The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1873.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 140, 1 April 1873, Page 2

The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1873.

In ..mother column we publish ft number of sn^geations made joint'y by Sir W. Martin and Dv Short" land as to the principles upon which the Nalive Lands Act to be introduced i;ext session should bo based. We notice that by acH'ig oil I licit 1 memoraurla we should get rid of some of tho principal objections to the Act and portions of Aclsut present in force. We consider that to divide tho North Island into districts with a Commissioner and small staff to administer it could not fail to he productive of muck good, Had any such system been in force some years back, there would not have been a possibility of the disputes taking- place that are now being settled in Hawke's Bay. The provision for the payment of money for purchase or lease into the hands oi a Commissioner would remove the possibility of fraud, as it would be the duty of that officer to see that a fair pi ice was paid, also that tho payment was made in, cash and not in goods or spirits. Another objectionable feature in the existing law they also ptopo*e to do away with, viz, the limiting- of tho grantees of any block of land to ten. The lesult of that system lias been that the ten men have in many instances kept all I the pioeeeds fiom the sale or leasing- of land, although not entitled to more than other members of the hapu- This has been eminently the case in Hawke's Bay; in an instance that came under cur notice — n chiefs i amc v\os put upon a grant sit the request of the interested parties, as they believed he was a good man of business, and woald he nl>le to look after their interests. The former was proved to their cost, a« he kept a tenth part of the money realised by tho sac of the block. We can ' see, rowc\er, some difficulty in apportioning the amount due to ench member of a tribe ; the duties of the Commissioner will require to be earned out with great care and discrimination, fn reference to surveys, wo observe that ifc is propo^ed to hold ft preliminary enquiry pievious to entering into the expense. By the old Act, no application can be ontertained until a plan of the block in question is deposited with the Court. The consequence of this system h;is been that the surveyors who did the work were in many instances kept out of their rmncy for year-, ua they could not recover till the land was dealt with* and further, a3 a rule, they have turnel oat to bo most, maocuiute. The proposal to have all the surveys executed by Cloverniuent surveyors is a good ono. The exclusion of lawyers during the investigation of titles by the Commissioners is an excellent proposition. Tho ..wneiship of laud iv almost every case depends upon native custom, and the presence n( a gentleman i nbned with legal technicaliiies c-m only have the effect of delaying- the decision stud puzzling both n.uivei and Commissioner. It is migrgested that in the event of death property shall pass in accordance w ilh native custom. We fM Mint tho thanks of tho colony arc duo to Sir W. Martin and D r in- thmr suggestions; if acted upon, tlipy >\ill do a.vay with the most glaring, defects iv the present law. We made the suggestion some ti.ue back that a council of rhiefs should be appointed by tho natives to determine wiiKtMilea should filco place in their tiistiicU. This would, no doubt, place a great deal of power in their hands, but it must not, be forgotten that the natives have becoui^ accnHfn.ned to our luxuries • they Lave ulgo got too 1, zj to work. The luxuries tb.y will have— woik tuy u ,ll not— consequently, sell their land they mn,l. P.iti,mg this authority in tin- h.'uidrt of the natives, through, their chiefs

will establish confidence. Our principal difllcuUy is the jealousy the foel of having thenauthority uhduraine>l by European association. I'y recognising tlie authority of tho cliicfs wo sliouM pay resjieut to native custom, ami this course, we feel confident is the_mo£t politic and the Lest for tho interests of both races.

