The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1874.

Thames Star, Volume III, Issue 1661, 27 April 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1874.

Oub Ohinemuri correspondent reiterates his statement that a large block of land has been lately purchased from the natives in that district, by a Mr Young,. It appears from the letter published today that the name of the block was incorrectly given before, hence the contradiction wlrich subsequently appeared. The purchase, however, is yet incomplete, and some serious complications may arise out of the business. Our correspondent states the facts to be these. The block in question is held under Crown Grant from,the-Fathe Lands Court by eight natives for themselves and others. Four of these sold to :Mr James Mackay, junior} and four have now, it would seem, gold to Mr Young for his principals. The natives who sold to Mr. Mackay for the Government are disposed to hold to their bargain, whiletheir co-grantees would argue them out of it. It will be rememberedthatatthefamousinterviewofThames citizens with James Mackay, junior, relative to the opening of Ohinemuri, Mr. Mackay said that the Government had paid deposits on, or were negotiating for the purchase of block* of land from Te Aroha to Cape Colville, and from HikutaiatoWhangamata, and he then deprecated very strongly any interference by private individuals, because it would " embarrass" the Government, and be the means of inducing the natives to open their mouths to such an extent that in acguiringv ;the lands the Government would have to pay too much. All sorts of foolish things Were talked about then, so that the threatened embarrassment of the Government should, be averted; but now it nppears th*t a native agent can be permitted to go amongst the , and actually bid for,land on which the Government have through their agent paid considerable sums of money. This embarrassment cannot be charged against tne/ Thames people.' With returning prosperity in the goldfield as at present "constituted the agitation about Ohinemuri has died out,, but if the agents

of Southern capitalists are allowed to go amongst the Ohinemuri natives and try to supersede the negotiations of the Government uninterruptedly, the opening of Ohinemuri will he longer deferred than cyer* r Thames residents were threatened with arrest for "treasonable practices" for less than this, but then circumstances were different. Here persons have dragged out an existence waiting for the prosperity to be attendant on the extension of our goldfield /borders to Ohinemuri, and if they had at'feqip&d anything calculated to accelerate ihat'inuch-desircd consummation possi'tfy&rine of the threats would have been carried out and the leaders deprived of t-heir-liberty ; but as the negotiations to alienate the land from the natives are carried on quietly and in the interests of Southern capitalists —whose flocks and herds have increased to such an extent that they want an out! et for the surplus—we hear of nothing being done to prevent the embarrassment which will result -to the Government, or the threatened difficulties amonpstthe Natives referred to by our correspondent. The people of this district have no reason to thank the Advertiser for its leader this morning, which advocates a course decidedly inimical to the public interests. Those who have borne the burden of early settlement in this and adjacent districts have a right to expect that when the land is open for sale they will be able to acquire a portion without the ; intervention of native agents. The restrictiveineasures adopted last session 6f parliament have been the means of preventing the sale to private individuals of large blocks of land—of the auriferous character of which very little doubt exists amongst those who are competent to judge; What the Thames people have good grounds for complaining about is the tardy manner in which the negotiations for the purchase of the Ohinemuri lands by the Government are carried out. Mr. Mwk»nwlw commenced the business «o

well, appears to have ignored the district and the wishes of the native owners, and this may possibly account for the disposition of the natives to commence fresh negotiations with private individuals. Many of'the natives, we have no doubt, have received sums of Government money, and now they would not mind pocketing the coin of private individuals. Of this we are quite convinced —that the land had better remain closed than allow Southern capitalists to step in and pick up the choicest spots; and any measure which would open the way for the latter course would be antagonistic to the public interests. We have no doubt 'there are hundreds in this district who would avail themselves of the opportunity to purchase land at Ohinemuri, if such existed; but the opportunity will never arise if anyone but the Government be permitted to acquire the land from the natives. One Act passed last session provides for the resumption of land found to be auriferous after purchase; so that if miners cannot acquire freeholds the right to mine on Ohinemuri land may eventually be theirs.

A cash of juvenile crime came before the Justices who occupied the bench at the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning. A young lad, eleven years of age, was convicted on his own confession ot stealing a watch and chain, which the prosecutor, at the suggestion of the police, set down as of the value of £5 in order that the case might be disposed of summarily. The Justices thereupon sentenced the youthful offender to a month's imprisonment, and to be once soundly whipped. We cannot say that we approve of this sentence. The boy was never convicted of crime before— never even suspected that we know of; his parents are respectable old settlers, and they were prepared to support the Justices in inflicting punishment of a deterrent character—than which we believe nothing better could be devised than one or two good floggings, administered so 'as to make the young rascal remember his peccadillo for months to come. Mr. Bullen, in stating the facts of the case— or the facts so far as he knew —could not let the opportunity escape of trying to cast a slur upon the character of newspaper runboys generally. The juvenile before the Court this morning has the misfortune to be a runboy. He acts in that capacity for the. Advertiser and the Star; and, with a younger brother, has for some eighteen months or two years made a clear profit on the sale of Stars alone of more than half the current wages of an adult miner. If the lads have done the same on the morning paper it 13 scarcely to be wondered at if parents allow their boys to sell newspapers -in Ihese- dull times. But' it was not to give publicity to this piece of information we referred to Mr. Bullen's remarks. In the opinion of the Sub-Inspector—who,^we hear, has issued a despotic prohibition against the Evening Star being allowed into the police office or the station^no good can come out of this Nazareth of journalism : its" associations conduce to youthful vice, and the victims are objects of commiseration accordingly. So appears to think Mr. Bullen; but we may state that during the existence of the Star—extending over five years—no runner of the paper, as far as we can recollect, has been charged with crime. Some young scamps with an inherent predilection for thieving have been convicted after leaving the Star, and their depravity has been put down to association with runboys. But it does not pay runboys to be thieves. When they take to coal mouching and thieving they cease to be runboys. The young lad who was convicted this morning has never been one of the class who stay about the town and throng the places of amusement. He had his town subscribers and his suburban run ; having served which he went to his home ; so that if Mr. Bullen had elected to ask the parents he might have saved himself the trouble of trying to cast a slur upon the hard-working little runboys, one of whom has unfortunately fallen into his dutches.