The Taranaki Herald.

Wanganui Herald, Volume x, Issue 2699, 7 February 1876, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1870.

Colonization lias been described as the making of homes, and no more appropriate meaning is possible to be wiven. Not every person, however, recognises the force of it. We have heard of a sheep farmer 6r squatter or run holder, a member of the Legislative Council, who is given to maintain that the people who are brought out at the expense of the country, ought not to be encouraged to become settlors ; that they are only fitted to serve or wait on those who came out in the early days and took up large quantities of land ; that every other interest should be subservient to that of the ' sheepish' The logic was something of this kind : The bringing out of immigrants places them under a permanent obligation to those whose means contributed to bring them. This is taking- a very one sided view of colonization ; it is an adoption of Wordsworth's pungent line, that those who have the power shall keep it ; butitis not very wise. The early settler who obtained large privileges should be content, and not assist to debar others from the acquisition of a moderate share of the earth's surface. The quantity of the waste land in the colony to be disposed of, is limited. There are those well acquainted with the subject who affirm that in Otago the available land suitable for agriculture is well nigh exhausted. The open land of an undulatory and unbroken character in this Province and Taranaki will soon be alienated. The purchases from the Natives are supplying- tho Government with patches or clearings, but there are few blocks of open country of any considerable extent. This is the testimony of surveyors and othors qualified to decide on the fact. Has not the time come, then, when a new land policy should be inaugurated ? Does it require any special pleading to convince every well-wisher of his adopted country that if settlement be admitted essential to lasting prosperity, the available land must be rigidly applied to that purpose ? We do not adopt any extreme view. Our opinion is that of every candid observer of the elements of colonial progress. The Government must, if our national liie is not to be stunted at the outset, apply with the utmost strictness the doctrine stated by the Colonial Treasurer last seision — that the land ought to be used for settlement aud not for revenue purposes. This is the policy a great majority of people are prepared to admit is the true one, but which we fear will not be adopted without some agitation and great pressure. Private interests are powerful, and there are many eyes steadfastly fixed on every inviting plot of land in the colony. The jackals have i been .on the scent, and the lions are following them up with relentless vigor. Let us direct special attention to the greatest attraction of this sort in New Zealand. The Waimate Plains consist of many thousands of acres of magnificent open land near the Waingongora riveiyn the Province of Taranaki. The landsharlrs have been greatly excited over this tempting morsel. The land has been " viewed" from every point of the compass and pronounced " good." There are men in every province of the colony who have now their g-aze fixed on the Wairaate. Some of thorn even cannot control their feelings, but have threatened the peace of the country unless the Government yield to their demands. .The position is this. The land is within the confiscated boundaries, but there are claims— feudal we might term them — advanced to it by the Ngatiruanui Tribe, of which Titokowaru is the p: incipal chief, and although legally the block is the property of the Government, the Natives in question are powerful enough to resist the survey and occupation, or at least, it has not been thought wise up to the present to assert by overt acts the right of the colony to the land. The hope of the parties w& have described is to foi a the Government to make a compromise with the Natives, by which they would receive a large portion of the land, which they might either lease or sell to the most successful and adventurous of the landsharks. The Native Minister has taken the right viesv of the question. Prom Government officers and others great pressure has been brought to bear upon him to induce him to recognise the proprietary rights of the Natives, and then to enter into negotiations with the view to acquire the land by purchase. He has consistently rejected all such overtures, holding to the view that the land is absolutely the property of the Crown, and that, though he is prepared to consider any money claims the Natives may advance, he will not part with an acre of the land. From this ground we feel satisfied Sir Donald McLean will not recede. Major

