The Evening Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 400, 22 April 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1871.

"Whether there are grounds or not for the suspicion, there is a strong I and growing feeling that there is something questionable in the manipulation of forfeited leases at the Thames. That the attaches of the Provincial offices have

opportunities of doing a nice thing at! times, in connection with forfeited auriferous ground, is of course very well known ■ and the only question is, Are the)'* proof against the temptation ? So conscious is human nature of inherent badness that we instinctively conclude that if such opportunities are presented, men will not pass them ; and whether such suspicions as cluster around the Hidden Treasure and other blocks of golden ground have had their origin in fact or in imagination, they are calculated to produce impressions not favourable to the immaculate purity of officialism. It appears that last night, shortly before midnight, a Provincial Gazette was published. This may not be an unreasonable proceeding. The department may be overworked, and obliged to extend its hours into tbe night. The gazette contained the notice of forfeiture of certain valuable ground at the Thames. Neither is this remarkable ; for such forfeitures must be gazetted, and consequently must appear sometime. Put placing the two circumstances together, then is constituted a case the consequent history of which will at least be interesting to trace. If the affair is straightforward, above board, well. If there has been trickery it must be seen to. But really these suspicions of scandal should be prevented. It is, of course, according to haw that the forfeiture a of lease throws the ground open to a But it is none the less senseless for being legal. If the ground is worth something, why not submit it to public competition ? In such case the public interest would be servechanrlteinptfitionsto dishonesty removed. The present system is not a benefit to any one save the persons who luckily peg at the proper moment, and although it is by all means desirable that unoccupied ground should be a prize to the person who first makes the discovery, there is that in these valuable quartz grounds at the Thames, and especially in the neighbourhood of valuable claims, which necessitates a different procedure. If for no other reason but to remove all grounds for suspecting the Government officials, a charge should be made in respect of forfeited grounds. The late scrip mania, whether rightly or wrongly, lias disseminated an evil odour of the honesty of Auckland. The present relapse of the fever shows symptoms of producing a similar effect. Let us at _U events preserve the character of the Government, and not produce the impression that the touch of scrip has produced corruption alike among the governors and the governed.