The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 645, 19 June 1852, Page 2

The New Zealander.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1852.

Be just and loai not. Let nil the ends tliou ann'st at, be thy Country 'i, Thy God's, and Truth's.

In one of the numbers of the Australian and New Zealand Gazette which have just reached us, we find the contents of some of the New Minister papers summarily dismissed with the remark that "the New Zealand colonists have been so long accustomed to grievances that they must have one," and a sarcasm about " land grievances" and the like, " into which they enter with as much eagerness as did Gulliver's Big and Little-endians, — and with precisely the same effect— to be laughed at." We do not deny that there have been parties and movements in some degree fairly exposed to this taunt : — parties so unreasonable in their demands as to remind one of the saying of an old moralist respecting constitutional fault-finders — that omnipotence itself could not satisfy them without first changing their dispositions : and movements in which some matters were exaggerated to a magnitude?far beyond their real dimensions, viewed either in themselves or as compared with other things, through deficiency of information, or that narrowness of view into which we all are prone to fall when we fix attention unduly or exclusively on the concerns relating to our local or class interests. But while we frankly make this admission, wo protest against the sweeping disregard of colonial complaints which our London censor's words imply. We have had, and we still have, grievances against which we are warranted in lifting the voice of remonstrance; and although we may be sometimes " laughed at," and sometimes deemed tedious and wearisome in our iterations and reiterations on the same subject, we have no alternative but to persevere until a remedy be obtained. The Road question is one of the most important, although one of the most hackneyed, of these topics. We have no inclination either to under-rate what lias been done in this essential department of colonizing* progress, or to over-estimate what could have been done by a more liberal and judiciously expended outlay. Still less are we disposed to distort facts, or to infer a whole system of neglect or mismanagement from a few particular instances. But, after making every allowance that the largest candour can require, we assume it as a fact beyond the reach of successful contradiction,that the means of inter-communication between the town and the interior, and between one part of the rural districts and another, are, both in extent and efficiency, greatly below what might justly have been expected, whether we consider the necessities of the country on the one hand, or, on the other, the resources that were — or, at all events, that should have been — available for the purpose, from the Parliamentary Grant and the proceeds of the Land Sales. As respects the Parliamentary Grant of the last year, for some reason not satisfactorily explained, and perhaps admitting of no really satisfactory explanation, its expenditure has boon chiefly, i£ not wholly, restricted to the Southern Province. This is understood to have been done under the authority of Lord Grey ; but why Lord Grey, haughty and capricious autocrat though he be, should have made this distinction, is a point on which fuller information is greatly desiderated. We are warran.ted in believing that the House of Commons contemplated no such partiality in the administration of the Grant : the money was voted for " New Zealand" as a whole : but unfortunately the number of members who take the trouble of investigating the affairs of the colony in any detail is so small, and some of these few are so uninformed on some points, and, we fear, so misimformed on others, that it is almost hopeless to expect any searching enquiry in the House as to the apportionment of the sum which is thus placed at the arbitrary disposal of the Colonial Office and the Colonial Government. There may be reasons for this application for the Grant ; but, what does not appear stands logically in the same category with what does not exist ; and, however willing we might be to give all candid consideration to the weight of these reasons if they were before us, we cannot appreciate their force while they are kept out of our view. Then, as to the LandFund, it will be very difficult to persuade the public that its administration is the best that it might be for the benefit of the Province, in the face of the fact that a considerable proportion of the Fund is in course of transmission home to defray the cost of bringing out and locating Pensioners. We are aware that here we may seem to be improperly mixing up the objects of emigration and road-making, both of which have to be provided for from that Fund ; but this objeotion will only shift the difficulty in accounting for the administration of the aggregate amount, or rather multiply it twofold, seeing that the settlers have to complain both of a neglect of their interests in the road and bridge department, and of an expenditure of the portion alotted to emigration on a scheme far from the best that might be devised to meet their wants, and ou which their consent was never obtained or sought, — their opinion never asked. Nor should we lose sight of the consideration that money judiciously expended on means of communication can scarcely be regarded as so much absolutely abstracted from the Land Fund, as it almost invariably is more than repaid by the increased value of the lands thus opened up. The fii-st inquiry of an intending settler is, whether there is an available road between the farm to which his attention is turned and the market at which his produce may be sold, or the port at which it may be shipped. 'This ( is not a matter of speculation or theory. The fact is notorious, — and if it were not, it might bo demonstrated in figures by a reference to the records of the Land Sales — that so soon as even a tolerably good road or bridge is made in a well-chosen locality, the price of land rises, and lots, which otherwise the most insinuating persuasions of our worthy Colonial Treasurer might not have induced anybody to take at the upset price, become forthwith objects of animated competition. One of the most inexplicable features of the