Brown is at present carrying on negotiations respecting the Block, and is likely to be successful. We saw that Colonel McDonnell had attempted to have a finger in the pie ; and the matter is oiu\ for inquiry. The unauthorised inlerfJrenco of a Government officer was an insult to the Native Commissioner on this Coast, and likely to interfere with the success of the negotiations. We now return to the question of settlement in its relation to this special territory. The Government have succeeded in obtaining high prices for the confiscated land on this Coast. But in many instances the land has gone into the hands of speculators, instead of being immediately taken up for bona-fidc settlement. The Waimateis rich enough to invite all the speculators ,in the Coluny. Nor will the subdivision ol the land into small allotments save it. The capitalist will swallow up, as he has done before, section after section, to the exclusion of the small settler. The land will carry hundreds of families, who might be placed on it as soon as an arrangemen t were made with the Natives. Let it therefore be set aside as a special settlement on deferred payments at a fair price, subject to conditions of personal occupation and improvements. There are many farmers who would avail themselves of the opportunity o^ makinga home for their sons' — young men of colonial experience, of industrious habits, and su/Ecienl capital to work the land and pay tho instalments of the purchase money as they fell due. There is not sufficient inducement at present offered to a class on which the future prosperity of the country is based. There must be some outlet for the youth of the colony rising into manhood ; and what is there to compare with the land ? " We want land for our children," is the observation one meets everywhere in the country. The old homestead should not be cut up ; it is perhaps only large enough for one ; and so the offshoots would go abroad to settle the country, if they had the means and opportunity of so doing. This is the greaiest of all questions ; it is the chief corner stone of colonial prosperity. And this we avou id prophesy. The Government which do not make it a leading part of their policy, however strong they may now be, will speedily lose the confidence of the country, when they will have to give place to better men, and the party will forfeit its position in the opinion of those whose friendship once lost will not easily be regained — the bona-fide settlers of the colony. It was faith in the promises and policy of the present Colonial Ministry which gave them a compact and unanimous body of supporters on this Coast. The settlers do not turn from a Government from such causes as the vicisitudes of a San "Francisco Service, but from, maladministration the effects of which are brought home to their own doors.

The election in Marlborough for the district of Wairau between Mr Seymour and Mr Henderson was very close, considering that the latter gentleman had to fight against what he described as " official influence." The numbers were, for Seymour 201, for Henderson 179, the majority being 22. There occurred at the declaration of the poll an incident which we cannot permit to pass without comment. Mr Henderson stated that "so great had been the want of faitli on the part of the people in those who had the power, that many had feared to act independently, and to record their votes ; they trembled because they had no faitli in the men in whose hands the voting papers would be." Now the mere fact that the oilicial class supported a particular candidate is not justification for casting suspicion on the secrecy of the ballot. That a suspicion did exist in the minds of any number of people so as to prevent them from voting, is an assertion the accuracy of which we have no means of judging. We noticed, however, in one of Mr Henderson's speeches before the election that he relied on the secrecy of the ballot to return him. Unless something special occurred at the election, how can lie now consistently throw suspicion on the bona-iides on which he was fain to rely while the election was pending 1 Perhaps Mr Henderson cannot see the injury he was rather wantonly inflicting on the public. The secrecy of the ballot is no idle thing which may be turned into political capital ; audit should not be impugned without positive and particular proof. The attempt to create unnecessary distrust is reprehensible in the extreme, for were faith in the secrecy of the ballot to be destroyed, it would at once become useless, and thousands would refuse to exercise the franchise at all. The legislature has taken every precaution that the ballot shall be secret, and unless a person himself should disclose, it cannot be known how his vote is given. But it i& hardly in keeping with common sense to insinuate or assert that because officials have a particular leanii gto a candidate, they will therefore violate their oaths, run the risk of the gaol, break seals,— all for the purpose of finding out how an elector recorded his vote. Mr Henderson surely could not have reflected for an instant, or he would never have been guilty of casting so foolish and so injurious an imputation.

A veky interesting discussion lias been going on between the Minister of Justice and a body in Christchurch calling itself the ".Law Society," respecting the appointment of a Mr Malet to the Registrarship of the Supreme Court. We notice the following telegram in a contemporary : — " The Minister of Justice, in replying to the representations of the Law Society, as to the unfitness of Mr Malet for the Registrarship of the Supreme Court, says he fails to see any technical difficulty in the way, and from his personal knowledge of the ability shown by Mr Malet, in his other appointment,he is sure he will make an efficient Registrar. The Law Society have since passed the following resolution :—": — " The Society regrets exceedingly to observe from the tone of the reply referred to, that the Hon. the Minister of Justice does not recognise the importance and technical character of the duties connected with the office of Eegistrar, and that consequently he considers that a gentleman of no learning or experience whatever in the above duties could be competent to perform them." The Minister of Justice exercises his right of appointment, and, of course, we must admit it, subject to his responsibility to-Parliament for the way in which it has been exercised. Mr Bowen, we think, will be able to give a very satisfactory reason for his act, as he is quite above a job or the appointment of an incompetent person. The point of view from which the appointment is viewed by the Law Society is interesting in itself. This body uses the teim " learned," from which we infer that it would like the Registrar to be taken from the profession. Well, we don't think the public will extend to this partiality a very hearty sympathy. The Registrar has the important duty to perform of seeing lawyers' bills of costs " taxed " — that is, of exercising the judicial function of judging between the lawyers and the public as to the fairness of the charges made by the former. It is quite conceivable that a Law Society had beenorganiseel to proteefcthe interests of its members, and that it might be of opinion those interests would be better protected by having one of themselves or a tried friend in the office of Registrar. It would be only human nature. We have heard some curious stories about the " taxing " business, but we do not desire to appeal to cases which may only be the excepfcions.lt isjprobably unfortunate for the Law Society that the Minister of Justice is a layman, and it may be equally unfortunate for it that a lay public will hear everything the layman has to say before that public proceeds to deliver judgment.

