COMPENSATION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 656, 18 September 1869, Page 2

COMPENSATION.

The Waitotara settlers have formed a Committee to obtain compensation for the losses $hey have sustained by the war. The Committee propose the formation of a " Frontier Settlement Company," which would engage to hold the land on which it .might be located. The scheme is comprehended in the following proposal drawn up by the Committee: '*' As in the present depressed state of the Colony the Government cannot afford compensation in money to the settlers, and as the permanent peace of these districts materially depends upon a strong frontier settlement as evinced by the willing-ness of the Government to give a large and valuable tract of country to certain loyal natives on condition of permanent occupation for a term of yr ars ; -T-therefbre we, the undersigned claimants for compensation, respectfully submit the following plan for the consideration of the Government.

1. That a block of land of sufficient extent to compensate the claimants be laid off eithef between the Waitotara and Patea rivers, or on the Waimate Plains north of the Waingongora river in the Province of Taranaki.

2. That each claimant shall undertake to occupy either by himself or his servant for a period of five or seven years (as may be agreed upon) so as to form a strong- frontier settlement

3. That as soon as commissioners, to be appointed by the Government, decide as to the number of acres to be allotted to each claimant by way of compensation, and also suitable reserves for religious and educational purposes, &c, the whole of such claimants shall form themselves into a company." Many objections may be raised to this proposal, but the grand argument remains that the settlers are entitled to compensation, and it can be given in no better form for all parties than in land. The settlers will be supported by the country in obtaining compensation, but we are not sure if the Government will consent to be saddled with the responsibility of a "Frontier Settlement Company."

Three Weeks for a Penny ! At the Bearsted Petty Sessions held at the Court House. Maidstone before Sir George Hampson, Bart, chairman, and a full Bench, Thomas Osborne, an old waggoner, was sentenced to three weeks' hard labor for taking a duokte egg. The accused had been in service in the neighbourhood about forty-years, and had never had a .charge of the .kind against him before. He now denied .his guilt j but on 'the evidence of .a country policeman the old m«i waa convicted.