The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1133, 5 December 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1879.

The difficulties in connection with the sale by the Waste Lamis Board of Auckland of the Te Aroha block are not yet over. The Government have only just paid L3OW t<> Mr. Brooiohall to get him to abandon hit ct.iim, whsn Mr. Tifinas liuvteU assert# his risfht to 7000 «r - S <XX) acr»» fff th-r t-sttte. H»; bases hj» nght to it upon a promise made t'> him I •>' Mr. .fifties JMackay on behalf of tnc Aki;:--f »»vernment, to the eHocc that it !>».■ retired fr«m certain land purchases in favor of the C.vemmeiit thev irotitd colnfwtisatp fiir» in this manner v. !u :i tin? purchase ~{ T«r Aroha ri< o. •mulcted. \\ hen sFif!-nrraftcr was brought l»cfor«: tho Auckland W.iV.e L-Mifb I*' > .r»i ' it Iu» >L.y ».i-- - through Mr. Hhss-Ha solicitor, it* nienibow seemed to be pretty unanimous in the opinion that it was singular thai the claim had not been made when it ww proposed to. sell the land to Mr. l'.r»omhal!. We have tittle doubt that the public will watch with interest the action <.f the Government in this matter,, containing as it does s« much of an element that existed in tho CJovernmeut that ar«. said t« have agreed to make such an ex- ; craordinary onossion. Eight thousand acres of the Te Arnha block, the whole of which is s»ood agricultural land, is worth, at n mild computation, no less than L30,f100, and Mr. lluaaeH's attempt t» secctrc this as a present will, we should think, be opposed from one end _of the Colony tf> the other by every legitimate means. It would not create much surprise if it transpired that, the Atkinson Government—a Government the hands of whose members were soiled by illegitimate land transactions amounting to wholesale rubbery—actually made the promise that Mr. Russell says they did. But, even if they did seek to further benefit a man for whom they and their policy have done so much, there is no reason why their action should be ratified. Surely there are- thnse in tho Government that will not submit to the peformance of the last act in so sjross a job. The Government may d« almost anything just now, f«;r they hold the vantage ground ; but they will not W permitted, even if the old clement preponderates in its ranks, to set thetr seal to an arrangement by which so large a slice of one of the few remaining valuable landed estates of the north will be filched from the grnsp of the thntiaands that have been waiting f->r years to settle upon it. Mr. J?U3sell, the wealthy absentee—the patron of Governments, and of legal politicians—taking advantage of the exceedingly liberal laud laws of the north, has already very nicely I feathered b«s neat, and it is the duty of all who intend to make thi3 Colony a home for themselves and their children to adept the moat stringent treasures to prevent him, his partizans, and legal agents from adding to their already fat possessions unless they choose to do si> on terms fair to all.