New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4416, 15 May 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1875.

Sin. George Grey has discharged a double-barrel gun at the Colonial Government. He told the Provincial Council of Auckland in effect, when opening the Session, that the land bought by the land purchase department was unfit for settlement, and that the General Government sent a larger proportion of immigrants to Otago than to Auckland. A word of explanation only is required to remove some misapprehension which appears to exist in the mind of Sir George Grey. We shall take the last complaint first. It is undoubtedly true that Otago has received a larger number of immigrants than Auckland, in proportion to its territorial extent and population. But why ? The cause is not for to seek ; and if Sir George Grey would only condescend to examine the records of his office, he would find it out. His predecessors in office objected to having a large addition to the laboring class sent to Auckland; and it was explained, in the correspondence on the subject, that the country was specially fitted for the class who might form special settlement {i.e., men who had some little means at their disposal,) and not for day laborers, or wages men. “Special settlement “ families” and single women were ,the classes of immigrants the General Government were requested to send to Auckland, as the Superintendent did not wish to see labor poured into the province at a rate which he thought it had not the means of absorbing. The Government acted on these strong representations by. the Superintendent of. Auckland ; and now that a new king has been elected, their compliance with, his predecessor’s request is charged against them as an. offence deserving of the gravest censure. . With Otago the case was different. “Send us labor” was the cry of the Superintendent; and lest there should be any failure on the part of the Government, the Otago province commissioned its own emigration agent, (as did Canterbury also,) who has done good service. And when, as in the depth of the severe winter of 1874, the immigrants poured into Dunedin by thousands, and could not be absorbed in the ordinary way, the provincial authorities would not consent to their dispersion throughout the colony, but maintained them at the cost of the province till spring broke and they found employment. When, therefore, Sir George Grey institutes comparisons of this kind, he should assure himself of his facts. Doubtless, he has been misled by his organs in the Press, which made similar comparisons, previously; but they were harmless so. long as they remained in the newspaper columns. When, however, Sir George Grey transfers them from the newspapers to a State document their significance is increased, and they must be dealt with, as we have done, namely, by exposing their fallacy. Having indicated the fact that the Superintendent of Auckland, as representing the province, objected to any largo influx of labor, we come to the second charge against the Colonial Government, arising out of the land purchases in the North. And here, we wish it to be clearly understood, that we do not defend the land purchase department of the General Government. Indeed, we go the length of saying that some of the appointments, —as well as. the system of paying commission on purchases,—-are wholly indefensible. A searching inquiry would bear out our statement to the full. We do not defend abuses of any kind or shape. What we want to do, however, is to put the naked truth before the country, seeing that it suffers considerably at the hands of provincial valets. It is true that a very large part of the money spent in Auckland, in the purchase of native land, went for country unsuited for settlement. But why ? At the request of the Superintendent large sums were spent in the acquisition of the Coromandel peninsula from the natives. It is not a likely country for agricultural pursuits, but its value as a mining district is undoubted. In other parts of the province, no doubt, barren lands have been bought, because it is impossible to get any considerable block of good land in it. The land is notoriously patchy; a little good, more indifferent, and by far the greater portion bad. That is precisely what Sir George Grey complains of, but his complaint should be directed against Dame Nature and not against ,the Colonial Government.

We are not aware of the special hardship in the particular case referred to by Sir George ; but, looking at his figures, we should say that he has ’been unfortunate in the block handed over to the province. It may have been a mistake of the Government not to empower Superintendent Gillies to act as land, purchase commissioner within the Auckland province, and we are inclined to think it was; but at all events, we happen to know that the purchases within the goldfield, which absorbed so much money, were made at the urgent request of the Superintendent, and against the opinion of Sir Donald McLean and Dr. Pollen. But the spectacle of two land commissioners bidding against each other for the same blocks of native land, and pushing business with the keenest spirit of competition to secure a commission on the purchase, is one that must be condemned by every honest man, whatever side he may take in politics. This, however, was pretty much the system of acquiring native lands pursued in the northern districts of Auckland, and we strongly suspect in the southern districts also. Sir George Grey’s complaint on this point is only too well-founded to be gainsaid.