WELLINGTON MUST BE KEPT BACK.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 454, 11 March 1857, Page 4

WELLINGTON MUST BE KEPT BACK.

(From the ' Independent,' 1 Feb. 18.) We print to-day a Correspondence between the General and Provincial Governments which will be read with equal interest and indignation, by the whole community. Ie relates to the purchase from the Natives of the Waste Lands of the Province; a matter which has been at all times one of vital consequence, but on which at the present moment may be said to dependthe question whether Wellington shall progress into the first position among the provinces of the colony, or whether she shall suddenly stagnate and collapse for want of room to enable her to carry on to a successful termination the large plans for the development of her resources which the Provincial Government has inaugurated with the cordial concurrence of the Council and the whole community. For months past it has been understood that the natives were prepared to negotiate for* the sale of two of the finest districts in New Zealand, containing some millions of acres; the Mariawatu and the country commonly called the Forty Mile Bush, but which really means all that lies between ■' the Manawatu, the Wairarapa, and Hawke's Bay. It is a territory probably unsurpassed in the British Dominions, for the advantages it offers for the location of an Immigrant population. The Provincial Government' has entered into extensive arrangements for the introduction of a continuous stream, of immigrants, "and is prepared with large funds to employ them in opening up these districts by roads. The success of these enterprises is mutually dependent upon the completion of these various parts. The land must be had to employ and locate the immigrant—the immigrant must be had to open up the land and get it ready for sale. Bring the two elements together, and. the progress of the province cannot* fail to be rapid in degree far beyond anything which the colony, or any part of it, has yet witnessed. Let us see then what amount of zeal and cordiality the General Government has exhibited towards enabling the Provincial to carry out the greatobject that it has in view. It appears by the first'letter from his Honor the Superintendent dated the 2Jith July, 1856, and which refers to previous communications on the subject which do not appear, that at least.eight months ago .the General.Government was urged to commence negotiations for the purchase of the 40: mile bush—and that to obviate the possibility of any delay arising from want of funds, his Honor undertook tocadvance whatever summight be required. On the loth of August, the then Colonial Secretary, Mr. Richmond, acknowledges the Superintendent's letter and tells him that negotiations, were in progress for effecting the purchase of the 40 mile bush. What those negotiations were he does not say —but as there was no Commissioner in the district, nor any nearer to it than Auckland, they certainly could not have been of a very efficient character ; and it appears from the reply of the Superintendent of the 3rd 'September that there was reason to believe that no such negotiations were in progress, but that the Colonial Secretary was in erro'-. His Honor, under the last mentioned date, again more urgently presses the General Government to take "the matter in hand without further loss of time, and to purchase the 40 mile bush and other districts, requesting that, if 'M-: McLean could not be spared somebody else might be sent in- his place ; or. if neither * could be done, that the Provincial Government might be authorised to effect the purchases. On the 18th September, Mr. Sewell replies—(this change of hands was probably one cause of the delay—we have no fewer than four Colonial Secretaries or acting Colonial Secretaries in the bourse of the correspondence) that for unexplained reasons of policy his Excellency, could not comply with the request to authorise tbe Provincial Government.to effect the purchase, but that Mr. Coinmissibner Cooper would proceed iv the course of next month (Ootober) to Ahuriri to act in effecting the purchase, and hopes that Ins Honor will be prepared with the necessary funds. His Honor at once jumps at the offer, writes to thatefFectjn roply, and urges the necessity of a permanent. Commissioner being appointed. Mr. Richmond, on the Ist Nov. merely acknowledges this letter by the common printed official circular, but gives it no reply. Mr. Cooper, in accordance with the statement

in Mr. Sewell's letter, was immediately sent to Hawke's Bay—but, contrary to his distinct pledge, was not authorized to commence the negotiations fdr purchase of the districts required, but only instructed to. pay. sofue overdue: instalments, complete one or two old. purchases of no comparative consequence, and then return to Auckland, which he accordingly did— leaving the purchases of the 40 Mile Bush and. Manawatu exactly where they were. Against these proceedings, or rather non-proceedings, His Honor forcibly remonstrates in his letter of the 24th November, and encloses a correspondence between himself and the Chief Land Commissioner of the Province (Mr. Fox) which affords additional proofof the urgent .necessity for the arrival of Mr. Me Lean or some other officer competent to settle the incomplete native purchases as well as carry on the new. negotia- j tions. Colonial Secretary (No. 4) Mr. Stafford, acknowledges the Superintendent's letter and its enclosures by the printed circular, without other reply, on the 2nd December. On the 22nd December, his Honor the Superintendent again takes up his pen renewing his complaints of the inaction of the General Government, and requests that Mr. Ligar, late Surveyor General of the Colony, but at ...present disengaged, and who it was understood was ready to undertake the duty, might be entrusted with it, ." unfettered by any instructions from Mr .Me Lean," —and his Honor guarantees all expences; At last, on the 9th of January, the Prime Minister condescends to deal with the subject, and without^ noticing the propositions about Mr. Ligar, he informs His Honor that it has been determined to send down Mr.Cooper to Hawke's Bay (he having.been appointed permanent Commissioner without any consultation with, the Provincial authorities,) and thence at an early date he is to visit the, Wairarapa, to consult ; with Captain Smith for the purpose of having the Surveys of that district undertaken—and° that Mr. McLean will also visit Wellington for the j purpose of supplying information, btct "I am unable at present," adds the, Colonial Secretary, "to state when he will amve there or how long he will be able to remain." He then promises an additional Land purchase Commissioner, to be stationed at Wellington, but gives no intimation as to who he is to be or when he may be expected. His Honor on the sth February replies, re-affirming his previous convictions of the imperative necessity and feasibility of immediately purchasing the desired districts ; and, ', worn out with the wretched1 procrastination of ' the General Government, he concludes the correspondence by informing it that the whole j Community are so indignant at the manner in which the question has been trifled with by the General Government, or rather by His Excellency the_ Governor acting upon the advice of irresponsible advisers in whom the Settlers feel . as little confidence as they did in the Protectors J under Captain Fitzroy's Government, that the Provincial Council have unanimously memoria- ; lized Her Majesty to delegate to Superintendents of provinces the power of extinguishing I the Native Title. . We think our readers will one and all agree^with his Honor that this question has been indeed most shamefully trifled with by the General Government. Eight months ago his j Honor urged on the attention of the General | Government the pressing necessity of coin- ' mencing these ■ negotiations; and to this day \ there is positively nothing' done —a few hastily j written and most unsatisfactory official letters ' —terminating with a promise of the vaguest ' description, is positively all that the General Government has vouchsafed to give in reply to the urgent requisitions of the whole community of Wellington as represented by their Sxiperintendent. If the request had proceeded from Auckland, we suspect it would have inefc with a very different reception. There would have been none of this official " insouciance" —none of these 8 months delays—the enchante-'s waiid would have been potent to put the official Caliban in motion at once—the Stafford ministry would have seen reasons for immediate and 'efficie.rt action. But it was the interests of Wellington j that were at stake.; it was the progress of-Wei- I lington which was to be secured, and of course ! it was not of the slightest consequence whether 8,-months or 8 years elapsed before the* negotia--tions for purchase were commenced. No-one whois acquainted with the history of I the-Stafford: ministry, and knows on what basis J it rests, ever expected irom it any exhibition of zeal on behalf of Wellington .interests. When '

