OUR WELLINGTON LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 3219, 14 June 1873, Page 2

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER.

Jose 2.

The Wanganui is advertised to go south to-day, so I send you a short letter. There is jut the same trouble here as in Auckland in learning any truth from newspapers as to what transpires relative to Native affairs. When only one telegraphic company was in existence, we were in the habit of believing in the truthfulness of telegrams ; now that there are two, such credulity is no longer possible. The Pott on Saturday evening published a telegram stated to have been officially communicated to the Government to the effect that C. 0. Davis had instigated the attack on Mr Mackay, and so circumstantial was the paragraph that the conversation between Mr Mackay and his Maori informant was given in detail It certainly had merits of a peculiar character: it gave a motive for the attack, a thing badly wanted; but, according to the Independent of this morning, the Government is ignorant of the fact entirely. In another telegraphic message the Post announced “that Mr Searancke had been appointed by the Government to held an official inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Sullivan, adding that warrants for arrest would be placed in the bands of some friendly Natives. This, also, according to the Independent, is another flight of imagination. The two telegraphic companies seem to obtain their information from different sources—the real and the ideal —the actual and possible—so that the outer public • have to eliminate between the two, It seems at present that the only way to arrive at the truth of telegraphic messages is to read the Post at night, remember what it contains, and wait until the morning for the Independ • ent to confirm or contradict the intelligence given to the public the previous evening. As to C. 0. Davis, the//Kfep«kfen< remarks in this morning’s issue “ that up to last evening the Hon. the Native Minister had not received any information on the subject.” As to the appointment of Mr Searancke, it adds that the telegram conveys information of which no confirmation exists in Wellington.” I am inclined, however, to believe the C. 0* Davis report to be a canard. He is at present at Taupo, is not a well-wisher of Mr Mackay, to put the case mildly, has an equivocal reputation as a fomentor of sedition (1 hope that last sentence is pot libellous), has been tried for treason before; and thefaot of his fomenting ill blood between the two rapes by stating that Mackay came to Te Kuiti for the purpose of obtaining more land outside the confiscated boundary will account for the sudden attack on the Government agent. Dr Monckton has leased the Auckland Islands for pastoral purposes, The Post gave us this information on Saturday, and as the Independent has not contradicted it, it may possibly be true. The Independent has been snubbing Westland. There is little doubt but that the snubbing is deserved. Nelson wanting to connect Greymouth by railway, Hokitika wishes to be connected in a similar manner to Christchurch. The people of Westland are told they are volatile; they long denounced the road from Christchurch to Hpkitika as a heavy and unnecessary burthen on the country; their representatives in the late Parliament denounced Hie railway policy altogether, and succeeded in carrying a special proviso in the Public Works Act that instead of railroads Westland- should have roads. We think the Hokitika people would show more wisdom were they to seek something more within compass than a line which would cost half a million pounds sterlingWere there any chance of the Wesuafid people obtaining their request, it would be worth while wasting a few sentences disco** mg'the routes first by the ** o^’

