NATIVE LANDS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 305, 25 April 1874, Page 2

NATIVE LANDS.

Tuk Thames Advertiser, writing in reference to this question, siys: — "There aurely never was a ante in which Government action was so injurious to ft district as the course adopted lately with regard to the land in the Thames dis- ( trict. If some ingenious and skilful man had set himself to contrive means by which all the powers of Parliament could be brought to bear to prevent a certain tract of country from making any ad ranee, lie could not have suggested a single alteration in the policy of the Government. In the first place, the Government allow Mr Pirtli to acquire an e-noruious estate in the district between the Thamo* and Waikato, which practically shuts out hundreds from occupation, while those who want small pieces of land are not allowed to get them. formerly, the law used to be, that only the Government coulJ purchase land in New Zsaland. For this a good deal could be said, but tbe system had a good deal to do with causing the war. and the abuses that grew up under it were so great that it was at length abolished, nnd private pu.-ehase substituted. But this system never pleased the ollicialism ot Now Zsalancl, and it has been dtieroached upon by successive steps till the state of affairs is worse than c\er it was. The Government take power to proclaim certain districts, within which no private purchaser could trespass, and wheio Okmrnment officers can deal with natives a 9 they please. The whole extent of the range of this pinensula was proclaimed in that position, and, as it is auriferous ground, and useless for any other purpose of settlement, the Government wero justified m their action. But recent Acts, with reference to dealing with native lands have given the Government iuch powers that a Government official cm allow certain parties to go in and purchase from the natives, while he despotically prohibits others. This it the woist conceivable slate of allairs, and loads to all kinds of evil, and corruption, and suspicion of corruption. If within a certain district all pirties are prohibited from dealing with natives, thou we all Know tho law, and mint ob^rvo it, but when A is permitted and B pro.nbitod, ut the civprice of an official, then we live under the worst po-sible form of government. Wo have heard great complunt* on this head lately ns respects tho upper Thames. Wo understand that Mr H. 0. Young has lately been iu-.roti.it nig with natives for the purchusa of land, not in l.irg" blocks, but m pieces suitable for farms. The natives niv, b -vond all question, willing to s.-11, and cren tho rao*t j obsfimite Ilauhaus are willing to Mun the deed*, on the proper and necessary steps \> 1u Ul en. But suddenly, like ,i boll f loni Jupiter, comes a telegram iroin Mr Mackay, telling (Ji| tun Fraser and Mr Puekey that they must not rceene the declarations of theso natives, and the whole ncgotntion is at an end, and the country may lie waste for years. The Acts piised last, session provides that natnes selling must make a declaration before a Resident Magistrate, and without this form no business can be done. This, practically, makes Mr Mackay an iriespomiblo master over Resident ' M igistrntes. Wo will not repeat all the statements mid r»pnrts as to the causes of this interference, because we fin hardly credit them, but the whole proceeding is exceednglv un>ati factory. The Government will not open tho auriferous country of the Upper Thames, they will not purchase and open for settlement the lunda on the flat that are suitable for that purpose, while Government officers step in despotically, and say that private parties shall not purchase :ind occupy. Could any conceivable state of things be better calculated to injure one of the finest districts in the colony ?" Magistrates who wish to take lessons in " suitable admonitions" will find a few useful hints in the feeling observations addressed by a Judge in Kansas, United States, to a prisoner th«» other day, reported in one of the local papers : — "Brumley, you infamous scoundrel, you are an unredeemed villain ! You hain't a single redeeming trait in your character. Your wife and family wish we had sent you to the Penitential y. This is the tifth time I have had you before me, and you have put me to more trouble than your neck is worth. I've exhorted and prayed over you 'ong enough, you scoundrel ! Just go home aud take one g'mipse of your family, and be oil in short order ! Dou't let's ever hear of you again. Tiic giand jury have found two other indictments against you, but I'll discharge you on your own recognizance ; and if 1 catch you in this neck of woods to-morrow morning .it daylight, I'll sock you ri^ht square in gaol, and hump you oil' to Jefforsom ille in less than no time, you infernal bciumurel ! If e^er I catch you eros-ing your tinker at a man, woman, vomau or child — white man or nigger— l'll sock you right squaie into the jug! Stand up, you scoundrel, while I pass sentence on you '" The Judge, while delivering this solemn clnrge to the pilsner, could haidly conceal liis emotion, and there was fri-ai eely a dry eye ninong the audience in coiut. Brumley himself seemed to he tho least afloeted of all present on the decision. — Pall Mall Uczei/o. A fi eight car loaded with silk woims' eggs recently passed over the Pacific Railroad from San Finncisco to New York. They were fiom Japan, and »\eio consigned to a Pans house. The weight uf the eggs war 9J tons, and they were \ allied at over $:i,UU0,()0.». Ihey were packed upon leaves, l.iyei upon l.iyer, and paced in air-tight tin boxes, which wrie again enclosed in matting, w hile the car was kept carefully darkened and atateinpeiaturc below freezing-point. The San Franc'.tco Bi'lli'lm complain^ of a marked decline in the quantities ot lisli taken in the waters of California, and Mi}* :— " An explanation whirh n now given is tho invages which the Chinese are nuking upon tho young lish. Ilundreds of these nsnumed despoilers of every blessing ure employed constantly m catching the }oung jish, including evrry specie* in the bay ju*t developed iroin the ova, in which work they employ fino nets, >eo»ps, and other cll'octire method*. 'I his material is estoenaed a •prune dehcacj among the heathen, large qunntities being consumed in tho city, nnd tho business ot'piis j rving ilip }oung fish and shippiti^r them to Chin i has become an important enterprise Thousands of young salmon, Irom two to Jour inches in length, may be found among the laige supplies brought in daily to the fish shops in the Chinese quarters, and this is undoubtedly the true explanation of the alarming decline in tho quantities of the best ih\). This process, continued for a few year*, will render salmon and other favorite species n rarity ii» these waters, and some enactment seems to be cnllcd for to alFord protection from this particular encroachmunt of tho Ciuncso scourge.