"OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1873.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 207, 6 September 1873, Page 2

"OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1873.

Tub Provincial Lo.vu Bill has passed its second reading. The declamation in opposition to it was extensive, }efc no voice could Le found to say "No" w lien the question was put. This is no doubt to a i>i'eat extent attributable to the fact that there is no oiganised opposition, or iv other words there ate do men capable of holding their seats on the Ministerial benches than those who occupy ihem. It h id be regretted that the taxation ot the country <annot be made more direct than is at present the ( ase ; if it were so, v. c may safely veuture the opinion i hat tho ranks of the clamorers for expenditure in (heir immediate neighborhood would be considerably thinned. Applications for the extension of public works are almost invariably made on tne grounds that by acceding to the request the colony would be advanced on the road to prosperity. The Provincial Loan Bill will to no small extent test the sincerity of the people. The General Government is now in the position, or shortly will be, to say, — If this work you are asking for will prove so highly remuneiative undertake it yourselves. It has been pointed ont by the Colonial Treasurer, wben confuting the wild statements of Mr Gillies, that the whole debt of the colony amounts to £11,974,000; also, that the laud sales in 1870 at 7s Gd per acre gave an estate to the colony of £13,780,000. It has been urged as one of the principal arguments against the bill that the Province of Aucklaud has no speciil security to offer for any loan that it may be'desirable to raise. This objection was met by the proposition to grant £500,000 to the JNorth Island for the purchase of land. We maintain that if this sum is judiciously expended the North Island will have a splendid estate on which to borrow. The argument of the ultra-provincialists is that the bill has been introduced for the purpose of placing on the shoulders of provincial legislatures the onus of imposing direct taxation ; admitting that this be the case, such taxation can only be imposed after consulting the wishes of those to be taxed. This bill at any rate will allow the Government to carry I out their scheme of making' a trunk line of railway through the Island, and we are still of the opinion which we have always been, that not a mile of a branch lino should be constructed till the original task is completed.

We have a digest of the Native Lands Bill before us. The first few clause* of the Act only apply to matters of detail and repeal on previous Acts, but, of course, are not retrospective. It provides for the division of the North Island into districts, skeleton maps of each to be prepared showing the position of the different tiibrs at the time of the treaty of Waitan^i. Each ilistrict is to be pie* sided over by an officer, through whose hands all land transactions niu«t pass before any action can be taken by the Com t. It piovides for the setting aside of reserves l-i the support of the natives at the rate of oO acres Ipcicli man, woman and child. Land thus set apart to be inalienable in absence of the special consent of the Governor. The Act provideß that before «ny land o:in bo surveyed notice must be served on all interested persons or tribes ; the applicants for surveys are to name all interested persons in their application. Notice of application is to be served on all the head officers, who will report to the Judges whether they consider the survey would cause disturbance. The clause which provides that no mortgagee shall foreclose the equity of redemption is the most valuable in the Act. When the mortgagers are unable to fulfil the conditions of the mortgage the land is to be sold by public auction. This clause has, no doubt, been inserted in consequence of the system of en* couraging the natives to get into debt as rapidly as possible by parties who wanted the land they held a mortgage over, in some instances not a mortgage to the extent only of the amount owing on the day of its execution, but as security for any debt that might be incurred thereafter. When the sum got sufficiently large for it to be a certainty that the rnorf gamers con Id not pay, the mortgagee took actiou in the Courts to the extent of getting a writ issued. It seldom proceeded further, as the native, rather than go into Court, generally took any sum that was offered in addition to that owing and signed away his land. The new Act will secure for the natives competition in the open market, and, as a rale, the land will fetch its value. In many cases, np doubt, the full value has been paid for land procured as above ; the new Act, however, ensures that this shall be the case in every instance. We are glad to notice that it is made imperative that every deed shall have a translation attached to it, and all instruments are to be executed in the presence of a Judge or Resident Magistrate, who shall satisfy himself that the natives understand what they are doing. This Act will put difficulties :n: n the way of land speculators, but it will have the . tfect of clearing, ia the futnre, the colonists of New Zealand from tbe charge that has bepn made by Messrs Sheehan and Russell to the effect that the natives have been juggled out of their land. The principal objection to tbe Act is that it oieates a number of new offices, but this probably is not altogether an evil, atr-%y its means :i number of our Maori-talking fellow colonists will be kept out of mischief.

"His Majesty the King" or some of his satellites arc making anxious enquiring for a man learned in the manufacture of whisky. Perfect safety is guaranteed to him who will invade the territory of his Maori Majesty with a worm •s h:s sole protector. It is nearly true, as a native remarked at tho meeting in Ngaruawahia, that our Governor only etmiises his funvtion* over half the irinnd.

A briel paragraph announcing the douth of Mi F. Gilford appeared in our last issue. 1 To the public not of WVl'mgt jn tlu* deceased gentleman was personally unknown. Mr Gifford, howeici, was for several j ? e irs editor of the Evening Post, a paper which he has by his ability advanced into the first rank of colonial journals. Tuat be hat been ill and away from the helm of the Post for »oine considerable period has been painfully apparent to all who remember the (earless, rigorous, and argumentative " leaders" that wrre wont to flow from his pen We have little fear of contradiction when we state that the most able newnpaper writer that New Zealand Jin* had for many years has passed away. We, in common with all who knew him, mourn his lo»3. In Ins private capacity he was a true and genial friend, and In- lias passed through the scorching ordeal of editorial hIV without a stain upon hit oliaractei*. In another column will be found the Prospectus of the National Fire and Marine Insurance Company of New Zoahind. It is matter for congratulation that such a large number of business men whose names appear mi the list of prorisional directors should consider that tLe bminess of the colony requires greater insurance facilities. We are \ery glad to notice that a large portion of the required capital is already subscribed in this colony. Erery local institution that transacts the business usually given to foreign companies adds to the wealth of the colony by keeping the profits within it, It is proposed to hold the religiou* scrrtoM in the Waikato district to-morrow :— Church of EnglandAlexandra, 11 a m. ; Hamilton, 11 a.m. ; Ngaruawahia, 630 p.m. ; To Awamutu, 3 p,m. Catholic— Hampipi, 8 a.m. ; Alexandra, 11 a.m. Presbyterian— -Cambridge, 11 a.m ; Hamilton East, 3 p.m. Wealoyan Methodist — Cambiidge, 11 a.m. ; Pukerimu, 2.30 p.m. ;' Hamilton, 630 p.m. We, (Wanganvi fferalfl), hear that the company which owns Lofty have purchased the blood enti«c Uavensworth lroin the Executors of the late Mr A , Daniell and Mr Walker. As an evidence of the great value of first-olass stook we may state that the company have offered £1,000 for this year's joal* by Lc-fly. A complimentary dinner was given to Mr Samuel Morrin, at the Army and Nayy Hotel, on Monday evening, at which ajjout thirty gentlemen were present. His health was proposed in eulogistic t«rms, and suitably responded to.