The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1877.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 80, 24 April 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1877.

The address of Mr. Nalder, who appeared for the defendant in the case of <• Akaroa and Wainui Road Board v. " George Armstrong," lately tried at the Resident Magistrate's Court, discloses a state of affairs with regard to some of the so-called surveys of the Peninsula, of anything but a satisfactory nature. Mr. Nalder is reported.to have said that Ms client's " main objection for not paying the rate was on account of his •'land not having been surveyed, and " from all appearances he feared that it " never would be. He knew of a case of " very great hardship, which W been " brought under his notice last week. " Two Danish settlers, named H. Zor- " genten and Christian Frederickson, re- " siding at Le Bon's, leased in May, " 1876, section 22,917, comprising 63 "acres, for a term of five years. These " two poor men, believing that they had " been placed upon the right section, " went on improving, and built two houses "After a recent survey, it was dis- '• covered that instead of there being 63 " acres, there were only 7-|, and one of " the houses had actually been built " upon land belonging to another person 11 adjoining. He also knew of another " ease, where Mr. J. F. Roberts had "took up 100 acres, and he (Mr. " Nalder) had spent a week in the " Waste Lands Commissioners' office. " trying to find it out, without success. " Mr. Koberts cannot even now get his "money back, and it appears very do übt- " ful whether there is even an acre of " the section purchased in existence." A pretty state of affairs truly, alike disgraceful to the Provincial Government, the.Survey Departmeut, and those who were supposed to have made the surveys. They must have been men either grossly incompetent, or grossly negligent. It may be, however, that in the discharge of their public duties, they combined a due admixture of both these bad qualities, The case of the two Danes is one of great hardship, but that of Mr. Roberts is very much like obtaining money under false pretences. The idea of taking a man's money for land which cannot be found, except on paper, and which, so far as the buyer is concerned, may as well be in the mountains of the moon ; and then refusing to return it is without parallel, save in the records of our criminal courts.

The disclosures made by Mr. Nalder cannot stop where they are, for they convey the unpleasant thought: If these serious errors of survey have been proved thus to exist, what guarantee is there that others still more serious are not in existence ? What certainty of tenure is there for any man who has purchased, and is occupying land on the Peninsula ? True, he may have paid for his land in hard cash, and having entered thereon, may, like the two Danes, have gone on improving, spending every surplus pound in making a comfortable homestead for himself, which he hoped to leave to his family after his death, when suddenly some fine morning he may wake up to the uncomfortable assurance that lie has been trespassing on his neighbour's land, and that he has the righfc to occupy only half of the land which he honestly paid for, and which therefore he fondly believed was his own. There are not wanting those who affirm that the surveys of the Peninsula are in a most unsatisfactory condition. Whether this be so or not, we cannot tell ; but this we do affirm, that matters cannot be allowed to remain as they are. Enough has been disclosed to seriously unsettle men's minds, and it is the duty of the authorities to state whether the anxiety which is naturally felt is without foundation or not. Mere denials, however, will not be sufficient. Proof is what is expected, and proof will be required.. We maintain that sufficient has been shown to warrant a most searching and vigorous investigation, and if it should be found that wrong has been done, the sooner that

wrong is righted the better,. for all concerned. It is-"useless to attempt to cloak up matters or to hush them up in the hope that ere long they will be .forgotten ; the time has gone by for such a course, the public would not endure it. Anew head has been appointed to the Survey Department of Canterbury, let him signalise his advent to p'bwer by turning his attention to the state of the surveys on Banks Peninsula.