THE TWO PIAKO EXCHANGE BILLS. EXTRACTS.

Colonist, Volume XVII, Issue 1981, 19 October 1875, Page 3

THE TWO PIAKO EXCHANGE BILLS.

EXTRACTS.

(From the Southern Cross, October 16.) The present session has been no favorable one for seekers of compensation. In no session, perhaps, have more attempts of this kind been made, but in none that we can call to mind have so few been met with a favorable response from the Assembly: Of course, the strong political agitation .which has characterised the session may,-in some degree, account for this. ■ The members have bad other, and more engrossing, matters to think of and, the. minor questions of the ' session have obtained scanty consideration, and it may be,, in Borne .caßes,, equally scanty justice. This, however, didoes not account for all the failures in .this direction which,the present session has witnessed. The most, prominent of these have been the .two Piako Land Exchange Bills, both of which have, been" :thrown out by the Legislative Council, in /spite of: the best efforts of the Government; to carry .them through. As these,two bills may be looked upon as. somewhat representative... cases* it may not be out of place toi.say: a .few words on the, bearings of; the question now. Both were bills to enable the Government to make exchanges;:^ lan<Vby<-which persons entitled to disputed areas.of /landj,in this Province might be allowed to exchange tfieir |questionable titles fort un<^aettion*ble, rones, and their unaTaikbl©i property for..Hud

immediately Valuable and"saleable In the; case of the bill'first thrown out, the claim arosa out ofr a iniatake, which appears to jbave wilful, on .the part of an original jjbold.pr/. : lJn4er an ; award of a Land Claims !cotiii^iftfa lI9M-W4'.='^wp* was declared entitle^ <*;qVeTelect,2,ooo, acres of land in a particular,locality .if : he could survey it, vwhioh.mi^he' Piako district, appears to have ■been^ayery critical and important proviso indeed;: After making, several attempts, the claimant found he could not get,leave to mate his survey on the side of the river (a .tributary pi. the Piako) to which he was limited, so" he promptly made it on the other side,, ,a,n<l changed the position of the river to suit''the : exigenpies. of the occasion. The result was .that: he made a survey of some land: which! belonged to another claimant, j and,, of course, which belonged still to the natives. In spite of this, the deceptive survey passed muster, and a grant was prepared and issued.' Soon after this thefraud was discovered, by the Ooverement, but the grant was not cancelled, as it certainly 'should' have been, and thus the person who had, by means of the trick already mentioned, got, the erroneous grant was placed in a position to. sell it to other parties who may be-presumed to be wholly innocent of all knowledge of the shady transaction by which it baol been procured. So far as this point it wouid-seem that the Government had fairly laid themselves open to a claim for compensation.. By their own neglect the grantee was left in a position to deceive others by selling them land to which.he was not entitled. The course which should have been-adopted by the purchasers of this grant was at once to have made this claim upon discovering the bad foundation of the title on which they had been induced to rely. The second bill proposed to allow the Government to grant to an old land claimant of property in Piako which he was prevented from occupying by resident natives, an equal area of Government land in the district. In its original elements this claim was like the first." There was no question of the award, none of the right of the claimant to occupy nearly 14,000 acres of land on the Piako, if only he had been permitted by the natives to do so. It was not alleged that any unfair proceedings had taken place to disentitle the claimant to the land. The facts were patent enough: the natives had once sold the land, but they had re-occupied it, and field it for many years, and to all appearance, are still determined to hold it. Still the Legislative Council would not consent to authorise the exchange.

' At Mudgee," the Sydney Morning Herald states, !t a man named Michael Dillon was found dead in the street. Dillon was one of the fortunates in the early days of the gold rush to Australia. He was a tailor in Melbourne, and sold out 20 years ago for twenty thousand pounds sterling. His death was caused by exposure and intemperance." Madagascar.—Some of Mr. Sankey's hymns and tunes appear in the Malagasy hymn-book, just published in London. The Christians of Madagascar are reported to be rery fond of singing. The London Tablet reports that the second eon of the Grand Lama of Thibet has arrived in Paris. * He is accompanied by a Prench Catholic missionary, and will, it is said, embrace Christianity. Mits Scott Siddons has distinguished herself as a volunteer riflewoman. The Bideford and Torrington Rifle Corps have obtained a new long range which was formally ; opened by Mrs Scotfc Siddons recently. -. In the presence of Sir Edward Green, the local gentry, and the officers and men of the respective corps, Mrs Siddons took a Martini-Henry rifle and fired at the target, making a " bull's-eye" the first time, and a centre with her second shot. She was loudly, cheered, and the Devon volunteers •boastrthat they, have now in their county the best marksman and the best markswoinan in ,England.. • The death of one of the English company of revisers of the authorised version of the Bible ia announced —the Rev. Benjamin Davies, •LL.D.,' classical and Oriental tutor of Regent's Park Baptist College. "Me Redcllet, of Havelock road, Beechw'ortb, Victoria," the Ovens and Murray Advertiser states," has a curiosity. He had a goose which was sitting on eleven eggs, from which werd produced twelve goslings, one of the eggs having two distinct birds." Poor Ireland. —A disease has appeared in the potatoes in many parts of Ireland. Great suffering iB expected from this cause. On August 7th a serious disaster occurred at the ■Government Arsenal at Bridesburg, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. In a room where 31 boys were emptying old shells of their contents, carelessness caused : one to explode, when at once the whole mass exploded, demolishing the building. - But five persons who were in the room escaped unhurt, and, of the others, two were killed and 17 seriously injured. ■ Qubaeantine laws against the foot and mouth disease are so severe in England that importers threaten to ..stop meat supplies altogether unless they are relaxed. It is customary to sacrifice a whole cargo for a single case on board. • ;; ■ . The istatue'of the Emperor Nero preparing •to act on the stage;in womans attire, which excited so much sensation at the Vienna Exhibition/is.at present in .London, in the Cavendish Rooms/ .v: •:■■: , '■■'■In the'new English Shorthorn Herd Book five' cr.osses on bulls are now necessary for entryyr.whereas four) crosses . were formerly sufficient, m This may tend to enlighten some wh6;do not know, what is considered as;a - 'pure shorthorn''in England. By ■ this; rule an animal having,-only one thirty-seiondvof impure blood is accepted as a thorciughrbred. ;;;;■; « ; ,'• -,:.; ■;i The; death,is; announced of Mr Boyle Bernard I^thei wefyknovm dramatic author and critic. 'Deceased was born ia 1808. He died at Brighton recently* ;

