The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, October 1.1864.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 149, 1 October 1864, Page 2

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, October 1.1864.

The other day a deputation of gentlemen,

representing the pastoral and landed interest, waited upon his Honor the Superintendent. The object of this deputation was to request that the new Land Bill, which came into operation on the 20th of last month, should not be put in force until such time as the opinion of the electors had been again taken upon some of its clauses. It is necessary to remember that many of these gentlemen acquired their runs on very easy terms, and hold them on lease for an equally favorable period. The large landholders present were equally fortunate, for they obtained the major portion of their landed estates at the rate of ten shillings per acre; and, moreover, after having acquired all the pick of the lands they could afford '.to purchase, they, in conjunction with the first interest, used the influence which they possessed in the legislature, to raise the price of their freeholds. In this they successfully succeeded, and thus, by one stroke of legislation, doubled the value of their own land, the price of land thus being raised from ten shillings to one pound sterling

per ncrc. These freeholds and runs had also another value superadded to them by the goldfields and the increase of population to the Province. Many of these gentlemen have leased their lands, and re-leased their runs at enormous profits, and purchased additional quantities of land with the profits so sained. There must therefore have been some strong and cogent cause at work to produce so powerful a deputation as the one *ve have alluded to. We shall, so far as our limits allow, endeavor to point out what were the real objects sought to be gained by this deputation. The chief objection raised against the new laud law, was the Improvement clause, or tax

upon purchased lands which remained uncultivated or neglected, and—as the bill is calculated to affect these at present barren tracks by placing a tax upon them hereafter —it was further urged that the bill had been passed in a hasty manner. The deputation calculated without their host; and his Honor informed them that the bill would be brought into operation at the period already mentioned. One sop—and that a large one—was, howover, thrown to the deputation; or rather, it would be more correct to say, that the Government repeated their determination to try a friendly suit as to the question whether this improvement tax of £2 per acre upon these alienated and unimproved lands could be enforced before crown grants for them were issued. The deputation repeatedly expressed a most philanthropic consideration for the unfortunate people who might purchase under the new Bill, and become liable to a tax of two shillings per acre per annum, until they had effected improvements to the extent of £2 per acre. We suppose we must be considered very ungrateful when we give utterance to opinions on behalf of those who say that they have been starved off the lands; that such sympathy was all moonshine, and that the deputation indulged in this bunkum to conceal their real object. In fact, they say, as the report shows, that the deputation were so many Don Quixotes cunningly sitting at a self-created difficulty, for a hidden prize. How happy the Province must be to have such patriotic men as Messrs John Jones, Douglas, the Fultons, Frail, Holmes, and Wright, to guard and protect the interests of the embryo I land purchasers. How vehemently they asI sured the Superintendent that it would have ! the effect of raising the value of the landed ! property already purchased by them, and how j confident they were that they were perfectly I safe, and that the Improvement clauses could not touch their past acquirements. Was this philanthropy: or had transcendant selfishness become so elevated that it must be dignified by a higher name? How they considered | the home government foolish to give an assent to so absurd a bill; how the revenue and the people would be injured by the land sales being temporarily suspended ; and the consequent contraction of the circulation of money. These arc only some further evidences of the charitable inclinations of the-e gentlemen when—let us do them all honor—other people's interests, beyond their own are concerned. Grateful public, have you no medals to distribute-no hosannas to offer to your chief men—or are you still

dreaming of that old foolish fable of the wolves in sheep's clothing. We have no wish to accuse these gentlemen of having the desire to acquire yet more land in the manner provided by the old bill, and

still free from an unpleasant and unjust Improvement tax. We will agree with them—if it will only make things pleasant, and avoid harsh words—that they are really the people who should purchase the land from a silly Government who ciotchedly deal in freeholds. Of course, we say our new patriots and friends arc the best judges of how much land should be cultivated. They are in that a leasehold farm is more valuable than a'freehold one to the cultivator. We coincide with them that it is an iniquitous shame that this new tax should spoil so excellent a system as they have established; and heartily do wc reprobate the intention of the Government to carry out a land system that will settle the people upon the soil, and lead to its effective cultivation. In return for this sympathy and approval, we only ask this elected band of patriots to join us in one of Heaven's own cries—" a curse upon the self-righteous and the hypocrite."

In another column we extract an article from the ' Dunstau Times' on the subject of the Supreme Court and Gaol. We hardly know whether to admire most the nonchalance or the assurance of the writer of this article. But for the studied misrepresentations it contains, it would not be worth while our taking notice of it. It is only to give a direct denial to the assumptions put forth that we refer at all to such a mass of illogical conclusions and rank " rot."

