AUCKLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 9, 21 May 1872, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

[From our own Correspondent.] A rumour was in circulation here to the effect that Te Ko?ti was a refugee in the Waikato district. It appears- to have had no foundation, as it has been contradicted in an official telegram, to Mr. Donald McLean. Wherever he may be is now a matter of as his influence on tho Maori mind is lost, and but for the prominence given to his movements by a cb*ss of parasites on the country, whose occupation-otherwise would. 1» gone were it not for the creation and maintenance of some such bugbear, we might look, upon the native difficulty as a thing of the past as it practically is. .. The "sweets.of office" must be. very consoling, if one may judge from the tenacity with which Mr. James Smart (Lite of the linn of Cruickshank, Smart and Co,) sticks to. his seat as a member of the Corporation. It is reported that his gratification is of the " dunning character and yet 110 action was taken by his brother members to remove such an imputation until thev were forced to do so by a rather fiee expression of public opinion on the matter,, when a committee was formed to inquire regarding the position of Mr. Smart in the Coun.:i!.. After 'a careful consideration" they have deckled that Mr. Smart was legally entitied to his seat on the "•round that he was a member of the linn of Cruickshank, Smart and. Co., and that although he had retired from, being an active partner of that lirm he was still a partner iu a pecuniary point of view. It seems to me that the decision is an open one, namely that he was, but they did not commit themselves by. saying that he i.s a. membei. This is splitting hairs, with a Vengeance. H° w " eve-, this position will form the subject of a legal inquiry, when, we shall be satisfied as to the extent of his. qualification, and why it is he should sacrifice so muck—iu time and public estimation—

for so barren an honor.. The. Thames Advertiser contradicts the report that Mr. Gillies, is. to-be raised to the Bench. it states, it to be. a canard. One thing is very certain that it has obtained very general, currency. To use an old anxiom, " Where there's smoke there s lire,'' and 110 doubt in this case it will be proved that there is a foundation for the rumour, lithe

Ministry see the policy of suck, an appointment there ooukl nob be found a more fitting recipient of the office than Mr. Gillies, ihe retirement of Mr. Beckham on a pension, and the profitable discharge of his duty by Mr. Philips, the Mayor, as spoken of by the Thames Oucirdiu/ 1 , is an absurd contingency. The former with all his eccentricities of character, brings to bear in the discharge of his office considerable experience coupled with good judgment-two very great essentials in the absence of legal training. Ihe latter would be a mere fledgling, and' consequently the shuttlecock of the Bar. We have quite enough of amateur justiceships and their vagaries, without running the risk of having them perpetuated in the appointment of, Mr.. Phillips. " folly Plum" has been "writing a-, lot of twaddle about barmaids, for which she has- been told to mind her own business by public advertisement signed by three damsels,, who claim, the honor of filling the invidious position. It is a matter of surprise to me that the proprietors o£ newspapers give, admissiom. to s.o many of her effusions; they are as tii ,esome aß ' contributions wnich so frequently appear on the licensing-; and other standard' topics-. T suppose nothing will' rid us of them except a matronsliip or a similar billet of about £250 a year. Hunter, under the title of "The Sketcher," opened the subject in a contributed article in the Star. If my memory is not j greatly at. fault I have read, it in a home paper, j if not the ring of it sounded much like one on the same subject I have read. There is a' hitch in. the construction of the telegraph to Coromandel, in consequence of which its "construction is temporarily delayed. The natives (or their pakeha advisers) have discovered that although the G-overnment have the right to cut a track they have no right to cut down any kauri. timber, unless by payment at the rate of 25s a tree. The natives claim some £100 for timber already cut, and until it is paid they have stopped further works. The opposition is a mere question of pounds shillings and pence, and no disinclination on any other ground.