THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1895. HOROWHENUA BLOCK.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2517, 22 May 1895, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1895. HOROWHENUA BLOCK.

THE BIRTHDAY PARADES,

With which are incorporated the Wellington Independent, established IS-15, and the New Zealander.

Since the decision of tho Appeal Court tho Willis street mountain has been in labour and lias produced a veritable mouse. When carefully analysed the judgments of tho Lower Court and Appeal Court do not amount to much, and are insignificant. It is tho Native Land Court that will play tho important parti If ho laboured attempt to mate capital against the Government upon the judgment of tho Appeal Court fails signally when the true condition of affairs is exposed to view. Tho real position of this land and its ownership has been carefully Iropt in tho background. The Horowheuua Block contains 53,00 b acres. Tho Supremo Court has decided what was never denied by the Government in fact, the Premier has on more than one occasion stated that, in his opinion, it was never intended tho whole of tho Muaopoko should bo excluded. Hunia and Kemp hold the portion known as Subdivision No. 11., containing 14,975 acres, in trust for themselves and an unknown number of Natives in unknown quantities. It may happen that when the trust is defined by tho Native Land Court either Hunia or fCemp may bo found to ha entitled to the bulk of the 14,073 acres, and that the interests of tho other owners may not exceed a square foot each or vice versa. This is exactly tho position in which tho “great” Supremo Court judgments leave tho question. Hunia in tho month of October, 1893, exercising his undoubted right of trusteeship, sold- 1500 acres out of this trust estate (SsJjdivison No. II) to tiro Government-for the .consideration of £4 pec acre, 40000 in all. There was nothing to prevent fcho Government at this time handing the Vtopey oyer t(? Hunia, and, if not entitled to tho whole, leaving him to account for the balance in the ordinary way of trusteeship. Subsequently, for wlmt appears from Me McKenzie’s speech at Dunedin to bo very fair reasons, an advance of ,£2OOO was made to Hunia, who, apart from his trusteeship (as now declared by tho Courts), is also a beneficiary. Before any actual Joss can possibly be sustained by tho Government in respect to this advance, Hunia’s individual interest on tho definition of the trust by £he hfativo Land Court must, it will be seen, bo jessed at less than 500 acres. It is worth while discussing tho question of the title of the Crown to tho land. -Jfnecessary tho Government is and always has been in a position to secure itself. JJvon under the Land for Settlement Act the Government, it a further area is rei quired for settlement in tho locality, instead of negotiating with either Hunia or Kemp, could take tyad it required. No one else is in this position, and V7O are justified in stating that no one else, other than tho Government, could cither in the past or at present legally purchase. The judgments of .the Supreme Court deal with an area of 14595 acres only (within which is situated the 1500 acres purchased by the Government from Hunia, and on which, as previously stated, he has had an advance equivalent to 5Qh acres only). Out of the balance of the original area of 39,025 acres, Kemp has, therefore, in his own right sold 4009 acres to ,th,o eminent, 600 acres to Mr SieywrighL to 1 1? 1200 acres (including leases and mortgages) of tho choicest portion of tho land to Sir Walter Buller; and it is really difficult to see what grounds thorn arc for supposing that his co-trusteo (Hunia) in tho same estate is not enti tied to at least 500 acres in hisown right. Tho foregoing will, we hope, enable hU unprejudiced persons, who wish to form an nn.bm&sed opinion as to tho action of the Government in this matter, to do so. To dual with tho reference to tho- - Court in a spirit of equity, .the Native Laud Court should have before it the complete history of the portion f the block not covered by the judgments of; .a) I, If this can be obtained without a searching inquiry, there may bo no necessity for the proposed Koyal Commission. We assert positively ft cannot. Major Kemp has petitioned Pariicment_ for a Koyal Commission, and tho Natives who claim to be interested have done Ukhwitv- To grant the request would be the beginning of the end. Seeing, hoy/ofer, that in regard to the litigation in connection with the Block 11. notice of appeal has boon given, the scope of the Commission would not extend thereto. This, however, should not deter tho Government from having a searching enquiry made in regard to the 39,023 acres ; and, by so doing, should the enquiry prove tho necessity. Parliament will be able to enact the requisite legislation during the coming session. There is another phase of tho question which wo desire to bring under the notice of the public, and that is the determined efforts of our contemporary to prevent settlement in tho Horowhenna portion of the Wellington district. The 1300 acres of hind purchased by the Government form a very' smill proportion of tho 53,000 acres, all of .

which is very suitable for small settlement. But in order to attack the Government, the prosperity of the district—the prosperity even of the city of Wellington itself —must be sacrificed to this insatiable thirst for revenge. Battlement has been barred for years in the vicinity, and in consequence the Man a'.vatu Kail way Company (whose line runs through the block), the settlers, the Native owners, and the local authorities have all sutfered. There is now a silver lining to this dark cloud, and we sincerely hope the Government, in the interests of all concerned, will not stay its hand. Let searching inquiry hu made, and, if the past dealings boar the light of day, well and good. Justice should be done to all, and it can be done without blocking settlement any longer.