■ The business of ostrich rearing for the sake of the feathers has reached considerable proportions in Southern Alrica. There are now twenty thousand of these birds kept on the ostrich farms at the Cape of G-ood Hope. A curious volume on tne " Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee" has been published lately. It is written by an' adventurous! Frenchman, who took with; him an artist from the Netherlands, and fitting up a vessel, sailed to the "dead cities.", "There are not," says the author, " ten persons in Holland who have ever made the voyage," and he asserts that no writer, artist or tourist was ever there before him. He gives a thrilling account of the remains of those great towns the boast of the Low Countries during many centuries, but now invaded by the sea, by Band banks, and-by great-growth of weeds. Where once hundreds of vessels lay at anchor, there is now nothing but a multitude of dangerous sandbars and quicksaflds, over and through which the adventurous author and illustrator of the new volume picked their way with the greatest difficulty. _ Mr Havard (tbat is the author's name) rivals Jules Verne in fancy and descriptive powers, and he gives the reader many fascinating chapters on the wild landscapes and waterscapes, the savage picturesquenesa and grandeur of that great cemetery of a dead commerce—the Zuyder Zee. , A New Steam-engine for the street railroads has been introduced in London. It is entirely enclosed, and presents the appearance of a small street car. The advantages claimed .lor this new pattern are, a saving of £300 per annum in the working expenses.of each car; an increase of speed when desirable ; a more perfect control for stopping and starting than at present ; and that at each terminus it can be disconnected and brought to the front of the car in less time than that taken by horses. The trials made were considered very satisfactory. This engine is to be brought into use immediately in Paris also. Soluble Chocolate made in ono minute with the boiling. The above articles are prepared exclusively by Taylor Brothers, the largest manufacturers in Europe, and sold in tin-lined packets ouly, by storekeepers and others all over the world. Homceopathic Cocoa.—This original preparation, which has attained such a world-wide reputation, is manufactured by TAYLOR BROTHERS, under the ablest homceopathic advice aided by the skill and experience of the inventors, and will bo found to combine in an eminent, degree the purity, fine aroma, and nutritious property of the fresh nut. Maravilla Cocoa-— Taylob Bbotheks (having the exolusive supply of this unrivalled Cocoa) invite comparison with any other Cocoa for Purity, fine Aroma—Sanative, Nutritive and Sustaining Power — Easiness of Digestion—and especially, high delicious flavour. One trial will establish it as a favorite beverage for breakfast, luncheon, and. a Soothing Refreshment after a late evening. Maravilla Cocoa.— The Qlole says, "Tay'or Brothers' Maravilla Cocoa has achieved a thorough Buccess, and supersedes every other Cocoa in the market. Entire solubility, a delicate aroma, and a rare concentration of the purest elements of nutrition, distinguish the Maravilla Cocoa above all others. For Invalids and Dyspeptics we could not recommend a more agreeable or valuable beverage." For further favorable opinions, vide Standard, Morning JPost, British Medical Journal, &c, &c. : Mustard. —Taylor Brothers' celebrated " Challenge " brand is prepared from the Choicest Seed by a patent process which prevents fermentations, and at the same time retains the pungency andpurity of flavor to a degree which no other process can accomplish. The double superfine quality is specially recommended. Steam Mills, Brick Lane, London. Export Chicory Mills, Bruges, Belgium. " Berkeley, September, 1869. —Gentlemen, —I feel it a duty I owe to you to express my gratitude for the great benefit I have derived by taking " Norton's Camomile Pills. I have applied to your agent, Mr. Bell, Berkeley, for the above-named Pills, for wind in the stomach, from which I have suffered excruciating pain for a length of time, having tried nearly every remedy prescribed, but wihout deriving any. benefit at all. After taking two bottles of yo.ur valuable Pills, I was quite restored to my usual Bbate of health. Please give this publicity for the benefit of those who may thus be afflicted.—l am, Sir, yours truly, Heney Allpass— fo the Proprietors of Norton's Camomile Pills."— Advt. '■