The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1874.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1725, 14 July 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1874.

S?EcuiAToEß.and dealers in scrip must have ' "been particularly sliy yesterday morning. Our Auckland telegrams stated ,that the only sale effected before twelve , o'clock was in Queen of the Mays. This as representing the business en the great metropolitan exchange was very significant. Either buyers must hare been auspicious or holders very firm. At the Corner yesterday, as ou* own stock and mining report indicated, only one transaction took place'-^-at least only'one description of. stock was mentioned under the heading of business done, while sellers were numerous. It is scarcely possible ' to. account for the small amount of business done in Auckland and on the Thames during yesterday forenoon, but it certainly . was anr exceptionally dull day. There hare been rumours of late affecting the integrity of persons in> authority in the mines, and these rumours may have intimidated buyers. Some of these rumours were,certainly calculated to undermine public confidence —the way to restore which would be for directors —as soon as a suspicion arises that their mine is being tampered, with —to institute a searching inquiry. If anyone be found blameable let him be sent to the right-about. Want

of honesty on the part of thornanagement or in the directory deters- bona fide investors more than, the prospect of being robbed by specimen steakrs.

No one could read the account of the Palmer Diggings published in yesterday'■ Star without a pang, of regret for the deluded miners who abandoned good prospects at the Thames for the allure-' : ments of Queensland. The name of our contributor was a sufficient guarantee of the genuineness of the letter, and the experiences of the party of which the writer was ope may be taken as a specimen of what all had to endure when they once landed at the seaport of Cooktown, in their upward journey to the goldfields. The party indeed seem to. hare been more than usually fortunate in many respects, for they got to their destination safely, gave the district a trial, and survive to tell the tale, while others have left their bones to bleach under a tropical sky, victims to the attacks of the savages, or have fallen a prey to ,an insidious climate I and found a naraeleis grave in some secluded gully.,- We cannot blame the diggers who left us to share' the reputed fabulous richness of the Queensland fields ; we regret the disappointment many of them have experienced. We cannot, however, overlook the fact that if some of the thousands now being spent in introducing immigrants had been;' devoted to acquiring the freehold- of.;the Upper Thames lands and throwing them open to prospecting, and eventually for settlement, scores of stalwart miners would have remained here whorhaye- gone from: us for ever; and instead of an exodus to the -Australian continent, thousands ■ — yes thousands of men of a desirable class would have been attracted hither, many of them with capital as well as experience, who would have done more to develope the resources of this district, than all the legislation which has been brought to bear Upon it since it was first opened to the enterprise of Europeans.

A sentence of three years' penal servitude—the shortest term the law allows— will, it is to be hoped, have a salutary effect upon; McDonald, who shot one of Mr. Young's coach horses while travelling on the Eangitikei-Manawatu road. This man, it would seem, has been adopted as a " chief" by a certain tribe of Maories, who claimed tribal rights over a district the native title to which was supposed to have been extinguished. Being an adopted son of a petted race, he copwiwited an-atrtrof lawlessness- atiko«£( capara-ISLod in the .history of the colony. Probably Mr. McDonald thought that the mistaken leniency shown to the Natives would be extended to the son of their adoption; but he has been deceived. His Maori friends did not even extend their sympathy by being present at his trial, and after a lame defence he has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment, during the course of which it is to bo hoped he will come to look upon matters from a European point of view, and not expect any particular privileges to attach in the future to his adoption by the Maories. As Judge Johnson remarked, it is such men as McDonald siho retard the progress and enlightenment of the Native race. For their own selfish ends these proteges of ilacriea would not mind bringing about another war, and it is only' occasionally that one oversteps the bounds of toleration and legal forbearance so as to bring himself witjbin the reach of that punishment which the acts of some of these gentry so justly merit.

We notice some of our contemporaries acknowledging receipt of Parliamentary papers, and quoting copiqusly therefrom. We may state that we have not received a single paper excepting His Excellency's speech, which had been previously telegraphed to us. We don't know whose fault this is, but if it be that the despatch of papers usually sent to the press of the colony is left to the discretion of the Government Printer, the system is wrong. A newspaper, because it is large and published in a chief town of a province, should not have precedence, of its smaller ■contemporaries. The information contained in Parliamentary papers is retailed by the press of the colony to thousands^ who would never otherwise hear of such things as blue books; and the .Government should see that the utmost impartiality is displayed i in distributing their favors in this respect. We have no doubt there are other journals in the same position as ourselves, while more favored organs arc supplied with papers nearly as soon as members of the legislature themselves. The abuse will only be remedied by a protest against the system, which, in this respect, makes fish of one and flesh of anether.