SERIOUS ALLEGATION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2483, 30 March 1893, Page 3

SERIOUS ALLEGATION.

Mr W. L. Rees has addressed a letter and a very lengthy memorandum, consisting of 38 clauses, to the Premier, and circulated it among members of Parliament, dealing with the subject of Native Lauda. In the course of the latter he says :—During the session of 1892 the purchase from the Native owners of the Umutaoroa Block, situated close to Danevirke, of about 5000 acres, was completed by the Hon. A. J. Cadman, the Native Minister, and Mr W. C. Smith, who occupies the position of Government Whip. The purchase of this block, as appears by the Register’ of Titles, was commenced in the mouth of May, 1891, and concluded on the 12th of September, 1892, during the period in which Mr Cadman has occupied the position of Native Minister and Mr Smith of Government Whip. The laud is of great value, urgently required for the purposes of settlement, and it is currently believed in Hawke’s Bay that Messrs Cadman and Smith will make a profit on the transaction of between £15,000 and £20,000. The Auckland correspondent of the Lyttelton Times telegraphs as follows : Some excitement has been caused here by the re-publication by the Herald of portions of a memo, circulated by Mr Rees, M.H.R., insinuating that the Hon. A. J. Cadman and Mr Smith, M H.R., are mixed up i i the purchase of Native lands. The Herald, in a leading article, made the memo the subject of a gross attack on Mr Cadman and the present Ministry, and made the actual assertions which Mr Rees had carefully guarded himself against by such statements as “It is rumoured,” “ If it be trim,” Ac. This morning’s Herald backs down completely. It publishes the following telegram from its Wellington correspondent : instructions I had an interview to-day with Mr Cadman regarding the charges made against him by Mr W. L. Rees, and obtained his permission to publish the following :—■ the Native Minister said, ‘I do not purpose to make any statement at present. Certain charges have been made. They will have to be met. I shall meet them at the proper time, and in the proper place. This must be later on. I cannot say anything further on the subject now-’ ” I iim informed that Mr Cadman contemplates legal proceedings, as to the outcome which his friends seem perfects ■ ” The Auckland ., - letter signed ‘ LVoeral,’ ia whiKe writer, a mr characterising the publication by Mr Rees of a private conversation with the Premier as a breach of good manners, saysMr Rees commits an even greater offence whan he accuses a member of Mr Ballauce’s Cabinet of using his position to further private speculations in Native lands. This he does in Clause 21 of his memo., where he says that the purchase of the Mutuoro block was completed by Messrs Cadman and Smith. The facts are roughly as follows :— Eight or ten years ago Messrs Smith and Cadman entered into partnership as sawmill proprietors and leased a block of bush land from the Natives. This block the Natives subsequently offered to sell, and Mr Smith proposed to purchase it. Mr Cadman thereupon refused to be a party to the transaction, dissolved the partnership, and without remuneration, relinquished his share in the leaseholds of the block of land. These facts Mr Rees was in a position to know, for Mr Cadman openly stated them during last session of the House ; but Mr Rees, not content with making incorrect statements, goes further, and insinuates that because certain owners of the block leased to Messrs Smith and Cadman were also owners of the block which was the matter of legislation that session, that it was part of the bargain in securing the former that the Validation Act referred to should be passed. Is it not a fact that, because Mr Cadman refused to be a party to Mr Rees’ scheme, attempts were made to take the portfolio of Native Lands from Mr Cadman, and hi& Cabinet are, and have been all afo-Ug, aware of Mr Oadman’s rehltVAU 3 with Mr Smith ?”