AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1006, 11 March 1871, Page 4

AUCKLAND.

(from our own correspondent.)

Mr Branigan must have many friends in Dunedin who will be sincerely grieved to hear of the illness under which he ia still labouring. A sunstroke in his recent journey from Taupo to Napier was not serious enough actually to incapacitate him, but left him In a state of nervous irritability which nothing but quiet and regular treatment could cure. Eccentricities of manner and quarrels wich many of bis friends had been for a fortnight topics of common remark. But his mind being clear and memory good, he continued in the performance of his duty till the last moment, when the physicians declared perfect peace absolutely necessary to restore him to hia former health. It was felt that this treatment could not be enforced while he had access to the office and documents, to which he was by habit and duty so thoroughly devoted. Hence his removal to the Asylum, from which his friends hope soon to welcome him quite restored. His lobs in the meanwhile must be seriously felt. Untiring in zeal and devoted to the work he had taken in hand, Mr Branigan has succeeded in firmly establishing the force entrusted to him in the very heart of the country. It is but a few days since he was telling the writer how delighted he felt on visiting one of his lonely outposts at Taupo in the heart of what used to ba rebel country. Passing

through the* heavy gate of the blockhousethe first object meeting his notice was a building marked " Literary Institution,"' which he found well supplied with books, and the latest papers and periodicals, In> the same place, two years 1 ago, he had Bpent the night with nothing but a bed of? fern for furniture and a very poor tent for covering. Now, there was not only a. comfortable blockhouse put up by the: men, but quoits, cricket, and ot&er amusements to keep them in good heart and make them feel at home.

From the Waikato we have no reliable news. Mr M'Lean has at last gone there. He left yesterday, and we shall watch his proceedings with some anxiety. His interference in the election at Eden, and the manner in which he has been taking Mr Skeet— the Government candidate— along the East Coast in the Luna, have excited a strong feeling against him here. No doubt it will find vent when the Assembly meets. The last week b* has spent in the North, where an election sko is pending, and the result of which', like: that for the East Coast, will be largely affected by Maori votes. Wi Katene, a leading Maori, stated at a public meeting that they had received letters from Mr M'Lean, and should vote against Oarleton as advised. What eleotors and what a Government t are the cries one hears on all sides in reference to this lapse of Wi Katene's. Nevertheless, so long as Mr M'Lean has flour, tea, sugar, and daily pay to bestow at will, his influence with the Maoris will be enough to secure tie return of any candidate in those districts whom the Government may favour. A» the election returns now stand the knowing ones rank as Ministerial, Vogel, Williamson, Farnall, O'Rorke, and Qi O'Neill, to which will probably be addeJ Skeet and M'Leod, in whoße behalf Mr M'Lean is charged with having exerted his Ministerial innuenoe. Gillies, Creightou, Munro, Reader "W ood, Buckland, A. Clark, and (from his speech yesterday, it also appears) Henderson, are put down as Opposition. Swanson is described as doubtful, and Macpherson put into the same category, as although brought forward by Buckland he received the Government support in the Waikato. There ia no doubt the Opposition, so far as Auckland is concerned, -will be very strong. It embraces the ablest of the Auckland members, and the Government have lost casteimmenselybyMr Vogel's effortsinthe first instance, and Mr M'Lean's since, to influence the elections. Much, however, will inevitably depend on the four million loan. If that be not obtained, we shall doubtless find changes of front on the part of many members. In the personnel of the Government no one pretends to have the slightest confidence, and they are bound to do something extraordinary or lose their hold of office. The failure of the Neilson oontract is in this sense a heavy blow. It is not only the mail service itself — that will probably be re* placad by a branch line connecting us with Webb or Hall, or we may even get the main line here, and leave Sydney tha branch, if they allow it, and we are willing to pay for the privilege. Meanwhile, there is no doubt of the repudiation of the contract by Webb on the ground that Neilaon had no authority to act as he did. The Cross and Herald have said as yet nothing about it. On the contrary, they publish glowing but extremely vague extracts from the News of the World and Bulletin, evidently inspired, if not written by Neilßon. But the truth iB leaking out, and the public disappointment is proportionately great. We can only hope that Webb will yet arrange with Hall, but gone for ever is our proud position of dictators to Australia, and with it the exclusive right to carry mails across the continent and the promised exertion of Webb's all-powerful influence to get the tariff on wool and flax altered in our favour. What the public most feel at present is the sting of these losses, and annoyance at having been so easily gulled into a senseless and unreasoning policy, based upon false assumption and brilliant but baseless visions. I believe that in saying this I correctly interpret the feeling among all who have yet) heard the true position of affairs. Should the loan also fail, there will be a new and powerful impulse given to the reaction already begun here, and retrenchment of the most extreme character will become the popular cry. Already throughout the, elections a strong opposition to the Civil Service Act has been manifested, and nearly all the members pledged to its repeal The great Te Aroha case, in which the ownership of the mountain of that name and the adjacent lands is disputed by two rival tribes of the Upper Thames, is still before the Lands Court. It has now entered on its seventh week, and is likely to be a month more, as numbers of witnesses remain to be heard. It is estimated that the coat for interpreters, lawyer's, &c, will not be leas than L6OO. It is to be presumed these gentlemen are paid, but where the Maoris get the money is a mystery*