AHURIRI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 628, 13 November 1858, Page 5

AHURIRI.

We have copies of the 'Hawke's Bay Herald '. to Oct. 16, from which and from previous dates we take thefollowing :— It is a matter of notoriety that, the Customs revenue of Napier is* by. no, means what it ought to be, considering the immense consumption within the district of imported merchandise. Cargo after cargo is landed on our shores without, it may be said, a'farthing of revenue accruing therefrom to the treasury—the chi^f, almost the only source of income being the duties upon spirits and other bonded.commodities. The cause of this is obvious enough ; all our goods being imported coastwise, the customs of Wellington and Auckland have collected the tonnage and other duties prior to the articles being transhipped. The remedy for this is twofold —the first, not likely to succeed, that of making a claim on the provinces of Wellington and Auckland respectively for the provincial share of the revenue so pocketed;—the second, certainly the most feasible, that of joining together to encourage direct trade with Sydney or Melbourne, the former generally preferred. Our readers will be glad to learn that there is some chance of the latter remedy being aplied —a Wellington firm of large capital having, ■we are credibly informed, resolved upon making the arrangements necessary to this effect. If carried out, not only will the public treasury be benefifcted, but consumers of goods and shippers of wool, as individuals, may, from the low rates at which goods can be bought and wool shipped in the great.Australian ports, be fairly set down as proportionate gainers. - . .

Waiboa.—We are glad to'learn, from a gentleman who recently travelled through the Wairoa district, that the native chiefs there, becoming alive to the necessity of having a larger European population in the neighbourhood, have expressed their desire, as the only means of accomplishing that end, to treat with the government for the sale of land. We trust that it may be so, and that the new province* may yet- have a good territorial revenue from this fertile and flourishing district. ' V '■ Departure of Troops.-—The detatchment of the 65th Reg. stationed here becomes diminished this day, by the departure, per Henry for Auckland, of 18 privates, with women and children. The strength of the detachment is now 150, besides officers, sappers, and artillerymen, making in all a few over 160. .

Union Bank.—Those of our country settlers who have not been recently in town will be glad to learn that*this establishment was opened on Friday last." "A complete revolution may be said to have already taken place in our monetary arrangements —the old system of payments in specie or in orders upon Wellington having quickly become obsolete. The change is a most important, and a most salutary one, and augurs well for the commercial future of the new Province.

Napier Race Club.—On Tuesday 28th Sept. a meeting was held at the Golden Fleece Hotel for the purpose of considering'the propriety of establishing a Race Club, for the district of Napier. The attendance was good; the chair was taken by H. S. Tiffen, Esq. After the subject of the meeting had been made matter of conversational discussion^ the business was closed by a committee being appointed for the purpose of carrying out all necessary arrangements. At a meeting of committee, held at the close of the general meeting, it was resolved that Napier races should be held in March next, and several gentlemen were then nominated as stewards. Mr. Ferrers'consented to act as Secretary and Treasurer, and several of-the committee volunteered to collect subscriptions. The efforts of the latter, we learn, have been pretty successful: resulting in three races having been definitely announced. ; .

The present Land Regulations.—The want of a locality, within an easy distance of Napier, suited to the requirements and adequate to the support of an/agricultural population, has long been held up as a reproach to the much vaunted district of Aliuriri. When, therefore, it became publicly known that a, treaty for the purchase of the block known as Karanema's Reserve had been brought to a conclusion by the District Native Land Commissioner, and that, in consequence, a prospect was at length opened of this long felt desideratum being supplied, a general feeling of satisfaction pervaded the community. This block, as most of our readers are aware, is adjacent to the township of Clive; and, therefore within an easy distance of the chief market of the district. It contains some of the finest land in the province,, is well watered, and is in every respect adapted to the purpose for which the public mind at once designed it on becoming acquainted with the fact of the negotiation having been concluded. This fact, however, had not long become known, when it was followed by another piece of intelligence, of a much less pleasing, indeed rather of a startling character, viz., that application had. at once been lodged with the District Land' Commissioner for by far the greater portion of this tract of land, including the wholo of the water frontago— the applicant hoping to "grab," (wo can flnd no more elegant yet equally expressive term), at ten shilling*per acrei tJ»ft is honeatly worth throe ©r four pGtindi<~that in

short, a block to which, every good colonist looked, not merely as a source of inoome to the new province, but as the nucleus of a thriving population, was likely not only to go for a " mere song," but to remain.an unproductive waste in the hands of some four or five proprietors. The meaning of this, so far as we are able to understand it, may be briefly explained. The applicants hold that the fact of the " Waste Lands Act, 1854" having been disallowed by her Majesty necessarily nullifies all land regulations based upon the authority conveyed to the provinces in such Act, —that, therefore, the colonists (pending the fate of the Waste Lands Act of the late session) fall back upon Sir George Grey's regulations—and that they (the applicants) are justified in taking action under the ■ fourth clause of such regulations, which provides that " any persons desirous of purchasing Crown Lands in districts not proclaimed or notified as about to be surveyed for sale must give notice thereof to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, when the person desirous of purchasing will be required, if the government has no surveyor available for that purpose, to have such lands surveyed at his own expense, by a surveyor authorised by government in that behalf, whose survey must be duly approved before the applicant is allowed to complete the purchase." Fortunately however for the district, Mr. Tiffen, the District Land Commissioner, takes a different view of the matter, and by upholding, the integrity of the additional laud regulations for the amendment and extension of Sir George Grey's regulations, as adopted by the Wellington Provincial Oouncil, 15th February, 1855, has saved this valuable tract of land for the legitimate uses of the new province. In clause lof those amended regulations it is stated " that the Superintendent shall by proclamation in the Government Gazette notify all new districts which shall be open to general purchase;" and, further, in clause 3, in every district ample reserves for the site of agricultural and small farm settlements shall be made before the lands in such districts shall be open to general purchase. Mr. Tiffen, taking this as his authority, and no proclamation having yet appeared in the Government Gazette nor any reserve for agricultural purposes having been made, has very properly refused both applications and money. For so doing, though it may be thought only his duty, we conceive that he is entitled to the thanks of the whole community. "