The London Medium states that Ilearne, the medium for materialisations, was about to leave for a trip to Dunedin, New Zealand, iv order to obtain some relaxation. The Dunedin News states that there is a probability of private engagements interfering to prevent the presence of some of the best shots iv Otago at the colonial rifle meeting. Mr Gledhill, of New Plymouth, advertises that he is a buyer of thistle seed. We wonder what he can want it for. Should that of the variegated thistle about Wanganui be acceptable, there should be no difficulty in gathering large quantities here, as there are many acres covered with them. Thistle seed contains a large percentage of oil. One of the circus companies which were in Wellington has proceeded to Napier, from whence it will come overland to Wangauui. Rather a novelty for the Seventy-mile bush, we should think. At a late meeting of tho Hamilton (N.S. VV.) Borough Council, a letter was received from Mr Millar, F.S.A., Chief Engineer afc Nelson (N.Z.), requesting photographs of the mayor, the aldermen, and the Council clerk to be bound and sent to the Philadelphia Exhibition. It was decided to grant the request. The Melbourne Leader says : — The encroachment of large estates on agricultural settlement is the question of the day. Not in one, or two, or three districts is the process going on, but everywhere ; excepting, of course, those places where the operation has been quite completed, and there is no more agricultural land to absorb. That is the case in some parts of the Western District, and recent reports from up Ararat way tend to show that there the mischief is nearly accomplished. Land sharks of several species have sprung into being by a sort of Darwinian process of development. They may be classified according to size of man and capacity of swallow. Glancing down the list of Ararat-Shire land-leviathans, thb old familiar names of Chiruside, Wave, MacPherson, and others bristle with from 30,000 to 70,000 acres a-piece, and that, of course, apart from the princely territories elsewhere held., So rapid is the retrogressive process that for miles along the Ararat line of railway, where, seven 1 so recently as last year, small and moderate-sized farms abounded, all is solitude. Hoads are fenced across, on the plausible pretext that as there is no population there is no use for them. The plea presupposes a continuance of the present policy of according State management to the process of land absorption ; but there are grounds for hope that the public mind is sufficiently aroused to prevent that possibility. There is the progressive ! land tax looming ahead, the immediate effect of which will be to render possession of j

