WAIAPU.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 290, 17 July 1875, Page 2

WAIAPU.

(tbom oub own cobbebpondent.) July 10. The Colonial Secretary having refused to grant the prayer of our petition for a subsidy to the Auckland Steam Packet Company, as an inducement for them to allow their steamers to eall at Awanui, we applied to the Superintendent on the subject; and I am glad to have to report that the application has been successful; and that we are now convinced that Sir George Grey has our welfare more at heart thad Dr. Pollen has. By last mail an official received from the Provincial stating that the Provincial Government have made arrangements with the above company for one of their boats to make monthly calls at Awanui, on condition that the settlers provide a flag-staff and boat for the steamer’s convenience which, I need scarcely say, they will only be too glad to do. This arrangement will keep the district in regular communication with Auckland and Gisborne, and enable our local tradesmen to send produce aud live stock to market, and also receive supplies of goods with much greater regularity than by the slow and uncertain means of sailing crafts. As the trade of the coast is rapidly increasing the company as well as the inhabitants will be benefitted by these intermediate calls. The native youth who recently broke into Mr. Fox’s store at Waipiro . and who also succeeded in doing a " little business in the pocket picking line there, was brought up before tho Resideut Magistrate and sonic of tho

assessors, a few days ago, and convicted of both offences, for which he Was adjudged to forfeit a certain number of acres of land, in accordance with a statute which empowers the imposition of a penalty upon native offenders to the amount of four times the value of the property stolen. Magistrates must, of course, administer the law as they find it; but the fining •of Maoris for depredations is open to grave objections, inasmuch as that too marked a distinction is thereby made between themselves and European transgressors of the same category. The Natives know the difference between honesty and dishonesty quite as well as the pakehas, and they ought, therefore, to be dealt with somewhat alike in matters appertaining to the infraction of well-known laws. The Assessors are, doubtless, favorable to to the substitution of fines for

imprisonment, because of their attachment to antiquated Maori customs which, more ait less, countenance such peculiar mode of dealing with crime. The sentencing of native offenders to periods of hard labor on the roads, or other public works 'of utility, would, probably, be attended with more salutary results as regards their future reformation, than any milder punishment could produce. The next sittings of the Native Lands Court are to be holden at Waimatatini, and Major Ropata—who owns that property —is erecting a commodious building there for the purpose. It is worthy of notice that the ridgepole for this structure is about seventy feet in length, and weighs nearly a ton and a half. It was originally formed out of a huge totara tree, for a ridgepole for one of the earliest and largest native churches here, and used as such for many years. A portion of it is elaborately carved—the work having been executed by a local native, whose genius and skill in this art is of no mean order. Ropata intends to make ample provision for the accommodation of all Europeans and Natives attending the Court. The road from here to Poverty Bay was never in a worse state since it was made, than it is just now; and it is with the utmost difficulty that our mailman—daring and energetic as he is—is enabled to perform his duties. What with land slips and other effects of heavy rains, travelling on this thoroughfare is attended with imminent danger, and accidents may be daily looked for. To make the necessary repairs, after this winter, will involve a large outlay; but had the “ maintenance ” system been efficiently established—as, I believe, it was at one time intended it should—the track would not only be now in a better state than it is, but the country would be saved a considerable amount of money in improving it. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any of the disciples of Macadam or Telford amongst our road superintendents. At a consultation of the chiefs and other native land owners, with our Resident Magistrate, last week, it was agreed that the line originally surveyed and marked out, as the bridle track from here to Hicks’ Bay, via the East Cape hills, should be deviated from to avoid these dangerous elevations, and a more eligible route adopted — a much needed improvement.