WAIRARAPA AFFAIRS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 14, 29 April 1871, Page 15

WAIRARAPA AFFAIRS.

THE LATE ELECTION. No vote was recorded at any of the polling-booths in the Wairarapa and East Coast for Mr Anderson. No vote was recorded at Featherston or Warehama for Mr Finnimore, and only twelve altogether at Grey town, Carterton, and Masterton. There were 111 electors voted for Mr Fitzherbert. Except at Carterton, no one appeared to take any interest in the matter, but this was owing to the widespread conviction that the result was certain. LARGE STORE. A very large building is erected by Baillie and Whybrow for Mr Hirschberg, his present extensive premises not being sufficiently commodious for his business. THE LOWER VALLEY. It would appear from the recent assessment that the purchased land in the Lower Valley, proper, comprises, in round numbers, 60,000 acres held by twenty-nine persons; six of whom hold 4637 acres,- and the remaining twentythree ratepayers holding only 14,453 acres amongst them. Included in the road district, and in addition to the above, there are some 18,000 acres at Cape Palliser held by Messrs E. and C. Pharazyn, whose r.ate, as I mentioned in ray last letter, amounts to £3B 11s 3d. The objections to the assessment will be heard by the board on the 24th inst. But as a uniform rate has been assessed of a half-penny an acre, the board may consider itself precluded from noticing objections which do not dispute the accuracy of the tamount assessed. Sir C. Pharazyn, a J.P., and one of the late candidates for a seat in the House of Representatives, has publicly announced that he intends to protest against the amount of his rate on the ground “ that the property will not derive anything more than the mcst trifling advantage from the roads, it is tended to expend the funds upon.’ 1 I quote his own words, expressing his ground of protest, because the same gentleman not only disputed the accuracy of a former statement of mine, which could have been, and which subsequently were, similarly supported, but went so far as to accuse me of falsehood, when he had no evidence, except what was furnished by his imagination or emotions, for the accusation. The above, then, is his ground of objecting to the payment of the rate. Had he protested against the assessment of a uniform rate on land of such unequal natural value, he might have been supported by public opinion ; but clearly his objection to pay so trifling a sum “ because the property will not derive more than the most trifling advantages from the roads” will not hold w r ater. Mr Pharazyn considers that the board clearly infringed a most important principle, and, rather than submit to a most gross case of injustice, he will carry it before the higher tribunal, in order to show that the rights of property are not thus to be trampled on with impunity. But he not only accuses the board in question, consisting, by the way, of three magistrates, one of whom is a member of the Legislative Council, of a gross act of injustice, but he also intimates, in effect, that the board has used “ the occasion for the gratification of some personal ill feeling or petty jealousy.” I am not supposed to know what course the board will adopt under these circumstances, but I understand that it is not probable that it will sue for the rate in the Magistrate’s Court, but instead exercise the right of distraint.

Thirty bush men are required for the Seventy Mile Bush, to cut a line a chain wide. The wages offered are Is per hour, or the wdrk will be let per chain. Provisions are cheaper now than then'; but this is the case, not only as regards laborers’ wages, but also as regards official salaries. It is the farmer who suffers from this depreciation in the price of the prime necessaries of life ; accountants, mortgagees, and officials being the parttes most benefited by this reduction in the price of farm produce. Merchants, storekeepers, and trades* men generally may live more cheaply, but they have to do so out of reduced profits. A flock of scabby sheep belonging to some Maories at Long Bush, are a perfect nuisance to the flock-owners in the neighborhood. If they belonged to Eurof ,ans they would have to be either

