AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4168, 28 June 1875, Page 3

AUCKLAND.

(FROSI OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) The weather continues wet and singularly warm for this season of the year. There are few days, in fact, -when a fire is necessary, and vce begin to 1.-nj/ f r colder and less muggy weather. The gardeners are also crying out, as the ground is too wet to be well worked. A month or two ago we were praying for rain, but if this lasts we shall soon have to do so for five weather. The Colonial Government, or rather the Audit Commiesioners, on whom the responsibility was east, have relented, and we are to have the capitation allowance paid for the present. The course taken w;is most unfair. The Council was allowed to meet and the Government to remain under the impression tuat no change- in existing arrangements would l.emadc at all events till the Assembly met. It was cleaily understood that even with the capitatiun the Provincial Government would be obliged to discontinue all works, and to confine itself to the absolutely necessary expei:d ure f.r hospitals, gaol?, and similar departments. On the 3rd June, the Superintendent, fet-ling anxious at the delay, telegrapher', asking information about this capitatiou allowa-ice. On the sth, he was informed, in reply, that the charg. s for interest on the cost of railways would absorb the whole sum due ; also, that the small sum of £728 14s, being the share of the Province from proceeds of confiscated land, could not be paid, ai the Commissioners of Audit refused to pass the accounts. The Superintendent asked what legal authority there was for this suspension of payment. He was told in reply tLat action was taken in sccordance with the Immigration and Public Works Act, 1573, and that the interest was calculated on the Onthnnga Branch from Ist January, 1574. Sir George Grey was naturally exceedingly indignant at this treatment. A claim which had been all-.wed to sleep for eighteen months, suddenly produced at a most embarrassing moment and peremptorily demanded, indicated so little regard for the welfare of the people of the Province, and was so unstattsmanlike and inconsiderate in every way, that it called forth his strongest protests. All was without avail, but, on receiving the last answer, he pointed out that they had no authority by any clause of the Act to make such a stoppage. Deficiencies on intertst are by that »ct chargeable against Land Revenue, but if that prove insufficient, they can only be made good by diivct taxation. Such is the cleir provision of the Act, and the Government were forced to admit it, and fcive way at the last moment. The system of Balhamv by which they are seeking to get the Native lands vas to be applitd to the Province. Let it get well into debt, and then squeeze it into partin" wlh its Provincial institutions. It is a daifeerous policy, and sharp practice in any c.ise. With the Maories it is laying the foundation for new and bitter disc -utwits, all efforts to get up apppa-ances to the contra-y notwithstanding. If applied to this Provinc-, it may yef lead to the destruction of the uu'ty of the Colony, for the patience of p-ople is pretty well exhausted. I believe, from all I can learn, that they are getting reconciled even to the idea of Auckland alone as a separate Colony, rather than put iip with the present condition of things much longer. As to the abolition of the Auckland Vravince, if those in the South are not abolished at the same time, the scheme woul 1 be :ome impracticable, for it would rouse the spirit of extreire opposition, and ovate grrat disorder and confusion. I say this after carefully watching public opinion. Nothing like exceptional treatment, nothing like putting them into a position of inferiority will be countenanced for a single moment by the people here ; and if it be tried, the unity of the Colony will not be worth many months' purchase. The resistance wou'd be unani mous, and, it is to be hoped, will not be tempted. With the loan allocation and the land revenues appropriation, there will be quite enough hazard of splitting the Colony, withoutgratuitously adding to the risks. The Tairua dispute, as to the prospectors' claim, is settled by agreement among the litigants ; but I am told that the whole case will be brought before the Assembly, and that it presents features of great public interest. The prospectors, in their ignorance, believed that the General Government officials could get them a lease. Instead of being referred to the only authority—the Superintendent—they were kept in play, and at last gave a share to a friend of one of the officers, whom apparently they relied upon to use influence in their favour. The proclamation was to be issued on the 9th, and it was expected to be known at Tairua on