Te Aroha And Ohinemuri News And UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 395, 21 August 1889, Page 2

Te Aroha And Ohinemuri News And UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

' Thia above all — to thine own self bo feru«, And it musb follow as the night the day Thou cauefc not then be false to, any man. 1 SUAKhSI'KABB.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, IBK9 We are pleaded to know that at last there appears to be a re-i^onahle prospect of relief being affoHel tiie deferred p.iv nient settlers residing at Te A'olia West. Theh»r«'s'iips under which these settlers have so long laboured, thron-h having entered into a contract to pay the Government a most exhotbitant piice for their hoUlinsf**, b«Mnsj for the most part land of a mo=t inferior description, has been on several occasions reFerred to in these co^mn*, an 1 lias also been bmnght under the notice of the Government at various times. Notably on the oc( asion of the visit of Hon Mr Ball.mcc, tlien Minister of Lands, to Te Arohn, in 1885, the matter was very fully gone into, and a depntation, consisting of nenrly «H the settlers reFerred to, waited upon Mr Ballance, and person i'!y laid th-ir grievsncs before hi'n ; Mr J. B Whyte (then momherforTe Aioha, an.l by whom the deputation was intro duned), also testifying to the vevy ex cessive price these settlers were bonnd ' pay, an 1 the need For relief being afforded them. That thp Te Aroha West settlers were terribly deceived with respect to the quality of the land they purchased, there can be no question, and undoubtedly they are entitled to a very liberal rebate. M»nv of the<?e settler? bri Uirht car>iti! to the <x'ent of ceveial I'undie-'s of pounds with them, all of wlm-h has l-eeij expen 'ed in improving their hol.iintrs, an.l much more tnoi e^ a)?n, since earned in w g-'S, tins Gfine in the panic direction. They have proved themselves excepHorijdly in.'u^tiinns. steady, hard-workintr m<»n. have don" their utmost to improve their land, and deserve special consideration at the liand* of Government. Much of the land they own is, in our opinion, a!\ Q olu:e'v vrorthli'S«» ; beincf }io(»r boyond tlescrii tinn ; wretched, cold, porou? soil that neve! can lo made reproductive, and we have wondered these settle is have not lone since abandoned it in desjviir. To be Mire, tbo^e who pnreh^ed the land referred to have themselves greatly te blame, in not taking step l^ to more thoroughly ascerlain the quality of th" soil before they inve-ted, and we readily admit that it is only under extraordinary circumstances Government would be justified in alteiin? the terms aftei land has been disposed of. Bnt we contend the case of these settler? does demand special consideration anil relief. They took up the land under a woeful misapprehension as to its capabilities, at a time when money was circulat in £ freely in the distiut, and extensive public woiks wers in progress therein, and hitrh prices ruling 1 for produce of every kind. They expended all their capilal, and hard labour to an unlimited extent, in endeavouring to make the best of their purchase, and after all are worse off to day than thoso now starting afresh, undef' the moie liberal arrangements with respect to settlement that now exist. It is therefore not only reasonable hnt right that Government should do aomerhinqr towards assisting ther-esalf reliant lint unfoitunate settlers. Speaking at Hawera with respect to the Pair Bents Bill introduced by Government Jast Session, but thrown out

