CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 68, 9 July 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

[Our columns are open for free discussion; but we do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents, j

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Sib, —Would you allow me space in your small but valuable paper for a few remarks, as 1 do not believe that the people of New Zealand know how this part of Auckland Province is conducted, and what large amount of money is expended upon a few Native Assessors. In this District, between Tologa and Hicks’ Bays, we can boast of no less than seven Assessors, one honorable M.L.C., and one Major, all upon yearly salary from £4O to £5O ; and an R.M. at Waiapu with £4OO a year. These gentlemen are so much worked that they have to appoint three others, Assessors, at £l2 per year, to assist them in doing Nothing ! Several of these Assessors are selling spirits under a permit from the R.M.; the M.L.C. has got a native selling grog for him at Maruo, though in fact he sells at three places under the same permit. Recently this hon. M.L.C. ordered a cask of rum from Maruo, and sold it within 200 yards of a licensed house,.kept by a European, he telling the natives that he had put down the European’s license and had got one in its stead. I wrote to the R.M. at Waiapu about it; but he took no notice of it.. The way in which things went on here for two days and nights after the rum was landed, is past describing; everything bad, except murder; all were drunk, from the oldest, to children scare able to crawl. In one instance a very old Maori was dragged by another native and his wife, upon the fire; and had it not been for his cries for assistance, he would have been roasted alive. A native woman, the only one sober, arrived just in time to rescue him. A European also was attacked by two natives, who, he says, robbed him and left him almost dead. I saw him the next afternoon; his head, face, and eyes were terribly knocked about, and he could scarcely walk. This all appears to be the effects of natives selling grog, who do not think or care what amount of spirits they give on trust. Europeans about here have no one to seek redress from, although we have a European R.M.; but he has so much work to do, that after a person has travelled some 25 miles to see him on business, he cannot be seen that day, but, “ call again tomorrow,” is the reply. In a short time after this the R.M. may be seen walking in his garden, doing up his flowers. Well, to-morrow comes ; you call again; he then tells you that he is “ completely in the hands of the natives, and Assessors ” : this happened to me last year; the natives came to me in a body, demanding for each a bottle of spirits; because I refused it them they stopped any native from coming into the place to buy. I went to Waiapu to complain to the R.M, what had happened, when he told me that he would send some of the Assessors to settle it. True two came, and they decided that I must have the license taken away because I had not obeyed the demand of the natives ; they also imposed a fine of four pounds’ worth of spirits, beer, Ac., before they would allow anyone to buy from the store; and as the R.M. did not put in an appearance, as promised, I had to comply with their request, and from that day to this (15 months) this over-worked gentleman, with his bad salary, has not been to Kawa Kawa. Some three weeks since he told me that he had applied to Government to be removed from Waiapu, seeing that he had got the natives in this district quiet. Quiet enough from the operation of Law and Justice, for neither Europeans nor natives go to him now, as the pass-word from him is “ Oh, can’t be seen to-day, come to-morrow.” God help the next Resident Magistrate who shall be appointed for this district; he will have his work to do, as we are now under the whole control of the Major on the one side and the hon. M.L.C. on the other. These two have combined to try and drive all Europeans away who hold licenses, and get houses for themselves. Another matter I should like to mention is regarding the granting of licenses. Formerly, any European wishing to hold a license, only had to get the names of two Assessors attached to the requisition, with the sanction of the Resident Magistrate; but this year the whole of the Native Assessors* signatures are required. Several of the Assessors have applied for licenses themselves, and of course have refused to sign the applications of Europeans for licenses in the same locality! Now I ask is it right and just that these Assessors should sit as a Bench of Magistrates to decide who should have a license granted? Is it likely that they will grant licenses to others while they are competing for the same thing themselves ? There are no less than four European and ten native applications for licenses within a distance of 30 miles, in several cases only about one mile apart. It matters little, however, in this district, whether you hold a license or not; for the natives sell spirits with impunity. The other day an Assessor landed a cask and cases of spirits at Waiapu, before the door of the R.M., and when he was told he must sell, he said he “ should do as he liked.” Another native also landed a similar lot of grog; the R.M. sent his son to tell him also not to sell before he got his license, he, also, gave the same reply. What did he care for the (cannot be seen) R.M. I could give you many more instances how the Jaw has (not) been carried out in this district, but I should be trespassing too much.—l remain, yours, Ac., James Peachy. Hicks* Bay, June 27,1873. PJ3.—Waikato will be a fool to this place before long; and who will be to blame, but the kind, quiet R.M. of Waiapu?

Sir,—Mr. J. S. Macforiane’s address to the Electors, which appeared in your last issue, affords me an opportunity of calling the attention of my fellow-settlers to the relations existing between them and the Provincial Government of .Auckland; and with your permission I beg to state a few facts calculated, I think, to prove that this District, which has contributed so largely to the revenue of the Colony, has been most

grossly neglected by the Provincial Government. Facts are stubborn things, and I shall leave them to speak for themselves. I have ascertained that one storekeeper alone, in Gisborne, has paid, from June 1870 to June 1873, Customs duties to the amount of £16,081 12s lid; this would represent, probably the half of the Customs revenue raised in the District; of this the Provincial Government gets, I believe, three-eighths. The sum for licenses, paid into the Provincial chest, for the years 1872 and 1873 amounted to £840; the receipts from land sales amount to about £4,000. Sheep taxes (which have only within the last month been enforced in this District) amounts to £7O, besides others which all serve to swell the sum total in our favor. This revenue, therefore, derived from different sources on goods imported and consumed in this District, for the last three years, amounts in round numbers to upwards of £37,000. The entire amount authorized by the Provincial Government for expenditure in this District for the last year has been about £325 1 !! We have certainly had any amount of promises, but none of them have been fulfilled. We have been told that a steamer would be subsidized, but our mails are still as irregularly delivered as they were three years ago. We were told that immigrants would be sent; but none have yet arrived. Under these circumstances we may all agree with Mr. Macfarlane as to the uselessness of Provincial Institutions, at least as far as our experience goes; and I would suggest that the settlers of this District should take advantage of the Annual Meeting of the Road Board, to be held on the 21st inst., for the purpose of discussing the advisability of withdrawing altogether ■from the Provincial Government of Auckland, and of deriving some means of spending our -money in a more satisfactory manner than in the 'City of Auckland, when our own District requires it so much. Apologizing for taking up so much of your space, l am, Ac., Sepabation. Gisborne, July 7, 1873: