AUCKLAND PROVINCIAL

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1838, 12 June 1874, Page 3

AUCKLAND PROVINCIAL

council-Wednesday, . THE NATIVE POLICY AND m ADMINISTRATION. . Mr Roche, in moving "That in the opinion of this Council, the administrationof tho native and defence policy at the ; .prese'nt time is not satisfaotory.'to the province, either as regards the expeuditure of the. funds of the colony, or ,the general conduct of the Native Office,' That his Honor the Superintendent be requested.- to bring the above resolution under the notice of the 1 General Government," said: Mr Speaker, in supporting this .resolution,.., Ljshould like to state to hon. members that I have nothing to say against the officials in that department. It is against the system I speak, and its abuse.- I have lived on the frontier of the Waikato for ten years, and I narrowly watched the workings of the Native department up there, and for a time I was'in favour of it; but now I think it can be'clone without, ; and the •• sooner-ith6isystem 'is 1 abolished ; the better. I know it will be a difficult : matter to do away'with, as numbers' are :'drawing large salaries, and' it would not 'answer- :: those to -lose" their l billets, but the country has to -pay for all ! this* Look at what the Native-Depart-' Imenfc costs the - ; colony: - : in -fact, • the j defence of the colony costs' 'nearly half; a 'million a year; and J believe more than ;thafc is spent in the Native | uselessly speh t. : Look ati the '- large 'salajries native officials are paid. For instance, lin the-Wkato,'ithe''cost-'o'f'the depart- 1 ■ ment there is a very -large item'indeed. ■ theanformation'-iof hon; members present, I shall just state a few of .those.'items.''-' We will commence 11 with

J the head office in'Oambridge. First, .we jhave a' General Government Agent'at 1 a j large salary, but we will say he is rejquired;' but; he has- a nuihber of clerks j employed at largo salaries, when members lof the Armed- Cohstabulary oould- do the ; !work, which would save the colony a j pretty fair sum. Next come the, aotual inatives' : themselves,- seventy -of-'whom jreceive £100 per : annum- as soldiers, wifcli ■their officers-receiving' from two ; to-four 'hundred a year, Of course hon. members [will say we have had their work, (but I can assure you that : ten..-men. ■would have done more work iri'tho'time'' land so far as ( .fighting .goes, tho«e,men :have more "than once 'distinctly stated : j they will not fight for the pakeha. The, jEuropeans up there won't trust them. "I I believe myself if there was a row they ; would give every information to the '. enemy. Now, I ask lion, members i§ it jrighfc or just'to keep th'oie mien on it at '6s a day, when we. can get, plenty of. i Europeans who are willing to work, and I men that oan be depended upon, for the same money. Then, again, we employ.a European a« Native Magistrate, at a salary of £400 per annum, with extras, for which, I may say, he does little or nothing—in fact, he has nothing to do; 'the Resident Magistrate is quite competent and able to do the work, and so. save that item. ; We also employ in that department a lady who receives £1 par day to glean information for the General Government Agent. I may also state when the Hon.; Mr McLean' was : up there, he sent her Royal Highness the Princess a present of a saddle, which cost the Government £710s, but she would not take it, and sent it back as it was u'ot good enough. The consequence was they sent to Auckland and paid £14 for the best saddle they could get in town.. I have known natives, ■ when they stated they were Hauhaus, to ask for ploughs and carta, and get them too, and then take those articles a little way out of the settlements and sell them, to Europeans for a little more than half the cost. I may also state that there ..is a : certain school,in the Waikato taught -by.a native master. This school, I believe, costs the Government over £500 per annum. £10 per annumi is paid by iho Government to the. master for each child, and L have been told . by, good> authority that, as soon as, a child comes into the world, it-is placed on the schoolroll. In fact, the present mail-boy is now on the school books. I ask hon. members if this system is not a .disgrace to the colony P And, to show how far their bribery has gone, when some Maoris stole some cattle from some of' the settlers/ the_ Native Department gave them (the natives) almost the value of the cattle to bring them back. Now, that is what:l say encourages the Maoris to : do- the' same again, I tell you candidly it is a disgrace to a*British' colony,-and ai mass of bribery and corruption which-oughtto be done away with. If a chief, when he is hard up, gets up and says, "Cease road--making," immediately the telegraph wires are at work, and two or three native officials fly up and bribe him; and the fact is, the native did it, as he knew he would get something. I will just con-, elude by saying that, as long as we have a Native Office, we will have anative question to trouble' the public mind. I would impress this on the miads of those hon. members who attend the. Assembly. Mr Orispe expressed satisfaction with •the present administration of native affairs by the Hon. Mr McLean.

