The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1891. Favorites of Fortune

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 66, 1 December 1891, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1891. Favorites of Fortune

There can be no two opinions on the question that the present alleged Liberal Government are treating their supporters in a fashion which is, to cay the least of it, bounteous. In support of thiß view we quote the following from our esteemed contemporary the Poat, giving a clear and lucid account of some recent acts of the Minister for Lands: — Thereport of the interview which took place on Wednesday between a deputation from the Marfcon Special Settlement Association and.the Minister of Lands, opens up questions of the very gravest importance. It is indeed startling to find the Minister of Lands assuming and exercising the power of disposing of hundred of thousands of acres of Crown Lands at his own mere will, giving 20,000 to one set of men, 30,000 to another set, and so on, just as it may suit his personal or political views, and to find the ultimate ownership of a great and valuable block of property depending on the punctuation of a telegram. We doubt whether the law gives the Minister of Lands any right whatever to deal with the Otamakapua and other similar blocks, as he has done. The Land Act of 1885 undoubtedly places "■ all business connected with the sale, letting, disposal and occupation of Crown Lands" in the hands of the Land Board of the district, and further provides that all routine business connected therewith shall be performed by the Commissioner, subiect to the instructions which he may receive from the Board. There is nothing in the Act which we can find giving the Minister of Lands the power of disposing in any way of a single acre of land on his own motion. He seems, however, to have most unlawfully assumed the functions and powers of both the Land Board and the Commissioner, and toclaimand exercise the tight of giving land whore and to whom he pleases. The danger of giving such a power to any Minister must be apparent, but that danger is vastly enhanced when the power is usurped by a member of a Ministry whose motto is "the spoils to the victors." The Premier has most emphatically proclaimed that it is the policy of the present Administration to give all the good things at their disposal to their own supporters, and that the prime qualification for Ministerial favor is being of the "right colour." To this all considerations of equity, justice, or the public interest are to be unblushingly sacrificed. We are probably not doing the Minister of Lands any injustice in assuming that if the founders of the Marton Special Settlement had been men of the "right colour," the Minister would* not have been so particular on the subject of punctuation, and they would have got what they believed they were entitled to. No doubt their rivals were of a more grateful hue to Ministerial eyes. The position which the Minister of Lands has taken up, of dealing directly with the disposal of large areas of land, instead of leaving them to be dealt with by the Land Board, renders possible any amount of political jobbery and personal favouritism. We might go further and show that it opens the door to even worse practices. The Minister is open to all sorts of influences which could not affect a Board, and he decides in secret and without any possibility of effective appeal against his decisions however flagrantly unfair they may be. The Board sits in public, all that it does is open to the public eye, and any attempt at wrongdoing on its part would be quickly exposed and defeated. Looking at the whole question, it appears to us that the Minister of Lands is assuming powers to deal with the public estate in a manner entirely unwarranted by law, and that he is using those powers in a manner detrimental to the public weal, however advantageous it may be political, or rather Party, interests.