The Hawke's Bay Times. Published every Monday and Thursday. THURSDAY, 31st MAY, 1866.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 381, 31 May 1866, Page 3

The Hawke's Bay Times. Published every Monday and Thursday.

THURSDAY, 31 st MAY, 1866.

"NULLtUS ADBICTtrS JCRARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI.”

Like Frankenstein,, the corrupt and timeserving Government of. New Zealand, and particularly of this Province, have made for ; themselves a monster,- —have imbued it with a terrible vitality, and, again like Frankenstein, finds it a burthen that it ginnot, though it would, shake off. Its creature has become its master, and having attained gigantic proportions, defies all control. This monster is the illegal squatting system, which has been worse than winked at—' more than fostered in its growth, notwithstanding sundry pretences of-opposition that

have from'time to time been made to it. Those in high places have engaged in the practice—have enriched themselves by it. Those who were j iro forma deputed by the Government to execute the law and protect the public estate from individual greed, have advantage of, the knowledge and, influence obtained. % means of their'official position to occupy the foremost place in the ranks of the law-defying clique, and have not scrupled to make the barefaced assertion that the law could not be enforced against its violators, and this notwithstanding the fact of its having been often done from motives of a questionable character against certain -pplitical opponents ’ and men of humble station. As might have been supposed, those who have successfully defied the law so long feel confident that they may continue in the practice, and enter into fresh engagements, without fear of the result; while others who have seen them grow rich through their illegal practices are tempted to engage in the same, thinking that they too will be able to escape all evil consequences from their illegal acts. It matters not that the Government have issued another irutumfulmen , in the shape of a paper proclamation, warning all and sundry against entering into engagements with the natives of Poverty Bay district, under penalty of being brought within the provisions of the New Zealand Settlements Act; for the value or worthlessness of these proclamations are unfortunately too well known to be feared now, and accordingly we find in the very face of the new* proclamation that these illegal engagements are every day being made, and that sheep in large numbers are shipped in vessel after vessel for the forbidden pastures.

It .is not too much to assert that to the illegal occupancy of unalienated land is primarily due the evils under ■which the Colony now lies, and that the responsibility of those evils rests on three parties—the law-breakers in the first instance; the officials who, instead of checking, encouraged the practice, in the second; and the Government, which weakly permitted it, in the third; for had the law been brought to bear against offenders as it might and ought to have been, the lands of the island would have been gradually ceded to the Crown, affording by their sale ample means for the introduction of a constant stream of immigration, and and an almost inexhaustible fund for public works.

"We regard the late attempts at experimental legislation which the New Zealand Government have made under the pressure of the land-sharking fraternity, resulting in the new Native Lands Act and . .kindred measures, as gigantic errors which will in due time enforce their penalties upon , the Colony, as indeed they have already begun to do.

We have no reason to suppose that the Government intend to take action against the new embryo race of law defiers who have commenced their practice with the Poverty Bay natives and on the Poverty Bay lands. We wish we had; but unfortunately there is no criterion for us beyond the former examples we have had, and they are .many. The proclamation will be regarded as a scarecrow to deter the weak and benefit the unscrupulous ; but we fear the former .class will be found to be but few, as the cry of wolf has been too often raised to cause further alarm.’*

The worst possible effect is produced upon the minds of the native race by the nonenforcement of this and kindred laws against their violators. They see day by day these laws openly and shamelessly broken by their pakeha neighbors, and acquire a contempt for all laws, as being an engine of oppression for one class, and an obstacle that can be readily set aside by another in every case where it interferes with their interests, instead of that due respect for it they ought to have, and would certainly gain, if they saw it promptly and effectually brought to bear against its violators. It ,is absurd to expect them to become loyal and obedient subjects while they have examples such as at present' exist before their eyes.

THE NEW STEAM MAIL SERVICES. The; Chief Postmaster, with his usual courtesy, ha§ furnished us with a time table of the new mail services, from which we learn that four steamers will call at this port every month —two proceeding northwards, and two proceeding southward, —the two former (being boats,belonging to theP.,N.Z., and A.R.M. Company) arriving on the 2nd ana. j-otn or each mouth, and leaving on the 23rd and 19th the two latter (being boats belonging'to the New , Zealand Steam Navigation Company) arriving on the 12th and 28th respectively, and leaving on the 13th and 29th. With regard to the Panama route, the mails will arrive at Wellington on the 21st of each month, and will be despatched to Napier by a steamer for which the Government have requested tenders, and which will arrive here on the 22nd (supposing the mail steamer arrives at Wellington true to her time). Replies, however, intended to go by the Panama route will have to be despatched from Napier on the 28th of each month —ten or eleven days before the departure of the steamer fronTWelliugton. This will cause great annoyance, and we look forward to a modification. With respect to the Suez route, we shall receive our mails on the 2nd of each month; —the return mail will go by the steamer which leaves here on the 13th, a gain of five days over the present arrangement. It may bo as well to state here; that the date of,the departure of the Panama steamer from Wellington next month, i.e., the month of June, has been altered from the Sffi to the 24th; but whether this is intended to bo permanent or not, we are unable to say. Let us hope it is not, for in that case we in Hawke’s Bay would have to send our mails off by the steamer which leaves ou the 13th, eleven days before the Panama steamer leaves the port of call. This is all the information we can glean from the time table before us, which, to say the least, is not over explicit. Perhaps, however, the Government will let the public know something more in due season. In the meantime our mails will leave here on the 7th as usual for this month. Our next English mail we may expect to receive on the 22nd or 23rd, provided always that it arrives at Wellington at its proper date, and that the Government can find a steamer to undertake its transit to Napier. On Saturday next, 2nd June, a steamer belonging to the P., N.Z., and and A.R.M. Co. is due here.