CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 40, 2 April 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

[Our M open for free discussion; but we do nw nold ourselves responsible for the opinions of out y

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

V \ SI again! Sir, —It seems lilely-that the days Maeauley predicted of a New Zealander London bridge, &c., are drawing This thought took hold au my meniory tha other night when I came ’’rivM-AtaSSeWraor-riiiiary acnouirts mowy that have jbeen BftisnodfbiT'sqMfll things . >aratireijr speakRpg) by the JSbglish dorerthuehf e k First, I wiH quoteJthtf .fnnanese affair, when I the English Consul, Mr. Richardson, wa»jmurdered; Admiral Knpper demanded and was paid £120,000. i J Second, when an English and Freriph oflrfcer with eight Sikh soldiers .were tortured, and., butchered by the Chinese; £15,000 each was [di djfiteP, hnd ’£B/00; each for the Sikhs. Third, when the English tourists—Lloyd and others, were murdered by Greek brigands, their Government hid-io pay : £10;000, besides inere dental expense?.-, . T Fourth, take the Russian loan which was “backed out of/’ I may say, at the moment of success, in a shameful' manner, can any one say what it was for ? Or how much it has cost, Was it any gain to England ? And lastly, take the Abyssinian campaign} . wliUh cost oyer eleven million? sterling f undertaken for tjie Rescue of hfllf aQp?ep pjen, tnostly foreigners, whose own Government did nqf think them worth tfie trouble to, look after. 7 ! Now for the contrast. Here, in this isolated spot of poverty Bay, have been inurdered in cold blood thirty-four British subjects, men, women, and. children. The surviyoys’ property wasted and destroyed, solely through the mismanagement of this same people, who demand such enormous damages from others ; and we, the sprvivpys, in this ease, huuybly beg, and pray; that ‘ some restitution 1 be idade us for the property destroyed only. sibw if one English Officer’s life is worth £15,000 and a Sikh

soldier?’. woyth, < £8{000; . H»|hat/. is a quiet, peaceably-disposed ’Poverty Bay settler, his wsfe apd-family worth H i Tot the whole? up in its proper ratio, and it will amount to something prodigious. And hpreour, humble prayer does nor in its whole extent, amount to one sixth the price paid foj- the Erigligh Consul to Japan; and we do not ask for that in cash, but .in laud, /confiscated in >the district, which we have erroneously supposed was meant to meet -the liabilities qn the disturbances here. It seems, ■ however, that this Government meant to make a profit put of our distress ;. creditable, indeed/and much to be praised will be their success. ,

Now; Mr. Editor, if you look over the above quotatiQps ( 'yon will see that' the maip.qpuses leading to these effects, were not brought about by action of Government >' but, in the most costly by meddlihgjn other affairs, and in others by the fool-hardiness of individuals ’;l whereas, in ’ our r ease::iti : our calamaties were brought about wholely, and solely, by the. action takyp by our Government; therefore I inairitain'that Wb are justly entitled

to a, fair compepsation. Sppie of our Legislators may say the colony, generally, will have to pay, and we cap’t stand that!. Thb-, is a mistake, seeing that we only ask for condensation put of the lands confiscated in the district. Is the Government justified in applying these •lands to general.purposes, while their liabilities in the district remain unsettled ? / I would suggest to those concerned, that a public meeting be called to test the sympathies of ‘Our peighbohlw; ‘ arid then and there draw up a petition to Her most Gracious Majesty the Queen, from Whom; at least, if we get nothing, else, we will get a courteous reply, and eioresdibni of sympathy \ besides, Brich a course will be the means of exposing to the world, the miserable, 'periuribua,- policy of our so called Government with regard to this matter. Apologising for trespassing so far on your valuable spapp.',[Jl / ZHul. Kaiariki, March 29,1873.

r^ eren ? e to the dog kennels, I sh oold Me. to how it m that they have not been made according to specification. .J'-r r Yoursj Ac., John Forbes.

> ni rro frii-HM «i -/tote Iprosms A ‘ was greatly surprised and pained to perceive in twp late issues »£ ; yojir paper, remarks reflecting severely and unjustly upon It is not my intention to question the Ata of your-beiMrt/lwhidi'art! evidently founded dfi ! ex parte statements only. I will merely to 5 being an obstruction, the success attending Mr. exertions, on tte coast, road, is to a ■ vdry large extent dud to tie valuable co-opera-the many difficulties he had to contend with. In the sccqpdthe Opotiki roadAt a meeting of natives, convened by Mr.' slight,, diffegem occurred between that gentlenan and Ropaja, Mr. Mr.- Simpson’s wtat of- suiyess to rfXirSg native labor here, is wrori^ 7 attributed Major Ropata. ®»e Tudives were not >edfepoedd to road work, and had etA threatenedl tb prevent the road being made’at all, having

in view the Road Ik»rd Act. To my certain knowledge Major R|baW advised them not to obstruct the works, tad to aRSw Mr. Simpson to employ do 1 ma \’W i W he of S W thua W Umi W Diyfel£ ths ririjt to the H nor .’» an < rth ®r; but, however ’ 1 “JIM; »t iatambent upon . W' Wyears associtasa with Ropata in srenes of extreme danger-and difficulty, and never, found him wanting. Ropata would be quite equal to the task of vindicating his own character, were the statements in his own language, but being absent he is unprepared to guard against the unseen thrust. Trusting, sir, that you will not misconstrue my efforts on behalf of a friend, as I have no desire to measure weapons with you, feeling myself very unequal to the task. * Yours, &c., T. W. Porter.