tika people themselves, Mi* then by tbIndependent While there are, however, m manyother more important railway workdemanding attention, this, of course, must atnnd over to a future day. The lino from Felson to Cebden is, however, worthy of more consideration. It goes for a long distance through almost unknown country ; it would traverse a highly auriferous district, vhioh extends for a long distance inland. The metamorphio rocks taking a wider scope through the Nelson Province than in any other portion of Westland, it would place a large portion of the coal measures of Nelson in connection with a good harbor; by afford ing means for transit of provisions it would Induce a number of semi mining, semi-agri-cultural people to settle on and occupy the river flats and creek valleys contiguous to its course: a class of settlers the most enviable and prosperous the Colony can obtain, and help finally to dispel that gloom and sleepizkess under which Nelson so long has suffered and grown so stagnant. It is a piece of work that should have been performed several years since. The Province has about A, 000, COO acres of unsold land. An officer of the Government is to be sent to inspect the land proposed to be given as sarety for the undertaking, and should bis «port prove satisfactory the scheme will be brought before the General Assembly. The Wanganui pre»s —or one portion ot it, the Wanganui Herald -has been commenting in no measured terms on what it is pleased to call the unjust manner in wh ch Judge Ryan of the Native Lands Court favors the claims of Wi Parata, M.H.E., in his disputes about land. It says “ Numerous are the complaints which I hear that partiality and injustice are the order of the day, and that Wi Parata’a claims are always recognised and legalised in preference to those of less important and less bounceable applicants, and often too, to portions of land to which he has no more legal right, according to English law and Maori usages, than I have to a section in the moon. . . . Like the unjust steward, he is the * judge, making friends with those who may be in a position to assist him, should the wheel of fortune take an unfavorable turn. I could give numerous instances showing with a want of justice some claimants have been treated —but cm* bono ? It will not be surprising to your readers to know that the Judge so maligned has taken legal steps to defend his reputation and punish his assailant. If newspaper readers love scurrility, and proprietors are obliged to resort to such highly-colored paragraphs in order to ensure a sale for their i*»nes, it is either high time that the number of papers in the Colony should decrease, or punishment of snch a character be meted out to offenders of this class, as to preclude a recurrence of such grave charges without foundation against public officers, and a more vigorous censorship exercised by proprietors as to the character of the effusions that appear in their columns. It is impossible almost to conceive a Judge more careful, independent, painstaking, and just, than the one thus assailed. The Hon owhenua land case, that has been a theme of dispute so long between the Ngatiraukawa and Muaupoko Natives, is a good illustration in point. It has been a Native sore for the last twelve or fifteen years, and .ahewn up annually in appendices to the House. The Judge took the trouble to go over the ground in dispute, and, after a lengthy hearing, settled the matter by dividing the block. Like other men in trouble, the proprietor of the Herald cries peccavi, and seeks to mollify the gentleman thus maligned, with, I fear, small hopes of success. If journalists at times say har-1 things of the politicians God and chance have delegated to manage our affairs, they have framed from declaring judges to be venal; have rarely invaded the sanctities of domestic life; have treated certain callings with studied carefulness and courtesy, and have succeeded in maintaining the respectability of the New Zealand tress. But if our judges are te be stigmatised with impunity as men with an i idling palm, our women will next be reviewed by these literary pariahs, and nothing held sacred by their dirty hands- There are journalistic tyros who consider nothing readable that is not highly spiced : a class of men who unfortunately learned the Queen’s English without learning wisdom ; and though acquainted with Bindley Murray, or some other sentence constructive guide,-are ignorant of good manners, ay

the rules of common rectitude. The Hon. J. A. Bonar and Mr H. Robin•on, County chairmen of Westland, are expected here in the next steamer to talk over the difficulties of Westland, with Messrs Harrison and Tnbe, two of the West Coast members. It may be expected they will be full of their railway scheme, impracticable though it maybe, and will consider themselves aggrieved if they are not listened to and sympathised with. Westland men, as a rule, are idl one-sided : they can see nothing but gold, and consider its production in its crude form the ehiel end and aim of existence. Westland, however, is becoming a settled part of the Colony, the nomadic portion of its people have either bought land or water races, or gone away, and its re-annexation to Canterbury appears the ultimate of the County and the County government. Although it has a considerable revenue it cannot walk alone, and its representatives will possibly want help from the General Government to enable it to tide over its difficulties. The best fate that could happen the country would Imt union with Otago. The people and rulers of Canterbury assimilate not with mining communities—their modes of thought, habits of life, are different— and such recalcitrant elements cannot be expected to cohese. Westland, amalgamated with Otago, would help to open np and people its south-west Coast. June &—The Post last night says, “the Agents of the Anglo Australian Agency offer to stake 100 guineas that its G. O. Davis intelligenceis correct.” It has a most lugubrious leading article. It has discovered that Wellington Province is not as wealthy as Otago—fears a coalition taking place between the members of Auckland and Otago, by which Wellington may be prejudiced—bewails “ the deep “prejudice which exists iu Otago against Wellington,” and of the “ coarse ignorance ” yon display in speaking or writing of this portion of the Colony.