the 10th June. Had they applied to the Superintendent, he could, and probably would, have at once granted them a prospectors' claim, but they seem to have relied on being the first to ppg off their ground. They pegged on the Sth, again on the 9th, and on the 10th, just before registering— which they did as s^on as the issue of the proclamation in Wellington was known at Tairua, to which place the notice could only be sent by men on foot. In their application they stated that they had pegged off on the 10th, so as to be safe in case the proclama tion was dated on the 10th, as any pegging prior to the issue would be of course nnlawful. Now comes a curious part of the business. Certain other miners were on the look out, I and suspecting that the prospectors had unfair influence, they followed their movements, and, within the prospectors' 30 acre area, pegged off other claims also on the Sbh, and again on the 9th and 10th. When the proclamation was received it was found to be dated on the Sth, probably in consequent c of the Governor's visit to the South At all events, the other men at once registered as having pegged out on the 9th, and of course the prospectors—judged by their own registered application—were not legally entitled to possession, trey having pegged off after the other applicant?. How to remedy this became an interesting question ? Influence of the most powerful kind must have been brought to bear on the General Government in some way, for they tried every conceivable plan to induce the Superintendent to withdraw the area from the goldfield and gave it afterwards to the prospectors. There was a Maori shareholder among the prospectors, and Sir Donald telegraphed that he had rerson to fear if he was ousted that he and his friends would give great trouble in opening up the country, and that it might lead to disturbance. Others said there would be disturbances ao ong the excited miners if the gross injustice of ousting the prospectors was permitted. But Sir George Grey happens to know the Maoris as well as any other man, and quietly took all these terrors at their true worth. He abso- < lutely refused to withdraw the area from the goldfield as a pretext to defeat claims then ' before a court of law. If the Government would assure him that it was necessary for the public peace or for reasons of policy to do so he would withdraw it. but only on the explicit condition that an Act should be introduced into the Assembly to compensate any who might substantiate a claim for losses suffered by this interference. The law only sanctioned withdrawal for public purposes, and for public purposes only ( would he consent to withdraw it. In their desperation the Government. I am told— and on such good authority that I believe it to be true—actually telegraphedtoSirGeorge r to cause the Warden to suspend the en- ' quiry, and adjourn the Court to give time f for consideration. But this passed forbear- ( ance, and led to a strongly-wcrded reply on I the impropriety of the suggestion. The < Warden was a Magistrate, and on no ac ■ count would Sir George interfere with him in the performance of 'his duties in the most trifling degree. The only damage that any one could suffer would be caused by the bungling or the improper conduct of their , own officers. Let there be a strict enquiry j into that, and they should have his utmost assistance ; but not a step would he move unless this was . promised in the clearest " terms. The affair is creating a great sensation ■ here. Its real history is only imperfectly understood, and I have taken some pains to s get at the truth ; but the rumours in con- I nection with it are widespread, and so far as ' it is understood from these rumours, Sir j George Grey's firm stand has met with universal approval. The land purchasing is 1 producing its old evils, and is completely demoralising the public service. A very influential section of the community is spoken of as having formed a "ring" —while land agents and Government

[ officials-are as oppnly spoken of as their ( tcpJs;': all I .Were.to.write half fcbat is said you would have a pi. ntiful crou of libel actions. What with tbo miner's light scandals at Ohinemuri, the prospectors' scandal at TaliSa, a score of bigger sc-oidals t <lk«l of freely in connection with the land purchasing, .-aid, finally, the ill judged refusal of Dr Polltn to allow Gen*ral Government officers to give evidence to the Se'ect Committee of the Proviaeial Council on this land put chasing, name 3of all kinds—high and low—are being frtely handled and becoming bye words among the people. 'The innocent and the guilty suffer alike, and will continue so to suffer till the keenest and most public enquiry has shown who is really to blame in these great scandals. l

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