The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 101, 1 May 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1877.

All of us, no doubt, have at one time or another in the course of our lives met with individuals who will persist in boring their friends by relating at great length some anecdote, on the dry and tedious surroundings of the main incident in which they waste much time and many words, while, either through want of the power of appreciation or through forgetfulness, they invariably miss the point of the story. Of such and their stories we are forcibly reminded by the official document bearing Mr O'Conor's signature which purports to be a report on the Karamea Settlement. Owing to the Karamea having recently been so much before tbe public, this document, with the schedule attached to it, is certainly interesting, but as a report it is quite valueless. All the information to be gathered from it is that no means of educating the children 'of the settlement are provided, that fifty-five families remain there, and tbat certain individuals have left under certain circumtances. Of what has been done, what bush has been cleared, how much land brought under crop, what amount of stock and other property the settlers have acquired we are told nothing whatever, and as to whether the settlement has proved a success or a failure those who have read the report know just about as much as those who have not. To Mr Charles Matthews, between whom and Mr O'Conor there appears to have been some wretched little feud, is accorded the place Of honor, the longest paragraph in the report being devoted to him and his alleged delinquencies. A briefer one informs us that Mr Dolphin has purchased the Government store for £50. and another that there was a report current that some diggers had struck payable gold about ten mile 3 from the wharf. And here all information ends, except that which refers to the departure from the settlement of various individuals at various times. In the schedule containing these particulars, the want of management— we will not use the harsher term mismanagement — that has prevailed is disclosed in almost every line. One man, whose object is stated to have been to earn money rather than to settle, is allowed to make £123, with which he clears out, while another "always kept a sum to his credit, and consequently received no employment for some time back." Why was one allowed to make money and the other refused the opportunity under precisely similar circumstances? Another, because he has got into debt to the amount of £53 7s Id, is petted and pampered and coaxed to do a little work by giving it him "at a very high figure," and in such a manner that it shall inconvenience him as little as possible. But while Mr O'Conor in his position as manager has been permitting these little irregularities, we are bound to say that in his private capacity he has been equally unsuccessful, aud has displayed an amount of verdancy with which we" should not bave credited him. The way in which he, an old colonist, has been done out of his money for the purchase of cows by the artless and inexperienced immigrants with whom he had to do is most distressing, and such as to evoke the warmest sympathy with the unfortunate sufferer. One man who was " very difficult to deal with" appears to have fouud Mr O'Conor very easy to deal with, for he induced him to become responsible to Mr Dolphin for the price of a cow on the understanding that he performed certain work. He got his cow and sold it but did not do the work. In two other instances did Mr O'Conor become security for the price of a cow upon certain conditions, but in both did the other parties to the bargain "refuse to work out the balance." We earnestly trust that Mr Dolphin will not deal too harshly with Mr O'Conor, but will, when receiving fromhioi the guaranteed payment., take into consideration the heartless manner in which he has been defrauded. If any enquiry into the management of the settlement was required before the necessity, for it has not been obviated by Mr O'Conor's so-called report.