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Dunstan Times, Issue 741, 30 June 1876, Page 2

The New Zealand Tablet of Friday last is very severe upon our Member, Mr Vincent Pyke, and we think unjustlyso, while at the same time there is nothing to justify such an un wan-ant-able assertion as that which the Tablet quotes from the Guardian that “It is said the Government desired Curtis to move the resolution about the Piako swamp grant, but he is unwilling, and Pyke of Otago is ro do so.” It is all very well for the Tablet to shelter itself under the wing of the Guardian, but that does not remove the sting of the article, and which is maliciously pointed at Mr Pyke. The cause of so much animus on the part of the Tablet being continually directed towards the member for the Dunstan can only arise from motives of pure personal spite, because that gentleman, when he filled the editorial chair of the Guardian, trod heavily on the toes of the Tablet. In regard to the matter of the Piako Swamp, Mr Pyke has never proposed any motion whatever upon the subject, and we think that he plainly showed his disapproval of the proceeding, when, at the division, he, with other members, walked out of the House without recording his vote. There is, however, no analogous circumstancebetweenthe Piako Swamp affair and the late attempt of the Otago Provincial Government to sell large blocks of land to the squatters. The latter was fine agricultural and pastoral country, and rendered especiatlyvaluable by the newly constructed railway; while, as to the former, it is an impenetrable morass, and will cost many thousands of pounds to improve ; besides, its improvement will also make adjoining lands more valuable, and open up communication into the interior. The Government can scarcely help giving Mr Bussell a Crown grant for his purchase ; not to do so would be a breach of faith, and the matter has only been brought to the front by Provincial factionists purposely to embarrass them. Mr Pyke all through his career has been averse to selling land in large blocks. No man in Otago has done more to settle the people upon the lands, and it is mainly through his exertions, whilst Goldfields Secretary, that the Agricultural Leases System was inaugurated, No blame whatever can be attributed to Mr Pyke in the Piako Swamp affair for the very good reason that he has taken no part in it.