cleaned or destroyed, and there is no good reason why this should not he the case in this instance. THE LUMP RATE. A practical commentary on the lump rate system, which is about to be argued in the Supreme Court, was made at the recent meeting of the Taratahi ratepayers. Mr Welch pointed out that if the rate was. voted in the' lump the board might in some cases assess land to the maximum amount allowed under the act. Mr Perry pointed out that to save future litigation it would be advisable to Vote the lump sum, which would be in effect at the rate of so much per acre. It was then calculated what the total rate would amount to at 2d per acre, which was found to be £416 13s. This rate was proposed by Mr W. Udy, and seconded by Mr Calinster, and, after half that amount had been proposed and rejected, the original resolution was put and carried. The ratepayers unanimously requested the board to assess the rate at a uniform amount per acre. The chairman announced that the sum allocated to the board out of the £SOOO grant was £430 15s, half of which had been already received. The Taratahi is one of the few road districts which is strictly entitled to any grant under the principle adopted by the Provincial Government in its apportionment. MEAT PRESERVING. A large number of shares have been taken up, chiefly by Hutt settlers, in the proposed Meat Export Company ; but the settlers in the Wairarapa, for the most part, would prefer that the question as to where the works should be established should be left to be decided by the shareholders. In the meantime it is announced that at an early date a meeting of the shareholders in the Wairarapa Boiling Down Company will be held for the purpose of considering the advisability of amalgamating a meat preserving company with it. It is to be hoped that so promising a project, between the two stools, will not fall to the ground. The reasons advanced in support of either site are weighty, hut the most weighty are in favor of the Wairarapa. It is admitted by both parties that boiling down must be carried on in conjunction with meat preserving, and we have boiling down works here in operation. , Moreover, these would be rendered useless if the site of the.proposed meat preserving works were to be fixed at the Upper Hutt. THE NATIVE LANDS ACT. A recent circumstance shows that the above Act stands much in need of alteration. A week or two ago Mr Waterhouse bongbt from the native owners a block of land situate in the heart of his property. This land belonged mainly to one individual, but the names of seven other parties, all having more or less interest in it, were included in the land grant, and the lawyers have decided that for this reason they are entitled to equal interest in the proceeds of the sale. A great injustice is thus done to the principal owner by the others, who can legally claim more money than they are equitably entitled to. It evidently ought to be the duty of some one to see when land is passing through the Court that the interest of all persons concerned are duly protected. We cannot with impunity educate the natives so be scoundrels, and certainly neither our legislation nor legal tribunals should constitute the schools in which such lessons are taught. To talk about the sovereignty of the law in cases where natives are concerned is a mockery; it is something worse when the law or a law court sanctions an injustice like the above. BUSH LICENSES. The Licensing Bench at Featherston, on Tuesday, consisted of H. S. Wardell, Esq., R.M., the Hon. G. M. Waterhouse, and S. Carkeek, C. R. Bidwell, Chas. Pharazyn, and R. Barton, Esqs. The whole of the old licenses were renewed ; after which the Hon. G. M. Waterhouse moved, and Mr R. Barton seconded the following resolution “ That in the interests of the public it is highly important that the issue of bush licenses should be placed under the control of the Bench of Magistrates ; as, in the absence of such an arrangement, no sufficient supervision is maintained over houses having bush licenses. That a copy of this resolution he forwarded to the Honorable the Minister of Justice.” The mover of the resolution referred to

the fact noticed by me in a previous letter that there were more houses that had special than had general licenses, and pointed out the necessity of the holders of the former, more especially, having good characters, as their houses as a rule were not under the surveillance of the police. Mr Waterhouse, however, does not appear to have remembered at the time that the whole licensing system is under Provincial control. The resolution may be taken as an indication of the opinion of the Bench that the present system, of granting bush licenses is defective. It is to be sincerely hoped that the Provincial Council will take up the subject in its present session. There is no law restricting the Treasury receiving only £5 for these special licenses, nor any reason why a larger fee should not, in the majority of instances, be demanded. VOLUNTEER LAND GRANTS. The selections of land on the Taratahi plain made by the volunteers, under the Volunteer Land Act, are now being surveyed by contract, by Mr A. Carkeek, he undertaking to take part payment in land and part in cash for this service. “ There is no use in crying over spilt milk,” or the province of Wellington might justly complain that it had to pay in land, out of its comparatively small landed estate, to what was to all intents and purposes a colonial service. A reference to the returns of land sales for the last few years in this province will explain the reason why the Provincial Governmentis without funds, which these grants have had the effect of dimishing, like a candle lighted at both ends, in two opposite directions. They have reduced the cash sales, and at the same time caused an increased expenditure on surveys out of diminished receipts. From the above-mentioned I find that the territorial revenue of the province, which amounted in 1866-7 to upwards of £40,000 per annum, fell in 1869 to £B,OOO. But, in the face of these facts it was the duty of a Government, intending to meet its engagements, either to have increased its revenue from other sources, or to have greatly diminished its expenditure, and at the same time to have.steadily refused to pay for surveys of grants which it was clearly the duty of the Colonial Government to have executed at its own cost.