■ Mr Byron endorsed all that Mr Bbche had said, but thought the motion had better be withdrawn, as the passing of. it could'have no effect.

Mr Oarleton said Mr Hoche's speech was the best of the session, and con? demned the present native policy. ' Mr Buokland thought the motion had better be withdrawn; although no doubt there was some truth in what the hon. mover had said.

Mr Boylau hoped the motion would not bo withdrawn, and Mr Lundonthought it would be desirable 1 that.the Southern members of the Assembly should be made acquainted with the opinion of the Auckland Provincial Council as to the native policy. • He referred to transactions in the North as showing the abuses of the present system. Tho Council then adjourned.

A number of stupid and apparently purposeless suicides having recently been, reported in Victoria, it is quite refreshing to;drop on one in which the principal actor had a motive and a cure for passion. A. few days ago a ! young gentleman poisoned himself under circumstances which were at first thought to be mysterious, but that was subsequently discovered to be a mistake, Previous to his death he was in the enjoyraont of good health, a very pretty competcncyrand a wife whom apparently he lovod with'a devotion rarely seen out of a circulating, library. However, a letter' which was left bohind him explained all,- It was addressed to the coroner, and ran as follows: —"I boroup against everything as long as I could, but there came a time when I was obliged to civo in. Dear Emily was, I believe, a true and loving wife to mo, but we did not understand each other. In spite of my repeated, though temperate and affectionate romonstrances she would insist upon putting too many cloves in tho apple-pies, Please don't cut me up any moro than you can help, as in good sooth, I feel quite sufficiently out before committing tho fatal deed, which will result in your pooketing im not to spsak of the travelling o$« Jjow.' 1 .. . , .' . *V ..

POLICE COUET.-Yestebday.; .'(Beforo'W.iFaASßß, .Esq., R.IT.)

