13

H.—9

persisted in doing ag.ainst the strongly-urged advice of the Eesident Agent, who recommended them to go to the Okuru or the AVaiototo. But the vicinity of Smoothwater to the Bay and the provision store, and tho presence of their countrymen, outweighed these prudent counsels, aud the Smoothwater sections wero selected. The perversity shown by foreigners, who could not be supposed to rely upon their owu experience, in rejecting the advico of the Eesident Agent, is remarkable, aud lends some colour to his assertion that there were persons wrho made it their business to whisper into the ears of the foreigners things likely to discredit him in their estimation, and to make them suspect that in everything he said he had some sinister motive. A curious instance of this came under our notice. A foreigner at Smoothwater had built his cottage near the river-bank, where it was obviously exposed to floods, and he persistently refused to put it on a safe terrace immediately at the back. Afterwards, when he was forced to abandon his holding, he admitted that the sole reason for this obstinacy was that he had been told that the Eesident Agent knew that there was gold on the site selected by him, and for that reason wanted him to quit if. Wc have said that some of these settlers did very good work on their sections, and, although we agree with much that has been said about unfit persons having been sent to the settlement, we must bear our testimony to the good aud thorough kind of work which we saw on some of these Smoothwater sections. Some of it indeed was too good and thorough for the circumstances. In clearing the ground for grass, the largest trees had in many cases been felled and removed, a quite unnecessary labour where tho object is to obtain grass quickly, as tho experience of the Okuru clearly shows. On ono clearing we found that the heavy timber had heen removed and placed along the river-bank, and tho interstices filled with earth and sods, so as to form for several chains in length a good barrier against floods. It is lamentable that such industry should ultimately fail of success ; and, should steps hereafter bo taken to enablo tho District of Jackson's Bay to develop the resources which wo believe it to possess, we hope the persons who havo shown themselves so capable of becoming good colonists may havo the opportunity, if they wish, of returning to their hand. In the meantime, the Smoothwater Settlement is serving no useful purpose, except that of maintaining a few head of cattle, which find plenty of subsistence in the bush and on the abandoned clearings. For this purpose tho place is very well adapted, and the land will doubtless be in request whenever there is auy business doing at the Bay. The main facts relative to the Smoothwater land, besides what wo have stated from our own observation, will be found in the evidence of Mr. Mueller, tho Chief Surveyor, and Mr. Macfarlane, the Eesident Agent. There can be little doubt that this selection of Smoothwater, and the allotting it in sections to the early settlers, was one of the mistakes which have contributed to the ill success of the whole scheme. Had the settlement generally proved a success, land would have been in request, and tho limited area at Smoothwater would then have come in conveniently to meet the demand ; but it was made use of unseasonably, and iv a disadvantageous manner. Besides the time and labour of the settlers which have been thrown away upon it, tho road to it has cost £1,371, a sum which, although it might fairly havo been spent upon it at a later period, was misemployed then, and which, had it heen spent upon a wharf instead, would have caused a very different condition of things from that upon whicli we are now reporting. Arawata. —Tho Arawata Settlement, on the river of that name, about two or three miles from tho Jackson's Bay landing, must not be confounded with what is known as the Arawata Township, which is at the landing. The Arawata is the site of the so-called suburban sections of ten acre 3, and it is hero that the saw-mill has been erected. By the conditions of settlement each man was to have a suburban section of ten acres and a rural one of fifty acres. The ten-acre allotments were laid off at the Arawata, but they have nothing suburban about them except the name, there being no town to which they are contiguous. But there was not sufficient land at the Arawata to accommodate all tho persons who desired to settle there with fifty-acre sections, and it was thought that the ten-acre sections would be quite enough to employ them at first, and would keep them withiu reach of tho works on wduch they were to be employed. Tho expectation that before these ten-aero areas should bo cultivated the business of the port would become so large that the Arawata lands would find a ready sale, may seem by the light of the event slightly extravagant, and there is no doubt that the interval of some miles interposed between the suburban sections at Arawata aud the rural ones of the same owners at the Waiototo or the Okuru has been productive of some inconvenience. But it is by no means clear what better arrangement could at the time havo been adopted, or that any other course would have given more satisfaction than the one decided upon. The homesteads at Arawata are not all abandoned like those at Smoothwater ; on the contrary, many are still occupied, and a great deal of good work has been done. But the settlement languishes for the want of some such stimulus as we trust will yet be supplied when means are found to keep the saw-mill at work. In the meantime great credit is due to some of the settlers for the exertion* they have made to establish comfortable homesteads amidst great difficulties. Prominent amongst these is Mr. Jackson, who occupies the most remote section of all at the end of tho road, and whose place helps materially to make one forget the dismal appearance of tho deserted habitations which are too numerous on the special-settlement block. AVo were also glad to find that some of the men upon whose conduct with reference to the petition we have had to comment with some severity have shown that, however misdirected their course might be amongst the intricacies of meetings, and memorials, and written statements, they can sco their way clearly enough when the axe or the spade is required. Some of these men have got work on the Haast Pass Eoad, and we hope they will not want so much encouragement as may induce them to remain, or to employ their strength and energy in retrieving, as far as may be, the affairs of the settlement. The land at the Arawata seems to require some judgment in draining off the surface-water. Its quality, although inferior to the Okuru, seems to be mostly good enough to yield a fair return to labour and cultivation. The saw-mill at the Arawata has now stopped work, and we see little prospect of its resuming it until a wharf is constructed at Jackson's Bay landing, upon which timber may bo stacked for shipment. One shipment was sent away shortly before our arrival at tho Bay, but for want of a wharf the steamer "AVaipara" had to be sent from Hokitika to get the timber vessel loaded, and the necessity of