Wo hare boen shown a sample of wheat grown on Mr L. B. Harris's farm at Pukole, between Ilamilton and Ngaruawahia. The sample is really a flue one, and the yield has turned out to be 25 bushels to the acre. It has been grown on maiden land, nnprepured in any way, beyond of coum*, ploughing and sow nig. The siucess that hai attended this attempt at w heat grow ing should be snflicient to cneourajr»» many others to wv largely next year. .A serious accident happened at the Cambridgo wharf on the 29th, by which a valuable horae, the property of M. Cavin, carter, Cambridge, was destroyed. The steamer Bluenoso was discharging cargo, and Cavin's horse and dray had been brought close to the bank for the purpose of bringing up u loud of goods. While the horse was standing something seemed to startle it, and it commenced " backing." Cavin tried to pull i s head round, but was unable to do ho, and being so neir the b -ink of tho river could not possibly stop it after the cart-wheels had gono otei- the edge- of tho bank. The dray then ran down the steop incline, dragging the home with it, and both woro immediately precipitated into the river, and disappeared under the water. The niviirivnw «■•->-'- rl--r 1 --- :~: ~ •* ar^ °-P the timo I hare taken to describe* it, an>l t although there were many people about, noone was able to do anything to save the horse from what all saw was certain to be i-ievitftble death. Ciptain Kirkpatrick, of the Eluenose, with commend iblj promptitude, immediately sent out a boat, anl tho crew of tho steamer were successful in recovering the dray an 1 harness after a httlo persevering w ork. Tho Canterbury Preis writing in referenco to Messrs Brogden' s contracts says: — "Their charges for railway work, and tho profit they require, may bo no more than their Engineer thinks them entitled to. But experience- shows that local contrai tors can afford to work more cheaply, and arc satisfied with less profit. Evidently, therefore, there is a waste of money in employing Messrs Brogden. Thoro is no get) hi" over the f ict that contracts let to local contractor have invariably been taken at a rate much below the Engineer's est mate, and that, whenever they have been put up to public lender, ileajrj B-rojdou's lender has been- considerably the highest. The conclusion is irrosUtible. In every contract given to Messrs Brogden, in the manner described by Mr Roo\es, tho colony miut have incurred an unnecessary expense. The result of subsequent arrangements proves beyond doubt that the exclusive negotiations with ilco»rs Brogden were a mistake ; and that if the railways which have been given to them, to the exclusion of other contractors, had beeu offero I to public tender, they would havo been constructed at much 1e33 than their present cost. 1 ' It is gratifying to learn that complaints against the Telegraph Office arc likely to cease, or, at least, to become less frequent. The messenger boys come in for the greater share of faults, both of omission and commission:. Instead of delivering the messages forthwith after being placed in their hanJs, they havo shown an unconquerable penchant for stopping at wajsiie placos and indulging in the exciting game of marbles or other paatimo in season at tho timo beingTho locale of the present offices aro to bo changed for others more convenient and healthy, the operating rooms now being injclose proximity to a foul- smelling swamp. Other changes are contemplated, among which will be the placing of -an additional wire between Wellington and the more northern; stations. The public are indebted to the Press for itirring in the matter, and the Proas U indebted to the Commissioner of Telegraphs for the prompt manner tho complaints nmdo have been met and attended to. — Herald. Wo understand that the lion W. Robinson and tbo lion Karnest Gray have purchased Messrs R and E. Maclean's (of Auckland) clubiatcd btud flock of Loioo&ter sheep. In •addition to the abui .*, Mr RjbiiU'j/i has also purchased, ou his accouiit, two Leicester rams whic'i ha\c jiut been imported by the Messrs Maclean from England. Tiie quality of these sheop may be inferred fiuni the faut that one of tho rams was sold in Enginud, by public auction, for 103 guineas. This ram, which was bred by the Rev George Inge, of Thorpe Constantiue, Tauiworth, obtained the first prize at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show, held at Cardiff iv August last. With regard to Mr Inge's flock, aivl this ram in pirficular, wo extract tho following from tho Farmer's Magazine of 1872" — •"The most legitimate form of advertisement to bo found on a show-ground is the ono adopted here by tho Roy George Inge. In the courso of a week or two this gentleman's flock of Lsieestcrs will-be iold by auction, and at Cardiff Mr luge took tho firat pi izo for ahearhng ram?, the first prize for old ram 3, and tho first prizo for owes. And these Loiceatera were worthy of their rank ; finely bred, but with substance, firm in their touch auJ good iv their wool, they stood up and met you as wo)l as they handled." * * These purchases have been made by Mr Robinson to supply the place of tho valuable animals imported by him in> tho Cissy, which were destroyed by order of tho Government. The latter, it may here be obsencd, were carefully selected from the most celebrated flocks in England. Mr Robinson is to be congratulated on being thus able, though at very great expense, to partially make good the heavy loss incurred by t'le destruction of the importations referred to. This could only hare been done through tho purchase of Meßsrs. R. and E. Maclean's stud floi-k, who, in consideration of this fact, allotted Mr Robinson to have the t«o ranii imported by them from England at one hundred guineas each. It is unnecessary to give any lengthened notice of the Alaclean stud flock. Eve.'y person interested in sheep-breeding knows that the jotc proprietors havo for a long time given it their oxclusivo attention, sparing no expense or trouble to secure tbo best procurable strains of blood from England. The reputation of the flocV i 3 established in this and tho neighbouring colonies, and Canterbury, thanks to the enterprise- of the purchaser?, is placed in a position which will enable her flockovrners to compete succ^sfull) with any part of the world in long-vrooled sheep — Li/ttclton Times- — [MessrsMaclean have not parte 1 wil/j. tho wliolo of then* (lock. — Ed. IV.T.

Labour v. Capital. — The following startling statements aro made by The Thin I*,1 *, in a recent leading article :—: — " Our working classes have'junt won a succession of great victories. Thu campaign of labour against capital may be considered at an end for the present, and the lesults may be calculated almost as tho<je of the late Franco-German war. They may be stated either in time or in money. Taking tiio latter teat, it is not too much to say that five million men have won on the avciage a shilling a week fiorn their emplojois, even when allowances are made for the increased price of food That is thirteen million stcvliu^ a year, and, if capitalised, is about the amount of the French Indemnity." A writer to the Melbourne LraJer i & Talcs a dilemma in which a friend of hi-i found himself during his visit to Ta-nuuna la^t year. The friend is mtd to have hu-ed a buggy and paii' for the purpose of dm ing to the salmon ponds at Now Norlolk, and returned tho following day, after a very ple.vmt trip. Not having what phrenologists would call the bump of locality at all strongly developed, ho forgot the li\ery stable at which he hired the trap, and drove up to ft rivnl establishment in another street. The groom touched his cap, took the horses, and pocketed the shilling. Tho whole i franpaolion had quite faded from my friend's memory until some tune afterwards. Ju-tl as he wa3 leaving tho town two documents were put in his linnds — one for three wooks' hire of a buggy and pair, the other was for keep of ditto. By degrees the thought dawned upon him that ho had made a mistake and left the trap at tho wrong place. There was nothing for it but to cash up. The writer of "Talk on 'Change" in tho Australasian siiys • — " Hero 13 a scrap of statistical information whi6h illustrates the great wraith of tho two principal Australian colonies. In New South "Wales and Victoria thoro are 13 banks carrying on business' in both of these plncca. The average deposits in theso 13 banks during the last quarter of 1872 umu'int to more than 21i millions oierhng A furl Ikmfoot. The deposits held by 0110 bank (the Bank of New South Wales) nt all its places of bu«liiP3s amount to more tharr £5,900,0(X>, upon 3j million* c( winch no intorest is paid. At the currant rate of accumulation it would, not be | beyond the rin^eof possibility to fin 1 foreign untioni nft»r ,11 ■ ' ulr* • ii('.ca\oiu n^ to I'jij.ow mom-,) in Iho AiMialum 1 money i>iurk"l '."