whole case is that this result, -which follows almost as certainly as any natural effect from its cause, has not led the Government to greater libeiality in works which, taken on the common principles of commercial enterprise, are so invitingly remunerative. We have been led just now into this train of observation by one of the frequently recurring representations respecting tlic necessity for roads which come within our knowledge. We understand that the settlers of the Kaipara and Wairoa districts are urging upon the Government the importance of opening a land communication between their part of the country and Auckland ; and their case certainly appears to us to have' a very strong claim upon attention. At present the only communication is by water, — and that by a long and in some parts unsafe passage for open boats, so that, although they are not more than 70 miles distant from Auckland, they are really all but entirely cut off .from intercourse with it when the weather is unfavourable. We are informed that, to meet a part of their want, a memorial was a few weeks since forwarded to the Lieutenant- Governor, praying for the establishment of a monthly post, either by an overland route (to be opened up), or by water, which latter service a man expressed his willingness to undertake at a very low scale of remuneration, towards which the residents were themselves willing to subscribe. This memorial was signed' by all the settlers on the river, and, although we have not heard its fate, it would, we have no doubt, obtain all the favourable consideration which His Excellency might feel empowered to bestow upon it. A road, however, is the great necessity. This would immediately direct attention to the capabilities of a fine district which hitherto has been comparatively unoccupied, and it may be said, little known ; and besides ensuring a regular intercourse between the capital and the Northern outports, it would afford the settlers there an aid which they have a right to look for, by facilitating their access to the market where their cattle dealing and other business might be transacted with mutual advantage to town and country. Sheep runs might be made available, and the herds of the settlers and the pigs of the native dealers be brought to Auckland. As to the practicability of making such a road without any extraordinary difficulty or cost, there can, we believe, be no doubt. Indeed a cogent proof that, it is practicable has just been given by the efforts of one of the settlers, Mr. Walton, who, at his own expense and by his personal exertions, has, within a few weeks, succeeded in cutting a line from the upper part of the Wairoa River to the head of the Otamatea, a branch river of importance which runs towards Auckland. The distance which has thus been accomplished is about forty miles, through a country which is represented as very rich and promising : and the distance from the termination of Mr. Walton's line to the North Shore, opposite Auckland,— which is not computed at more than thirty miles, — is for the most part through an open and more easily practicable country. We are informed that several competent judges have expressed a very unhesitating- confidence as to the facility with which the road might be made, and the benefits "which would result from its construction. Without overlooking the claims of other localities, we think there are strong reasons why — if the resources of this Province are to have fair development at all— this claim should have prompt attention. We have been told that the Government have had in contemplation a road for the entire way to the Bay of Islands, — a most valuable project, if it were only acted out. But while the grass grows, &c, — the proverb is somewhat musty. The line we now point to would be a considerable advance in what might be called the Great Northern Road, towards the Bay of Islands. It should also be kept in mind that the natives are now thoroughly disposed to concur in andforward the undertaking, — a favourable circumstance of which advantage should be taken.

I/AND Sales. — Two small sales of Crown Lands took place this week. On Wednesday only five lots were offered, all situated at Waingaroa. One of these was sold at the upset price of £7 10s. Yesterday one lot at Panmure, the upset price of which was £6 7s. 6d. was sold for £16, subject to £12 for improvements : a lot at Onehunga, upset price £29 Is. 3d. was sold for £30, and another in the same village at the upset price of £10. Forty-five lots in the new village of Mahurangi were offered, but only four were purchased— at the upset of £5 each. Thus the total proceeds of these sales amounted to £83 10s. The dividend which would have accrued to the Corporation from the portion of the land within the boundaries of the Borough was £18 13s. 4d ,, — not much in itself, but not unworthy of notice as one of the continuous supplies by which the Municipal Treasury would have been fed during the year.