Mr. Fox was deserted by his Auckland supportera because he would not bid .high,enough.for their support, and when Mr; Stafford was put in his place because he was prepared to go all lengths for Auckland, it was easy to predict what would follow. The immediate fruits of the compact were, as our readers know, the refund of £40,000 to Auckland on account of the Company's debt—the reversal of the decision of the House as to the meeting of the Assembly —the resolution for the" erection of a'r new Government House at Auckland—the lion's share of-the loan--—four Land Commissioners there "and 'not one here—the establishment of. Auckland as the port of connection with the English steamers, and the place of arrival for all the mails of the colony, and lastly,.that grossest of jobs, the £1,000 contribution to the Denny, a mere provincial undertaking, by which no province but Auckland is benefited in the slightest degree, and Auckland is benefitedl at the cost of the others. And now, on a point which is really of far more consequence to the province than eithei' the seat of Government, the Meeting of the Assembly, Steam Communications or Denny jobs, a course is pursued which is calculated to retard the progress of Wellington for years, to hamper the Provincial Government in its plans for its advaiicement, to disgust the natives and increase the difficulties of purchasing the Waste Lands. Truly the province has little to thank the Ministry for, and little to thank the Valentine Smiths and others whose votes placed that ministry in power, instead of one with a Wellington man at its head, one of whose first objects it would have have been to press the land purchases on his Excellency's attention, and provide for.their being effected. We have no doubt that had Mr. Fox instead of Mr. Stafford been at his Excellency's elbow, a Land Commissioner would have been-engaged• in these negotiations at least seven months ago ;-«—as it is, we see not tho slightest prospect of their being so much as commenced seven months hence. T-he official acts of the Old F itz Roy Government ■were not more hostile to the progress of this province than the course which has been pursued by his Excellency through the agency of the Stafford Ministry on this occasion. Governor Grey's proceedings were promptitude itself compared with the miserable procrastination exhibited by this-Auckland Government when the vital interests of Wellington are at stake. If this transaction is to be regarded as a sample of that " administrative ability" which Mr. Stafford's supporters parade'as his chief qualification for office, we confess we think they have little to congratulate themselves upon. A thing that might have been disposed of by a scratch of the pen, so fay as initiation was concerned, is allowed to lie over eight months, and is not practically initiated then! Any old woman on crutches could hobble along "at a better pace—rany old irresponsible official could expedite matters in a more business like way,—bat this our ■" Neekar of- New Zealand " —this our minister of "great administrative ability," in - bued with all the wisdom of his " distinguished relative, Sir Archibald Allison," cannot in eight months make up his mind to despatch an agent to commence, a negotiation with-a tribe of natives for the purchase of a few acres of Waste Lands. Eight months in the life of any colony are a quarter of a century compared with the lapse of time in older communities—in Welling • ton at this moment, with a stream of immigration pouring in—with borrowed money to spend in developing the resources'of the'province— eight months are the very turning point between success and failure. If anything could make. us more ukra-provincial than We are, it would be the energy, decision,"and zeal exhibited Iry our. Provincial Government, compared with the' dilatory, lax, feeble, old womanish style of doing things which is exhibited by the General Government at "Auckland. The former has its its shoulder to the wheel, helping the stagecoach along with all the muscular power it possesses, and all the breath in its body; the other like a wheezy old waggoner, feebly wielding a worn-out whip, touches up with nerveless and hesitating hand^ the lazy and short-winded team over which" he presides—while the waggon, instead of progressing, sticks in the mud, stopping the way to the great and manifest impediment of those more energetic travellers who have 'gas and bottom to go the pace and pull through the dirt. ' \ Our remarks have extended to so great a length that we are compelled to reserve our ob-

servations on the part of the correspondence which relates ,to the state of, the purchases already effected by, Mr. McLean till another opportunity. The tone of that gentleman's letter demands Our notice, and it shall have it at an early day.