AN UNDESIRABLE IMMIGRANT. The landing of the carcase from the Berthshire 13 one of the most startling that has happened on tho Nuw Zealand coast for some time. Fortunately it was observed early, and we may hope destroyed in time. But hud this diseased carcase floated ashore on a remote part of the coast, and tainted tho air in tho neigbbomhood of a herd of Cattle, a very virulent disease might have gained a footing in New Zealand. That would have put an end to our position as the oulv colony in Australasia which is allowed to' land its cattle in Great Britain without the obligation of immediate slaughter. It is a. privilege the value of which may easily be conceived in the event of our succeeding in establishing a large export of live cattle. But this is only a remote possibility. The immediate possibilities of an outbreak of pleuro-pueumouia iu the Colony are very much more serious. They affect tho whole industry of cattle raising in a very vital manner, which threatens the beef market with scarcity and the dairy trade with ruin. The danger presses, for tho custom tho Australian cattle steamers have got into of calling into Now Zealand ports shows signs, not of abatement, but of increase. The question is whether they ought to be allowed to come in at all. It was the merest accident that tho disease developed sufficiently on board the Perthshire to bo detected. It might easily have happened that tho ship, though tainted, loft Lyttelton unsuspected. In that case tho discovery of a carcase on tho Now Brighton beach would have aroused no suspicion. It would then probably have been considered that some beast had got drowned in the Waimakariri, been swept out to sea, and had drifted ashore. It would have remained unnoticed, the nearest herd of milking cattle—there are a good many on that coast —would have been infected, and there would have boon in all probability a groat disaster. Than we have the danger of permitting cattio trom diseased countries from entering our ports at all. It would bo possible to compel the destruction on board of all carcases of cattle that die in port. Indeed, it was generally understood that tho Perthshire's furnaces would have been utilised for saving tho Colony from tho danger of infection. But a provision of this kind would not meet every case, and what wo want is a provision that shall not leave any caso out of its reach. It is possible to compel the destruction on board ship of any cattio dying on board of disease in harbour. But of cattle dying at sea within drifting reach of tho coast no regulation can by an possibility take any account whatever. The caso of tho Perthshire lias demonstrated that the men in of these cattle ships care absolutely nothing for tho danger of infection to the colony whose ports they enter. To them grave disaster to the cattle trade of the Colony is nothing compared to the trouble of putting up a dead beast and throwing it into (ho fifes. If people will not take ordinary care of pur interests when they put into our porta with cargoes of cattle, they ought not to bo permitted to bring their cargoes into our ports at all. Shutting them out altogether is the only precaution which will coyer every case,

Some days ago wo road with astonishment that the time-hoiiourad parade of every corps in tho Colony would not bo hold this year. We know that of all tho dependencies of the Empire none aro more loyal than New Zealand. We know also that every Volunteer in tho force regards it as an honour and a privilege to wear tho Queen’s uniform on tho Queen’s day, and Jooks forward to saluting her flag and cheering her honoured name. For those reasons wo vero astonished that the day was not to be honoured in tho usual manner. The Government have no doubt acted on competent military advice in tho matter. Hot as the matter is pot exclusively one of military detail, wo think they have made a mistake. And so, wo make bold to say, does every map in the force. That, indaod, has boon by this time made abundantly evident. The next best thing to taking a good resolution is to alter a bad resolution promptly. It is not too late for the Government to do this, There is yet plenty of time to order tho customary parades for the twenty-fourth, Five minutes is enough to draw up a general order, and tho telegraph wires of this loyal country pan get it to every orderly-room from tho North Cape to tho Bluff before sunset to-day, which is only t-h° twenty-second. Tho result will ho the keeping of the Queen’s day by the Queen’s forces in the time-honoured manner. Tho forco and tho public wj[l bp ecjiially delighted. Wo trust the Government will rdoogniso the spirit which animates both forco and people, and moot it in tho only way it can bo met.