The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 5 November 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1880.

The only obstacle in the way of the completion of negotiations between the Government and. Messrs. Grant and Foster for a portion of the Te Arolia block, is that Mr. Thomas Russell's claim to about 40,000 acres of the same block, improperly promised him as compensation by the Atkinson Government, and which the Grey Government refused to award, has not vet been settled. "Wc are informed "that the Government are now considering the matter, and we await with interest the result. It is about time that this dispute were disposed of for ever. It has been the stumbling block in the way of the conclusion of the Lincolnshire delegates' negotiations since they first made their otter to the Government through their agent, and it seems sti-ange that its settlement should have been allowed to stand over till now. The cause of the delav is obvious. The Government are on "the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand there is their duty to the Colony—on the other iheir obligation to the* applicant. No uoabt, they feel that it. is a great hardship tha£ their aeiiw.:, in this matter are being narrowly watched by a large section oi colonists. It ti>c probable p-:?naltv of dec.diag in favor of Sir. linssJl v.fi-e not stariug ihem in the face, thrv would niak. work of the 'matter. Our recommendation is that thf-v sho'iM allow tlic xVttovneyGeneral "r.o settle it. Ho always acts with oiich di.-jtnterestedness in all such mailers. That he would decide in favor of 31 r. Russell is a foregone conclusion. Such a decision would cause a howl from one end of the Colony to the other; but the Government surely are not so sensitive as to fear that. If thev are. they have not shown it in other tilings—notably their conduct regarding Patetere.