The Queenstown people are said to have called a meeting for the purpose of protesting against the decisions of the judges. Now, the advertisement by which the meeting was called—and by which it was ruled—simply stated that the object was " to consider what " steps should be taken to secure a branch of "the Supreme Court and Gaol in this " district;" so that the gratuitous advice to the Queenstown folk to confine themselves to such an issue is really a flippant piece of impertinence. They have always acted in the spirit of the resolution just quoted, and have never—as the • Dunstan Times' imputes with a mendacity unworthy of it (we faintly hope we may say)—endeavored to deprive the Dunstan of the possession of a Circuit Court. It may suit a crooked and intricate mind to make these misstatements; but such a policy is as disreputable as it is untruthful, and certainly will not, in the end, advance the object sought. Instead of the Wakatip "abusing the Dunstan," or attempting to deprive it of "a valuable privilege," the " boot is on the other leg." Long before the Dunstan ever broached the subject, the Wakatip had prayed for this very privilege; and what is more, several .promises were made by the Government concerning the same. It was then that the Dunstan—mark this—put in a claim as being more centrally situated; and contended that the erection of a Supreme Court in the Wakatip district would be a serious injury to the Goldfields. It was the Dunstan which first followed the invidious course of drawing unfair comparisons, and indulged in verbose exaggerations. The Wakatip, we firmly state, only defended its just and equitable rights, repelled the fallacious statements put forth, and requested a fulfilment of the numerous promises made to it. Why cannot our contemporary be truthful in his statements. We shall, however, under all circumstances decline the acceptance of advice from any tainted fount, as the streams that flow from such a source are generally unwholesome and turbid.' The advice also, for Queenstown to join the other goldfields townships, and make common Dunedin, is simply a sneer. Alone r and unaided, we have ever pointed out the folly—both to the people of Dunedin and the goldfields—of spending a large amount of the national capital upon one spot. We applied the principles of banking, as represented by the Government, to the subject. We were loud and vehement in our denunciations of what we considered, and do still consider, a destructive policy. We were then playing into the hands of an active goldfields member. We knew we were doing so at the time, and of the use that was being made of our bitter remonstrances. It is no mystery that the then Government were urged to disregard a district so ungrateful and discontented, and to lavish what was due to all the Goldfields upon one or two districts only. We had no other resource but to advocate that policy, and for the simple reason that it was the correct, just, honest and truthful one. We shall continue to do just the same upon these grounds; but the people of Queenstown and the district will decidedly object to unite with other goldfields towns in a common crusade against Dunedin, if the sole object is to lend importance to a waning political intriguer, or to annoy a Ministry which is evidently bent, to the best of its

ability, upon legislating for all interests as one; and whose policy bears—so far—the impress of honest intentions. We regret that his Honor the Superintendent took the opportunity he did of informing the people of this district of the Government's intention with reference to this matter. His Honor has many warm friends here, and that he should disclose the decision arrived at, regarding our requests, to a Dunstan deputation who waited uj;ou him about a water-right, is hardly what the people here consider courteous. It may, however, bear an explanation. The case at present rests thus: —That the judges have not yet personally visited the district, as promised; and that we have had no opportunity of presenting statistics and information —which would go a long way to prove that Queenstown must become the great inland city of Otago, and that the Wakatip will ever remain the most permanent and richest district of the Province. We have not had the opportunity of showing that our past state has been only the first and transient one, and that nature has lavishly endowed us with a land flowing with " milk and honey —with a climate unexcelled, and with mineral and other resources so immense that they are barely comprehended at the present moment. We have also been prevented bringing forward illustrations that would i.o doubt have received grave consideration at the bands of their honors the Judges; but, nevertheless, we do not despair of obtaining those equitable and just requirements contended for from the first. In laying down the pen, we beg to say we have broken through a rule in thus replying to any article in the ' Dunstan Times' on this subject; and trust our readers will pardon the rather strong language we have had to employ in repelling unfounded accusations, and, so far as the • Dunstan Times' is concerned, we leave the subject for ever.

We have received a letter of some interest, but it is unavoidably held over, and shall appear in our next.

It will be noticed by a report in another column that the Wakatip Jockey Club is still in active existence. It has been stated in racing circles that a favorable feeling exists towards the Wakatip, and that the prompt manner in which the stakes were handed over last year has produced a good impression. It is anticipated that the amount of money to be run for will be even larger than last year. Every care is to be taken to keep the course in its present fine order.

In consequence of the inadaptablity of a portion of the Mining Rules and Regulations to meet the increasing development of the goldfields comprised within this district, a movement is, we learn, about to be made for the purpose of having this declared a Mining Board district. This is, undoubtedly, a step in the right direction, as the powers of self-government are always preferable to those arbitrary codes emanating from an irresponsible head of a Goldfields department; and which are so framed that, like the law ot the Medes and Persians, they change not. Now that all doubts of the permanency of these goldfields is at an end, the movement should not be allowed to lapse until the object sought is accomplished. What would Ballarat and Bendigo be without their mining boards, which frame laws to meet efficiently the changing circumstances of their respective districts? In these days, when retrenchment is a matter of absolute necessity in the Government offices, will it be believed that the old-fashioned plan of taking copies of letters by hand into books is pursued ? No wonder that returns, correspondence, &c.| are delayed—especially with the circumlocution system that is in force. A lord of the Admiralty boasted lately that his department was conducted and managed upon a system both of efficiency and economy that would bear favorable comparison with any mercantile establishment. It never could be accomplished by the Otago system of correspondence. It seems to be the boast of our Government to live behind, rather than with, the spirit of the age—to discard all useful inventions, whether they be the copying press or the iron road. The poor subordinates must have their salaries docked, but their labors are not to be made lighter in consequence.