overgrown estates unprofitable ; or, if land monopolists will persist in giving full scope to their accnmnlalive propensities, they will have to pay into the general revenue a sum as nearly as possible equivalent to the amount lost to tho Stato from eviction of tenants or small holders. In tliis way the merely monetary loss may he partially recovered. The social loss involved ill the expatriation of families is, alas, a mischief irreparable. All that can be done is, as far as legislation can effect the purpose, to stop the ruinous process. The Melbourne Argus of the 19th instant says : — Tho amenities of political life in the Legislative Assembly are not of the most edifying kind just now. Upon Mr Bent rising- to speak last evening, Mr Gaunson called out, " No, Mr ITacing-both-ways ;" when the lion, member for Brighton remarked that " if that rude young pup " would only keep himself quiet, he would proceed with his observations. Tho Cross thinks that the absurdity of forking the mail service via San Francisco, has received an illustration in the arrival of the City of San Francisco witout a mail. The Inspector of Sheep for Wanganui notifies that he has cancelled the clean certificate held by Mr Duncan McGregor. Scab also appears to be spreading in the East Coast district, where two large flocks have been declared acabby. The Evening Argus says: — "Wellington will soon be a highly popular place for shows of all kinds. In the Theatre, not long ago, the lesssee announced a satisfactory financial result for one of the longest seasons ever known here, and Mr Wilson, of the circus, declares he was never better supported anywhere in his three trips round the world than he has been here. That prince of showmen, John Smifcn, is now here, and we hope his experience may be equally pleasant. There is one fact worth noting, aud that is the encouragement now offered by those who benefit very largely from having a theatre or a circus open in their vicinity. Time was when the loan of a chair or a candle-stick could hardly be obtained, and highly respectable Bonifaces looked indignant if asked for lodgings by a member of any travelling company. Now all this is changed. The place where the Palace Circus pitched was a matter of keen competition, aud the successful competitor has probably not regretted his enterprise. Mr Smith's Combination Company was originally announced for the Odd Fellow's Hall, but is now to appear at the Theatre, disinterested friends around having of course, removed the financial difficulty of paying rent for two places while only using oue. The traffic returns from the Wellington and Masterton Railway for the four weeks ending Jan. 15 th, show a remarkable increase over all previous ones. Not only has there been an increase in the number of passengers, of whom there were 9,4-11, paying £478, but the goods traffic has increased at such a rate as to have more than doubled, and this notwithstanding the fact that the second portion of the line was not open part of the time. There were forwarded 1126 tons of goods, 1379 bales of wool, some|sheep aud cattle, and 71,016 feet timber, giving a return of £513. The total amount received was £995 12s lOd, being fully double that of previous returns. This increase should convince the most dubious that the line will pay, and pay the better the further it extends. At the recent Civil Service examinations we notice among the names of those who passed in the senior class those of Frederick W. Powell, of Wanganui, aud Eobert Hume Reid, of Auckland, the latter heading the class. He stands in the first class of merit in English, Latin, arithmetic, algebra," geometry, and science ; in the second class in geography, plane trigonometry and history. The former stands in the first class in algebra, in the second, in Latin and geometry, and in the third, in English, 1 arithmetic, geography and history. Iv the Junior Examination we notice the name of M. F. Perston, among others from this province. A General Government Gazette of the 3r kst. notifies that Joseph Giles, Esq. has been appointed audjEeturniug Officer fc r the district of Waugauui. Also,tbe same gentleman to be Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. J. E. Denniston, Esq. to be lievisiug Barrister under the Friendly Societies Act 1867, for the province of Otago. Tihomas Awdry has been appointed Captain of the Marton Cadets. The Featherston Rifle Volunteers have been disbanded. A number of reserves have been made iv the tdwn of Carlyle for public purposes/lenders aye wanted by the General Government for bookbinding. The money order and savings bank office at Waitapu, Nelson, is closed. { A correspondent writes :—lt: — It may not be generally known that the earnest and devoted Christian John Bnnyan was what is termed a "Baptist." In his Pilgrim's Progress, it is ' ( not surprising therefore that he so beautifully illustrates, although iv an allegorical manner, the sculpture teaching ion the subject of Salvation, especially in '! Christian's" pilgrimage, as the Christian .Ordinances set forth. A rev. gentleman in 'Waugauui on his pulpit a few months ago, said that next to the Bible the Pilgrim* Progress was perhaps the nearest to inspiration that was possible, still strange to say /he is endeavoring to bring discredit on those 'who believe and practice in these ys doctrines very similar to the worthy John Bunyan. Can anyone explain this ?" Those who wished to have a look whether any vessels w6re signalled, were somewhat surprised to-day (Monday) to find that the flagstaff had disappeared. -The fact is that it was taken down in order to be erected on the hill at the back of Campbelltown, where At will no doubt be put up with all dispatch;

A little boy who went to water a horse this (Monday) afternoon was iather surprised to find it slip away from him and swim across the river, evidently enjoying the bath. We are pleased to notice that Mr S. H. Drew has foimd his business extend so far as to induce him to open a branch establishment at Marton, where he has taken the premises until recently occupied by Messrs Phillips aud Co. We are sure that the step is one that will turn out a good one to Mr Drew, who, theUangitikei settlers may depend, has taken it only with a view to supply a want, and at the same time to keep pace with the progress of the district. Water was let into a second section of the mains, as far as Ingestre Street, on Saturday. None of the pipes broke under full pressure, although it was quickly discovered that one was cracked near the centre of it. It was expected that it would be replaced by to-night. Business in the R. M. Court this (Monday) morning, was confined to a solitary drunk. About 10.15 o'clock on Saturday night those who lived near Wicksteed Place were somewhat startled by a most unearthly noise. On enquiry it was found that it proceeded from a man who had been knocked down by a couple of Maoris outside the Phoenix Hotel. When he was down oue of them jumped on him, evidently causing the most acute pain, having hurt him, aa appeared to be the opinion of Dr Marshall, in the regions of the liver. Constable Spry was brought to the scene, but as one of the Maoris had disap - peared, and the other stood his ground, he did not interfere with them. The matter will be thoroughly ventilated in the R.M. Court. The Goat Valley school will be opened for the first time to-morrow, the teacher, Mr Heatley.commencinghis functions with about twenty-five children. The building is on the usual school pattern, but th 6 situation is one of the .worst that could have been chosen. We wonder that the committee could not have made a more fortunate selection.