WAIAPU.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 278, 5 June 1875, Page 2

WAIAPU.

(prom oub own correspondent.) May 27. The Native Lands Court commenced its siltings, at Waipiro, oh the 17th instant, before J udge Rogan, and terminated them on the 21st, As might be expected there was a large attendance of natives from the respective localities on the East Coast, between Hick’s Bay and Tologa Bay. Scores of these, however, were present as mere spectators:—the novelty of a tribunal of ..this description being a source of irresistible attraction to them. The proceedings were conducted in the most orderly manner possible, and the decisions arrived at are said to be unobjectionable. Mr. Rogan is just the man to preside tit a Maori Court. He is scrupulously strict and consistent, and possessing, as fie does, a thorough knowledge of the native character coupled with a penetrating and discriminative mind, he is, doubtless, most competent for the proper discharge of his onerous duties. The rules of the Court are uniformly enforced by him, so that irrelevancy in any shape, or form, is invariably excluded. Considerable surprise has been expressed that this Court was not held at Awanui. where a suitable Court-hoqse has been lately erected, where the Resident Magistrate of the district principallyadjudicates, aud where there is ample Inn accommodation. The building; at Waipiro, in which the business of the Court was transacted, having been originally erected for a native church, and used as such for many years, it was supposed that as ! places of worship in connection with the Anglican Communion are not usually converted into litigious atenas, the IJisliop of Waiapu would have objected to its being subjected to sUeh desecration on canonical grounds; but it would appear he has not done so. As, however, the Consecration of Churches, whereby tliey are supposed to be invested with a species of perpetual sacredness, is only a piece of ecclesiastical redundancy, introduced in the third century, after Constantine had embraced Christianity and made it the religion of the state, I do not think that Dr. Williams has committed any great sin in allowing this old edifice to be used as a Court-house.

All the Europeans up here, without exception, have been recently served with notices to pay the Auckland Education rate for the current year; but as they do not derive any benefit whatever from the system of education established in the province, it is, I think, contrary to the spirit of just law or equity that they should be compelled to pay it. In other provinces parties who reside at a distance of three miles, or upwards, from a Provincial School, are exempt from this impost, and it is quite right that they should. Here we aife nearly a hundred miles from the nearest school over which the Provincial Government exercise jurisdiction, and yet we are asked to contribute to the fund which supports the inefficient and languishing educational machinery they have at work. The thing is preposterous in the extreme, as must be apparent to everyone possessing common sense, What a huge mistake our rulers have made about this all important subject of education I Instead of suffering it to be meddled with, and peddled away at by eight or nine comparatively insignificant provinces, in a pitifully pettifogging manner, which has, naturally enough, produced very unsatisfactory results, and will, undoubtedly, continue to do so, until amended, it. ought to have been taken up by the General Government as a national question, as has been done in all other British colonies. New Zealand withi tsuni versally acknowledged spirited Premier, is far behind the age in this respect; but it is to be hoped that the abolition of the Provinces will bring about such a change for the better in this as well as in other matters requiring improvement, as shall place education upon a mere efficient, comprehensive, and satisfactory basis than it is. As the State is bound to make the most impartial and ample provision in its power for the education of those who will hereafter constitute the State, an adequate sum ought to be annually voted out of the consolidated revenue, for the support of public instruction, just as the supplies for the maintenance of the respective

departments of the public service are voted ; and if this were done there would be no necessity for having recourse to the obnoxious mode of levying a special tax upon the people for the purpose, whilst many of our Parliamentary votes are not uiifrequently characterised by the public, as both extravagant and unnecessary, no objection has ever been made, or is ever likely to be made to grants for a national system of education; nnd to defective statesmenship alone must, therefore, be attributed to the present anomalous state of our educational affairs.

Our local whalers are making preparations for the vigorous prosecution of this branch of industry this winter, and expect to be quite as successful as they were last year. Additional boats are to be built for the purpose, and many who have not yet tried their luck at the work, intend to join the old hands, and thus gain experience which they do not yet possess in fishing for the monsters of the deep. Itis, indeed, surprising that more of the young men on the coast are no* n Inced to engage in whale fishing—it being a calling for which the natives are peculiarly adapted. About a fortnight ago, the earcasses of two small whales were washed' ashore a few miles North of East Cape, and it was reported that several large fish were seen disporting themselves off Hicks’ Bay a few days previously. On Monday evening last wo were visited with one of the most violent Westerly gales, experienced for some time past. From six o’clock in the evening till nearly four on the following morning, it blew a perfect hurricane, tearing up trees by the roots, and causing damage to wharves and other buildings not exactly wind proof. It was feared that the schooner Advance, which lay in our little bay at the time, and bound for Auckland, would have been driven from her moorings; but she withstood the tempest nobly, which proves that there is good holding ground here. The weather still continues squally, showery, aud unsettled, and, of course, very disagreeable. The Hikaurangi mountains are slightly capped with snow, and frosts nuiy now be looked for every night. As a natural consequence of this inclemency rheumatism, coughs, and colds are pretty prevalent amongst us.