Indecent Lan<}vaqe.—Charles Bolton f. and James Barnett were charged with having made use of indecent language on -the Parawai road,'on the 3rd inst. It se appears that Bolton had : not been served. l ". Barnett, a lad about 13 years of age, ap'x peared.-Mr Dodd,, for the .defendant; e pleaded not griilty.-W. H. Crickdepbsed l * that ho was Inspector under the Parawai e , Highway.Board.,, ;On;the evening.of the ! ' 3rd he saw defendant on the. Parawai 8 road, near Banks' slaughter-yard. Be--1 'tween; 10' and 11 o'clock at night'hohe'ard " great shouting and cursing apparently coming from a conveyance approaching, 5 Hestood still;until;they,came up. ; - He ! heard language made use of which he 1 could .hardly .repeat. There. were only ' two boys on this conveyance.- ;He heard | them call but b- wretch' and b— ', .at .the same timo whipping tho horse. 1 Witness caught the reins and stopped the 1 conveyance. He- asked defendant his I name which ho ibid him correctly. The other was a long he .gave ,any name,' and"tHen he 'gave' John' James. '. He asked defendant driye him into ' ' Shortland;which ho did. after 20' minutes; and he got their'correct names[.'from''the constable.;; The; shouting and''cursing was so great that it' brought; the'inhabitants to'their door's.' He heard bothladsimake usb.of the language complained of;; f.Chas. Joslih : was called,; but, did, riot 'appear, ' and this : that he was instructed that it was . who made'use of the langua'ge'ahd not .the i .defendant;.'He'had'ho'evidbncVto!offer. ;His Worship said' that' bbys of'liia. size 'and a'gewere a nuisance 'tB? thV placed was sorry he could 'riot whip'hiiii, 'but he .would fine.him 40s.and;cost,' Or in default seven'days'improvement'.' J"' : ™ t u ~ WaNDEBINO 1 charged with ■allowing a'liofsei'tb wander : at large on the ( Parawai Eoad'bttthe''6th i •instant. 'The;horse had been "impounded. I r Headniitted'th'e' Worship i that T these' cases'agdinst 'the' natives I put the ; Government to gVeat 'expense. ' He.. was 6d"'arid" ; costs;'-Mere> i maha was also'- charged. a I horse to wander in' : iJhort- ' land, on the ;4th ins£an.tl" This horse ! had I also been "impounded.'""' He i; admitted it, i and was fined 2s 6d and costs.—Joseph i Buckley was- 1 charged with allowing one I horso and one cow to wander in Grey- ] street,ißhortland,(not impqund'ed).';! Mr I Dodd, .npt- guilty; i .He-.admitted that the horse was in the { street, not:allqw;it.'o>'.Some f person took down the panels, John Pete, t an employee of. the Board, ] deposed that he saw the„hors'e !; in Greystreet on the footpath, and the cow was inthe ditch in.■Fenton-street. ;■ Heovas about'to'take the horse tb the' pound when a boy came and claimed him as ,1 Buckley's. ' Witness then saidl he would { have to summons him, he had warned { him so frequently. In cross-examination { he said that he had been instructed by j the Hoad Board to look after cows and \ horse. At this stage the information was ( amended by striking out.the cow,?,iDe- g fendanfc was fined 2j 6d ahd'eosts;—John [ Smith was charged with allowiug a horse [ to wander in Grey-street, Bhortland (im- j pounded). He admitted the offence, and \ was. fined; 2 j 6d and costs;! ••■'■■} t WARDEN'S OOrjßr.-YESTEEDAY. 8 Mser, Esq,, R.AT,,) J DnAiNAas OLAiiis.-Pumping Asso- a ciation v. City of London G.M.C. This i' l plaint set forth that the complainants are * the owners of ■ a machine which.is em- 1 ployed in draining water from the respect tive mines of the complainants known as <? the Imperial Crown, Tookey, Caledonian, a and, Golden Grown mines. 2. That de- 4 fendants are the holders of or persons °, Working a miae. adjacent, to the,said "• mine of the complainants, which said mine T } of the defendants is known as the City of S London mine, and the said defendants <?' and the said mine are benefited'by the fi 1 said machine. 3. That tho complainants, a l as such owners aforesaid and • intending, to " claim contributions from, the defendants.' f a towards the expenses of working j 1 machine, didi in the month of May, 1874,' ( serve ; upon .. the defendants a notice, in writing according to the provisions of " section "69 of the Gold Mining Districts r£ Act, 1873, stating that the complainants claim such contribution as aforesaid, and m also stating the amount claimed, 1 and that s '

if such contribution was not' agreed to an application would be made to their Court to enforce the same: ■ i,i That since the service of this notice the defendants have refused to contribute the amount stated ia. the : said ■ notice. .Wherefore, the complainants claim that this Court determine whether the defendants are benefited by the machinery of the complainants, and that if: the defendants be found by the Court be so benefited, the complainants then claim that this Court shall forthwith, or at such adjournment, .proceed to determine; the., amount .of contribution which would be reasonable under all the circumstances of the ease for the defendants to pay to the com* plainants, and also the time, mode, and conditions of payment, and the period not exceeding twelve months, during which suoh contributions shall" |be continued; and the complainants alio claim-that they; have such other and further relief in the premises as, the Court may see fit to direct.—Mr Macdonald appeared for the complainants, and asked to have the case adjourned until Wednesday.—The. adjournment was granted.' ;. ;.' ■!,'■'■' .-