TEH COLONIST NELSON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1869. THE GOVERNMENT and THE WANGAPEKA.

Colonist, Volume XIII, Issue 1279, 28 December 1869, Page 2

TEH COLONIST NELSON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1869. THE GOVERNMENT and THE WANGAPEKA.

It seems a pity that any action on the part of the Superintendent and Executive should have a tendency to create less and loss confidence in our local rulers. A letter from Mi*. Moss, the representative of the miners, which we publish this morning, embodies official correspondence between the Provincial Government aud the miners, and also telegrams that yesterday passed between Mr. Moss and the Colonial Secretary, disclosing a state of affairs which does not redound to the credit of the Provincial authorities either as respects the impartial position they are presumed to occupy, or the desire which ought to be evident on their part to concur with the result of the late Enquiry. In the acts and oonclitiono of ti»o General Government that preceded that enquiry, the Superintendent signified by telegram his acquiesence. These conditions were consequent upon the reception of a petition more numerously signed than most petitions that are generally witnessed in Nelson. That petition was itself an appeal from the Provincial Government to a higher authority, and therefore, ordinary practice as well as prudence and justice, should have shown the necessity of a cessation of ail action until the finftl result of that petition was officially notified from Wellington. In the paper which Mr. Moss read before the Court of Enquiry on Thursday last, it was argued or implied, with what we deemed to be both force and fairness, that the Government was wrong in sending up Mr. Broad while that petition was in abeyance. Mr. Broad's evidence, as regards the character in which he went to Wangapeka, was one of themost extraordinary statements we ever heard from a magistrate. He confessed in the box that his position at Wangapeka was nondescript. Yet, his presence there only added to the previous complications. These we contend should have been avoided by the Provincial authorities, and they could have avoided them simply by waiting the issue of the petition, the presenting of which was a thoroughly constitutional and legal proceeding. If people were then warranted in saying that the Government appeared to be desirous of precipitating further difficulties, there is more authority for saying that they are precipitating them now. In spite of the concurrence expressed by the Superintendent respecting the official enquiry, it was determined to survey the line between Mount Arthur and what they termed the miners' Mount Owen, and the surveyor was to proceed to-morrow. This top, after the Enquiry was completed, and Mr. Domett's report prepared, and before the General Government could decide. Happily, prompt and judicious action has put a stop to this. But to what end was such a course resolved on, in the existing circumstances? Was it really in the service of the public ? was, it for the purpose of smoothing ruffled feelings? or for whose especial benefit was this extraordinary proceeding resolved on ? Strong as Tsvas the case? made out by the petitioners, and confirmed by the Government's own maps and witnesses, that the truei Mount Owen was the Mount Owen of Stanford's map, that was not the-point on .which the decision by Mr. Domett was, based. He did not travel so far, although he confirmed the claim to that position. He took a prior point, that of the legality of the sales, and these, on incontestable evidence of the Waste Lands Act, not understood by the authorities, he declared to be illegal. That being so, what good can arise out of any survey of this line ? The Government intend to proclaim an extension of the goldfield boundary, but that line is now of no service in such extension. Mr. Moss in his letter to \ the Provincial Secretary, plainly states, from a conversation be had with that gentleman, that the opinion ii that, by preM.

ing on this survey, the Government is identifying itself with the land purchasers. And ; ° this opinion is made out in this wise:—The Government is aware that there are some of < 0 the purchasers who. talk of taking an action \> into the Supreme Court, and, therefore, they * are desirous of testing' this line so as to supply evidence. If such action is brought, against whom will it be taken? Against f the General Government of the Colony to £ compel the issue Crown grants. That will j> be admitted. But it will also be universally r admitted that it is no duty of any Provincial Governmrentto f at Dwh^Yiaence^-plaintiffs^ in any actjdtf: against the Government of |4ieJ Colony;bf Which theProviricialGoVerhment i is an integral-part, .:..:ir.. . ... _ ---- - Mr. Lewis acknowledged that the site, of Mount Arthur,/as recently-laid-'down, r might be half a mile out, and that if it were so, it j would make, a considerable difference; in the. } position of the sold lands as regards the 1 goldfielde. We ( have, referrrd. thus particu- ( larly to this point, in order to show how an .. error could mislead. Aa the evidence shows, i and as Mr. Domett concludes, Stanford's j map to realty; Jther only fijffijeialf niliff tot accof ds lwith the situation, yet, new evidence is sought for by\theProvincialaGovernment, unasked by thepublic, and equally unasked by the General Government, to whoorthe^whole matter was referred by general consent, including ,that of the .Superintendent.; Al this too while the question is subjudice, and waiting the conclusions of the Government at Wellington. The proceeding is, to use the mildest term, excessively ill-judged, all the more so seeing that the main pointJat issue is the legality of the sales, and seeing also, as has been said, that the extension of the goldfields will now render the line between the two mountains immaterial as a question of,boundary. V; , 1 t.U':": But there are other considerations which require to be taken into account, inasmuch as they' come home to the "business'and bosoms" of all ; men who are concerned in the progress of the trade of this town and district.' For sometime that trade had been languishing, and the' bright prospectsi which" the Wangapeka discovery; awakened; Iwera suddenly darkened by the errors of management which followed, and wHich have caused doubt and delay, have stopped the immigration that would have immediately set iri,' and increased stagnation, where otherwise accelerated business would have been enjoyed. Judicious administration, instead of doggedly following out an erroneous, foregone conclusion, would have consulted the public weal, and acknowledged and eschewed past errors. We should have imagined that the Provincial Government would have hailed with gladness, the 'door that Mr. Domett has opened, by which they might escape from the errors into which ill-judg-ment led them. They appear to have chosen another path, in which it is certain the people of the.Province and of the Colony at large will not follow them. It is professed that this proposed new survey will lead to a speedy solution. We hold, and the public at large do the same, that it will lead to delay. Who are they that hope to " gain, like Fabius, by delay ?" Not the public, and it is for them the Government should ■act. .■■ .■■.:"'.■■'..•''•• : ;■'•..;; ~. An argument not secretly used by some of the leas discreet of the officials who purchased the land, is that delay will tire out the diggers, and this course is now public!j advocated. In the letter referred to, Mr. Moss points to the fact that it was stated a few days ago by one of the two journals which profess to be Government supporters, that the purchasers would submit to Mr. Domett's decision "without a murmur." On Saturday, the same paper, within a fortnight—to parody Hamlet— within— Two little weeks—ere yet the pen was old, That writ the words of murmurless consent.— with marked consistency writes thus, aB if men had no memories at all:— "The question between the purchasers of the land and the miners, as left by Mr. Doniett's report, is as far as ever from settlement, and nothing less than a decision of the Supreme Court, and possibly of the Court of Appeal, can authoritatively dispose of it." So says the Examiner on Saturday in utterest contradiction to what it said ten days before. The source of its inspiration is not far to seek. Whatever may be behind the intended but checked action of the Government, of this we are certaiu;— the people of the Province are at present in no mood to submit to further mismanagement of public affairs, or stand quietly by and see grave errors of Government not only defended, but persisted in, to the detriment of, trade, the stoppage of immigration, and the injury of the good name of Nelson.