THE WAIPORI RIVER QUESTION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue 4252, 26 June 1895, Page 3

THE WAIPORI RIVER QUESTION.

A Wellington correspondent writes:— The Government, I have reason to know, are much concerned about the unpleasant turn the Waipori difficulty has taken. They recognise that decisive action of some kind is inevitable on their part if the mining industry at Waipori is not to be completely crushed out of existence. I believe the matter could be settled without much loss of time were it not for the obstructive influence of the three riparian landowners. They, lam informed, decline to submit to the terms on which it was sought to arrange a compromise with the other thirteen fanners. The three dissentients insist that there is no comparison between their position and that of the others. No doubt they are to Borne extent correct in their contention ; but the Minister of Mines, who has made himself master of the whole of the details of the case, considers they have taken np an unreasonable position and he refuses to agree to their demands. I am inclined to think the upshot of it all will be that the Government, however unwilling, will be forced to take the land compulsorily and so end the difficulty. Should they take such a step, it will be with much unwillingness, as they do not like to be thought guilty of anything that might look like tyranny or sacrificinsr one class for another. No fair-minded person will deny that the landowners have not just grounds of complaint. The law of the land has said so ; and in the face of that fact, I think the Government should think a good deal before forcibly depriving the farmers of the fruits of their hard-fought victory. But while we may all agree to this, and while also it weighs considerably with the Government, it is unreasonable to expect that the mining industry of an entire district, on which a large number of people depend for a livelihood, should be allowed to be swept away and destroyed. The recent proclamation extending the boundaries of the goldfields is expected to make the Government masters of the situation. At least such is the opinion of counsel ; but whether that opinion would stand the test of legal assault is quite another question. "Speaking from the point of equity, one would say not. It seems to me like circumventing the law, getting to windward of a decision given by the highest court in the land, by something very like a piece of stratagem or artifice, and on a question, too, affecting what the law recognises as "the sacred rights of property." lam inclined to think that the Government, even now, will refuse to move, and will still further await the course of events.