The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 5.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 519, 5 July 1881, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 5.

One of the Bills to which, above all others, the Government is pledged to, this session is the liedistribution of Seats Bill, and when the cup of the elixir of official life is drained to its proper depth no doubt we shall see it. It will be remembered that during the last session of Parliament a question was asked in the Llou c by Mr Bowen, whether the Government were prepared to take any steps to iiK-et the necessities and wants of the taxed but unrepresented inhabitants of the Chatham Islands. The hon. member for Kaiapoi pointed out that

people were loyal subjects of the Crown, and paid all taxes levied in New Zealand, and they occupied the position of being the only British subjects who were taxed without being represented. Their requests were modest; they only wanted the power to tax themselves for local purposes and the Government to give them increased postal facilities. The Premier in his reply jauntily stated that if these distant islanders were put under the wing of the member for Akaroa no doubt they would have nothing to complain of. The Premier, on being pressed on the subject last year, admitted that these islands had been overlooked in the Representation Bill, but pleaded the excuse of better late than never. The Chathams being an integral part of the Colony of New Zealand, are, like other parts of the Colony, entitled to representation under the Constitution, and an attempt will no doubt be made in the coming bill to tack them on to the constituency of Akaroa. We have no objection to these distant islanders as fellow-electors, but the question might fairly be asked, what community of of interests have we with them. Auckland, Wellington and Lyttelton as trading with them, are bound to them by much closer ties then we are. The Premier's remark that it was necessary that the gentleman wishing to represent the Chathams should be a person of nautical experience and able to take the charge of a vessel was a sorry piece of wit. By the way the subject of the Chathams is a favorite subject for the honorable gentleman's jokes. No doubt it. would suit the Premier to have the member for Akaroa becalmed on a canvassing tour. The population of the islands as given in the returns of the last census is 242. and the quantity of cultivated land 41 acres, with 429 acres sown in grass. Iv the event of the electorate of Akaroa being increased by the addition of the islands in question, to enable our readers to understand the position, we extract the following on the subject from the last edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " :—

"Chatham Islands, a group in the Pacific 460 miles east of New Zealand, lying between 43deg 40min and 45<leg 20 mm S. latitude, and between 17b'deg lOmin and 177deg 20min W. longitude, it consists of three islands, a large one called WariKauii or Chatham, a small one, Kangi Haute or Pitt's Island, and a third, Rang.itira or South-East Islaud. There are al.-o several small rocky islets. Chatham Island, according to Duffenboch, contains an area of 305,280 acres, of which, however, 57,G00 acres are lakes or lagoon. In the centre is a large brackish lake called Tewanga, about 23 miles long and sis or seven broad, which at the southern end is separated from the sea by a sandbank only 150 yards wide, which is occasionally burst through. In general the soil is extremely fertile, and where it is naturally drained a rich vegetation of fern and flax (Phornium tenax) has sprung up, giving firmness to the soil and yielding a rich harvest to the planter. On the north-west are three or four conical hills of basalt, which are surrounded by oases of fertile soil. On the western side is Pitre Bay, 40 miles across, on whicu, at the mouth of the river Wangatu, is Waitangi, the principal settlement. The country to the east of the great lagoon is quite flat, and is scarcely 50ft above the sea level. The climate is very mild in winter, varying only from 45deg to GOdeg. The changes of temperature are less sudden than in New Zealand. The inhabitants cultivate potatoes, turnips, cabbages, taio (esculent arum), tobaccoi and pumpkins. The trees and shrubs resemble those of. New Zealand, but the former are of very small size. Horses and cattle are bred in considerable numbers for the New Zealand market. Birds of many kinds, chiefly ducks, snipes, plovers, curlews, redbills, sand larks, and parroquets. abound. Fish are plentiful on the coast) and whaling is actively prosecuted all around the group. Pitt's Island is about twelve miles long and eight broad ; it has no harbour. These islands were discovered in 1791 by Lieutenant Broughton, who gave them the name of Chatham from the brig which he commanded. The natives, who are known as Morioris or Maiorioris' were conquered in 1832 and 1833 by Maoris of New Zealand, who killed great numbers of them ; and in 1829 half of those left died of an epidemic influenza. Their numbers have been reduced from 1500 to 140, and they are now a feeble and degenerate race. The geology and flora and fauna of the islands indicate their physical connection with New Zealand, to which politically they belong."