The Taranaki Herald. NEW PLYMOUTH, FEBRUARY 16, 1867.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XV, Issue 759, 16 February 1867, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. NEW PLYMOUTH, FEBRUARY 16, 1867.

Ox Tuesday last the Provincial Secretaryannounced in his place in the Provincial Council that it was the intention of the Government to submit to the Provincial • Council a series of resolutions for their approval as a basis on which to negotiate with the General Government for a portiou of the available confiscated lands of the Province. We have- therefore considered it our duty to take the general condition of the confiscated land into consideratioa with a view to afford the public the fullest information thereon, and to state our views as regards the true policy of dealing with the land in question. The area of the confiscated lands in the Province may be roughly stated at 1,300,000 acres, and their present condition is, as far as we are enabled to ascertain in the absence of published official records, as follows : — Taken or required for military settlers, 70,000 acres ; required for friendly natives from Clifton to the Patea, say 150,000 acres ;, this will leave, excluding Mount Eg monfc; about 1,000,000 " acres of land to be dealt with by the General Government for the pnrpose of satisfying rebels who may still return, and for the pnrpose of colonization. The military settlements and the land given to loyal natives is, of course, the host of tho open land, as far as their claims extend coastwise ; but we calculate that there will still be left of the open land some twpnty-five miles of coast which, by taking £k& l>aolc Jacuaixlaoy a pKoi-6 w^t-ii *"oa into the bush, will give five m^SJs in width, comprising an extent of about 80,000 acres. This will be subject to the claims > of the New Plymouth and the New Zealand Company's land orders, which will probably reduce it to 70,000 acres, so that the colonial estate in this Province may be briefly enumerated as 70,000 aefes of open fern land, and 930,000 acres of forest land. This forest land is as near as possible in shape to the letter L, the angle' being- placed on the peak of Mount Egmont, the longest arm would extend to Tongapomtu, fifty miles, and the shorter to the Patea river, some forty miles, • having an average width of some fifteen miles ; the other portion of the lands lying in rear of Cape Egmont, and in the vicinity of tho Mataitawa settlement. Ministers may try to make tlie open land more than we have estimated it, but they must be of a more sanguine nature than we are to hope to succeed ; probably nothing less than the surveyor's chain will convince them how small the quantity of open land at their disposal really is. What will they do with it ? is a question of great importance to the people of this Provinco ; the open land bears such a small comparison to the forest land that the true policy appears to us to be that as the open land cau be profitably occupied at a com. paratively small outlay, that the proceeds of the sale of the open lands, after paying for surveys and other incidental expenses, should be devoted to opening up the laro-o blocks of forest lands. The question of how this is to bo done, whether by railways,* tramways, or common roads, we will not at present discuss, but we should consider it the greatest misfortune - that conld possibly befall this Province if the present Ministry should act in such a sniciflal manner as to alienate any lar^e portion of the land fund derived froirJshese confiscated lands from its legitimate purpose of opening up the forest lands for settlement; At the present time, throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, public opinion is divided on the— question of central or Provincial Governments, as to which is bdst adapted for developing the resources of the Colony, Jfci* only on rare occasions that wo havo j the opportunity of witnessing rival systems [of government, giving to tho world a specimen of their relative merits in colonising a portion of their dominions. Hitherto, to Provinces only have fallen the diilicult task of populating the waste lands. Ministers have now a fine opportunity of exercising their administrative powera in this direction, and at tho samo time convincing the Colony that a central government is the one thing needfal to raise New Zealand to tho pinnacle of prosperity. We will watch the nwdiis operaudi, with, no little intez-est, and from tho manner iv which centralism solves this difficult problem we may judgo of its ability to undertake lay duties belonging to Provincial Governments. Tho small sample which wo have hitherto had of the administrative abilities of a central fr'n'tu-nment ni provincial matters is quito Hulfieiciit to u(<ake us very

distrustful. Wo refer to the allocated debt account, whereby tho C4eneral Government S3ek to fasten on this Province a sum of** £24,000 for works undertaken by the CoJony for its own purposes, and against t io wishes and protest of the Provincial Council. This may be the colonial way of fostering and benefiting the inhabitants of this Province, which were all but crashed by a disastrous war ; and if their attempt at administering the confiscated 1 mds cad in such another colonial act of k ndness, we think that no sane man cmld any longer hesitate between the r.'latire merits of colonial and provincial administration.