THE NORTH.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2113, 12 February 1870, Page 2

THE NORTH.

We read in the Hokitika correspondence of the Grey Hirer Argus the following : —ln Westland it is agreed on all hands that a thorough change is needed in the administration of the District Court. At present no one will carry a suit into the District Court who can possibly help it, and as to the Court of Appeal it is worse than useless—it is positively mischievous. The Judge is considered unlit for his position; the profession have no confidence in his rulings, whilst his eccentricities on the bench are matters of notoriety. In all probability the General Government will be requested to send a Commissioner to enquire into the general administration of the Court. Mining matters are in a state of depression at the Thames. This is partly owing to the transition state of things, and will continue until one half the companies on the field are broken up. This process is, however, rapidly going on. A large number of applications for leases have been withdrawn, and lately a number cf claims—judgments of debt having been obtained against them have been brought to the hammer and sold, many of them for a few shillings. The panic in Long Drive shares seems to have abated, and well it may, for there was no ground whatever at any time for the senseless hurry to sell this valuable scrip. The determination of the Superintendent to enforce the leasing regulations to the letter of the law, is having the beneficial effect of causing worthless unproved ground taken up for purposes of scrip selling, to be abandoned, while gradually the better claims are being brought into work. As this sort of thing proceeds, the condition of the field must necessarily improve. The Westland County Council has offered LoO for the more complete reporting of their speeches The Greymouth Star thinks that if the members of the. Council were to offer that sura to the newspapers to exclude their speeches entirely, they would be doing a very wise and proper thing. The Comity of Westland is now in debt to the extent of L 13,000. Sir George Arney had arrived in Tai-anaki, where a maiden session and a pair of white gloves awaited him. The Wanganui Chronicle of the 2?nd inst. notes that a slight shock of earthquake took place between two and three o’clock yesterday afternoon. It was preceded by a low rumbling sound, resembling a low peal of thunder. The question of whether the Colony should continue to pay the Governor’s salary is being discussed in the Southern papers. I he only journal which opposes the refusal to pay is the Nelson Colonist, which ridicules the idea of sejiaration from England. The Lyttelton Times takes a very different view of the matter when it says : —“ We can s< e plainly enough how the wrath of Britain’s enemies might be visited on ns through such a connection, but we fail to sec how it is to be averted. A war between Britain and France, or Britain and Russia, might lead at any moment to the sudden inroad of a French or Russian squadron, against which we should have to fall bade upon the ‘ security ’—so cheerfully granted—which the name of the British Empire confers. Is it to be wondered at that Colonists should begin to examine a little more closely into the value of this security? Is it not likely that they may begin to think that such a connection is hardly worth retaining, especially when elements of future discord still remain in the shape of an indefinite claim on the part of Britain to interfere, under certain circumstances, with our management of the Native race? On the whole we think it would be wise in the Colony to revise the terms of its connection with the mother country, and a good way of beginning is to raise the question of m ho is to pay for the Governor.” Air O’Keefe of the Thames, has in his possession a letter which was written iu pencil by Te Knoll to Thompson’s son, and by him forwarded to Te Mira and the natives cf Ohinemun, to let them know in what light Te Kooti looked upon the action of the Government. Air O’Keeffe declined to give a copy of the letter, as he intends forwarding it to the Defence Minister, as al-o a report of what information he has learned during his tour across the country. The following is, however, the purport of the letter;—l'e Kooti says that as he was within the boundary of the district proclaimed both by William Thompson, about live years ago, which was also ratified by the Government, he should not have been interfered with by Colonel M‘Donnell or his forces. He says that Al‘Donnell was the first to commence hostilities by killing some peaceful natives not in any way connected with him. The first native killed was a man belonging to the Ngararu tribe, who has been chiefly on the Thames, and then a woman who was in the settlement, who, upon the man being shot, attempted to run away. The soldiers shot her down, ami then took the children and others in the village prisoners. These people, Te Kooti says, were not in any way belonging to his party. Upon these people being shot, Te Kooti, to prevent himself from being surrounded, broke through M'Donnel’s force. Te Kooti says in the letter that the Government had no right to attack him in this peaceable district. He also wishes Thomp-

son and Mr Firth to persevere in their good work of trying to bring peace to the island, as he has no inclination to make war, but wants to settle quietly down. Referring to tlio report of tlie Printing Committee of the Westland County Council, the Greymouth Star says that—“ A much more disgraceful state of affairs than it discloses in reference to public payments could scarcely be supposed. Printing contracts, from beginning to end, seem to have been the means of what cannot be considered as other than peculation and gross favoritism. At the outset of the inquiry, it was conclusively shown that the printing contract for the present year had been let to Mr Klein at 100 per cent, at least on what another firm were both able and willing to perform the work for ; and, what is more, for its completion offered good and substantial security. When it is borne in mind that the printing comes to about LIOOO per annum, it is clear that the County, on this account alone, will pay just LoOO more than necessary, and that the lucky contractor will obtain just that extra benefit. In the very opening paragraph it is stated that in numerous instances ‘ over-payments for printing in 1868 were made to James Browne, varying from 75 to 120 per cent.’ Talk about ‘fat’ contracts after that! The blame is placed on the shoulders of James Browne and the Chief Clerk, and, as an example, it is shown that on an item of L 99 odd, L 44 odd overcharge was made—and paid. Another instance, where for work the contract price, and a very liberal one, for which was LBB 10s, no less than L 175 10s was charged and paid. The Committee express an opinion that 1 the late Chief Clerk has been guilty of negligence, if not of actual collusion.’” . Newspaper speculators are rife in JNew Zealand. Two or three attempts at journalism, which must soon die off, spring into existence with almost every mail. The latest novelty in this kind of a thing, is a new paper that has been started in Hokitika, by Messrs Tilbrook and Ives, printers, entitled the Independent. It is announced to come out “ t as occasion may require.”