The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 94, 23 April 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1877.

Now, what are we to believe about the Karamea? A few days ago we remarked that everything in connection with this special settlement was wrapped in mystery, and as days and weeks roll by and additional reports are received from this strange quarter of the colony the mystery becomes still irore mysterious and difficult to unravel. In proof of this we quote from fche two newspapers published in Westport, tbe nearest newspaper producing town to the district in question The following is a clipping from the Times : —"Four poverty-stricken and woe-begone looking Karamea settlers arrived in town on Tuesday, having cleared out of the settlement, and were stuck up in angry confabulation in the public street by the Karamea Director-General. They took passage by the steamer Wallace on Tuesday nighfc for Nelson, and so also did their angry chief They tell a woeful tale of false hopes held out, of hard work and semi-starvation, but it would be bootless to repeat their plaint, for ifc would only be contradicted. Condensed in a few words, tbe history of the Karamea settlement, as gleaned from other aud more unbiassed sources than the tales told by disappointed settlers, is just this : An expenditure of several thousand pounds by fche Government has opened up access to country which makes a very fair cattle run. That country is occupied by the present DirectorGeneral of the so-called settlement as a cattle run. He boasts of being able within a short time .to bring cattle to Westport for sale He says thafc if Westport butchers will not buy cattle of him he will start a butcher's i shop in Westport and sell his own meat. A j few settlers will be encouraged to remain afc Karamea, whose assistance in occasional station work will be useful, and who, in the intervals of such work, will be able, by tireless industry, to eke out a living." Then the Baler Nms comes °to the rescue | and affords the following information regarding this Wonderland to its readers :— " Although we can scarce conceive it, the in- ! formation we have gathered latterly from Karamea settlers convinces ns that the settle- ! ment is a success, and that the past managej ment of ifc has tended to that good result while under a less energetic and firm regime' the outcome might have been very different' We have learnt from three distinct sources that, with the exception of a solitary instance, the men who have left the Karamea are drones— men who either would not, or could net, budge beyond the "Government stroke," and that those remaining desire for nothing except a market. Of the management, <> the bad keeping of books; &c.,°so that no man knew how he stood," the answer Is simple, Since the first of fche settlement every receiver of goods has been required' to sign a receipt, and take a copvof his account The men were employed mostly on piece work, and were given credit for the amount duo, when completed. A monthly report together with a detailed return, was required of the overseer, and by him sent to the Government. Stores were served afc Westport prices, the list of charges being huug up in the store. Indeed, there appears nothing j left undone, or done irregularly. The Go' vernment are, of course, aware of this fact aud being so have taken ro heed of the many scandals circulated by some who, so soon as the Government store was closed to them sought pastures anew. So much has, however, been said and written against the management of L'ie Karamea, fchat a public investigation becomes imperative, and we trust the Colonial Government will institute such enquiry 30 as to either substantiate, or show the groundlessness of the tales of whilom Karamea settlers."