W i In 4 Legislative Contii-il. the Premier i hi** y> :»r •'aid : "It would be a very immoral thius> for any luivlloid lo hold a tnno t » the payment of a rent which mu-t ruin him ; and it was just as immoral for tho Slat?, municipality, or other public body to hold that acontrnot with thfVii was sacred, even if it ruined an individual or a class. It was the • : uty of tlie ftuite to make provision for the* reli-f of tenants, who would bo mined unless they were relieved, which was the reason Government introduced the Fair Rents Bill, intended to relieve fheionants of the Kiatf, of municipalises and local bodies generally," The Pair Rents Bill, as introduced to the Mouse of Representatives a very comprehensive measure, dealing not only with rents from Government, tenants, lut with rents for Native lnnds and others, This appeared to a majority of the House to l*e going 1 too far, and u'timately tho Bill was thrown out. The Hon Miuis.er of Lauds, has, howerer, introduced a substitute measure, teimed the Selector's Land Iti-raluation Bill, which parsed its second reading in the Douse on Monday last. We have not yet s«en a copy of the Bill referred to, but nndei stand it embricis the follow-^ ing ; — Provision will be made for the appointment of the Wa-te Lnnds Boards as Courts of Appeal, to nham all holders of lauds who took up their holdings prior lo the coming 1 into operation of the Land Act of 1887 can apply for relief. T'i fl period i in which such applications can be made is to be extended until the Ist January, j 1X&1, so that ample time will be given [ for investigation into every individual case. In the meantime it is the ; intention of the Government to i collect all overdue amounts aa assessed upon the valuations contained In the schedule nuw laid upon %\\q table of the House, and which are in many oases much below the original prices agreed to be paid for the land. Tenants will have an opportunity of appealing against these valuations if they so deaiie, »nd any who may not have been brought within the schedule will be able to bring their cases '■efore the Court of Appeal for consideration. The Bill is brought in in lieu of the Pair Rents Bill introduced last session, and will provide machinery for dealing with every possible case where di> satisfaction exists ; but it will not apply }O, lands taken up siuce the passage of Land Art of 1887. The desire of the | Government is to put tenants who purchased or rented their lands prior to 1.^87 on the same footing as those who bee. une, tenants subsequent to that date. We hope therefore to see relief given at an early date. In another column we | publish extracts from the schedule laid ! on the table of the House and referred to above, in so far as it relates to deferred payment settlers in this distiict.

Constable Wild has been removed from Te Atolni to Hamilton. The la»t is^ue of Typo, like all preced'ng numbers, is full of intt renting mutter. Mi J. La very, builder, is about to erect 9. ntat hou-e for Mr P, Ft.es, on his section | on the we-tern side of the Waihou river, ' near Te Ar<>ha. ' Mr Alf. Cornea will skortl}' remove his hutcheiy business fioiu the present shop (leceutly purchased by Mr J. Wood), to new premises about to be erected, opposite the Palace Hotel, Te Axoha. Plain and Fancy Press Ball in Te Aroh,a Public Hall to-night. Great preparations have Ue< j » made during the past few daya for the bvent. Notice is given by advertisement that a meeting of shareholders in Waioxongomui Public Hall Company will be held at Sinardon'f,, W^iorongoinaj Hotel, to-mor-row evening, at seven o'clock. Mr Cadman is going to ask the Minister of Mines under what Act or by what autho rity have the rents, mine)*' riyht fee 3, or other revenue aoc.uing on the native lands of tt-e northern goldfieJds been reduced. Competition must be protty keen at Opotiki, according to the Herald, which states that at the last meeting of the Opotiki Town Board, the tender accepted fur the services of a sniface man with nurse and dray, for ensuing twelve months w»6 at the rate of Ga per da}'. In addition to the numerous illustrations? in tl'i- month's I'lusti tiled Ausn alian News (N Z. Kdilion), some four or five psigea are specially devoiedto information on matters plating to music, and a musical selection r'oi the pianofoit" entitled, Silver Chimes (by Julius lleizj is also given. The Jubilee G. M. Co.'s plant, at Wuitiikuuri, be opened shortly, being ne.uly completed, and will be one of the mo^t perfect plants of its kind on theso goldfields. — At Waihi, Dr Schiedel i* su[)' 3i3 i vising the erection of the NowborryVanfin plant, nnd Mr T. H. Russell io making gre«'t altenition^ in his present We hoc: to iicknowleds:o leceipt of a copy of "An /yddr< j ns to ti.e ini'inbors of New Zi-alami Friendly Societies ; " l>y ICdmund iVJnbon, Registrar. The afidrecs, which was delivered in the Exchange H'dl, Wol'inc:ton, on July $tb, contains i). trieat deal of veiy interesting information in a concise form, respecting Friendly Societies generally ; and is issued from the ollice of the New Zealand Friendly Souutieh' Registry ■ ffioe, Wellington. English toilers lov* 1 their day of ret, while on tlie Continent of Euiope the Sunday is the chief day Cor pluasure-spok-ing, which necessarily involves work on the part of many othcis The many thousands who flock to the Paris Exhibition <<re struck with the silent protest presented by the fact that the BiiUsh section with its exhibits are covered up, and the exhibitors away. A Chinaman charged beforo the bench foi fan-tan playing, puzzled his Worship in Newcastle, N,S.W., by askL.g 1 , " What ror you finee me and no linoe totalisator man? Alle same g.mible, allcanme, some time Chinaman cheattee, sometime the tolaliß.itor man cheatee, but alle samp. You tink and say what for !" His Woiship i.s btill ' Unking.'

