead, and create a system of district surveyors with limited staff at the various centres. They could also act as deputycommissioners of Crown lands, which would be a great saving and convenience to intending settlers. Practically all the' draftsmen and innumerable supernumeraries that are -at present engager at the head : ■ scientific - bureaux might ? also be discharged, i The district - surveyor? could; direct and authorise private surveyors, and the work could "be done expeditiously instead of as at present. A private surveyor has to wait months and months before he can- get authority to survey a block of native land.

Now, sir, I think I have shown that in this one Department alone of which I knowsomething tens of thousands of pounds could be saved if it wore run on practical lines, and tho money could be diverted to other; works which would ultimately be : interest-producing; and' I have no doubt that there are many other Depart-' ments in which retrenchment would prove to be a public boon and money saved, which could again be diverted to the reading and bridging of the back blocks. It goes without saying that, the millions that ha-ro been borrowed for this last 15 years would. have been sufficient to have completed ev*?y railway, road, and bridge throughout t.ie colony if expended in a practical way. The greater part of that money has gone in paying interest on non-productive works and' the up-keep of a nondescript and obsolete Civil Service. : Reform is absolutely necessary, and the .-.ooner tho people become alive to the fact and insist upon their representatives carrying out their wishes tho better for all concerned. Thanking you'in'anticipation, C. Clayton. Rotorua. POLICE COURT SENTENCES. Sir,—Surely it is time a check was put on magisterial vagaries. On Friday, December 14, a man was sentenced to a.£s fine three months' imprisonment for throwing a stick of tobacco to some prisoners in Mount '" Eden gaol. On© official stated that "he understood" that this act had caused trouble amongst tho prisoners, and 1 pressed for severe punishment. Another said that "this might have caused trouble," if a warder hat? not been present. Time was refused to pay the fine, and. as the defendant had apparently only left prison a short time before, he was nob likely to be in a position to pay, and the sentence practically resolved itself into » on© of three months' imprisonment.. > The statement that defendant had a bad: record should surely have been no 'reason? for exercising such severity in a charge of. this > kind, as .the "crime"- under review was simply an - act of > good-nature -toward*'; those -. who had 'lately been companions in; misfortjuie and "could ;be; of "no possiblebenefit to the man-himself. Also, he hadwronged no man. as the tobacco was pre-1 sumably purchased with his own money. Itappeals to common sense that it is not bv£ this kind of treatment that offenders will b« reformed. On the contrary, it would tend to scatter any good resolutions which may have existed. J. Bno.'.u. i Rotorua, y

THE CIIEISTCHURCn MOTOR CAR §■ FATALITY. :

Sir, -A Press Association telegram which appeared in your Monday's issue, having, reference to the- sale of drink to the motor-" ins? party in Chri«tchurch in which my brother met with fatal injuries, is calculated to"; lead to misapprehension amongst those to? whom charity is not a habit. That no con-' miction between the salt* or purchase of. drink and the fatality exists I am certain, as my brothel was of such abstemious! habits as to be almost a total abstainer. ; *:

Edmund Arnold pb Moxtalk.

TO COIIRESPONDBN-rS.

"Colonial" (Wainiu).—Yoa have sot seat your name. H. SCOTLAND (Pahi).-Th*nka f« y«w letter. ...