An offer Ins be^n mnde to Mr Win den Northcroft 'l>v Mr Oh.irles Denrle, the well-known nafivo interpreter atTiiatn.es, to sell to the Grown a lat"?e block of Ta'rna goldfinld land, 3454 aero* in extent, at 3s 6d per neve. Mr Cadman, M H.R., is stronaly uv^in^ the Government to avail theniseU'os'of the opportunity of afcojuiring so valuable a block at what appears to bo a low pi ioe. The following tender we 1 c received by the Public Woiks Depirtinont for the flood oponinya contract (Thames) of the ' Thamps-Te Aroha Riilway ' — J. Murphy, Hamilton, }j?,?,~>5 ; P. IVeanoro, Thames, L' 2063; vS. Gordon, Anolchmd, L 2270 ; A, Bui tor, Thames, LI 976; J. DroU, Auokrland. LIRBS ; J. Lan^ford and Hughes, Auckland, L 1779 5 J. Corawel', Auckland, LI 7*24 >; W. Forrest, W-kland, LI 683 ; William Elliott, Auckland, L 1596 (.tocepted). On Monday, at noon, the Bailiff of the "Resident Magistrate's Court, Te Aroha, Rold by auction in the Courthouse, Te Aroha, under warrant of di-Ur-ess,, Union Bank v. Feioruson, the New Era Licensed Holding, Waiorongomai, subject to LI 4 rent, due Nov. 10th. There was only one bid, that of Mr A. E. Wilson, acting on behalf of UlO Ferguson Syndicate, to whom thec'aim was knocked down for £5. We lenrn that the men empHved by the contractor rorthe formation or'Thnmoson'-j Track, have reached aa far asSliaftcsburv, where woik has been for a timo suhpdiHed ; Mr W. U. IJe-rics objecting to fu-thor progress until some satisfic^'Uty understanding has been ariH">>d at with respect to that portion of the T/iack to pass throucfh his land, We believe Mr Herries I has not made any claim for qompensation for land taken, and doe 3 not seek to throw any obstacle in the way of oanying out 1 the woik, but desires that satisfactory arrangements be made with respect to the road being properly fenced, etc., etc. The Native Minister has written taMr Caiman,M. El R., correcting the btatementmnde in tho House relalive to the purchase of tlie Marototo gold field. He says th it Wliaugamala No. 2 blook, which he refe''ied to I as having been the mibject of negotiations, does not come under the gold field regulations, Hikutnia No. 4 and Ohinemuri No. 20 blocks, within which it now appears the Marotolo are situated, are pove-ed by an agjeement made in 1875. The Government will have further enquiries made as to the Hikulaia No. 4 block, but cannot undertake its purchase on tho terms at present proposed. The Dublin E': press pub'ishe^ a mem irial signed by over 1,000 magistrates in Ireland, complaining of the excessive nuinhoi of public-houses as the cause of most of the ciimo and poverty in Ireland. 2::c^pt in the north pro^poiily is sit it^ lowest ebb in Tieland. The sure e-itof the prospeiity of a country is shown bv i(s population. The population has diminished from 8,000,000 to little more than h.ilf, while there remain 17,000 public-houses in the countiy in access of the requirements To counteract crime in 111 1 eland wo have a standing aimy of 28,000 soldiers, 14,000 police, besides officials, costing altogether ,£3,000,000 per annum. The memorialists suggest that the Act 9 George IV. c. 61, should bo made applicable to Ii eland ; and, secondly, that all nubWc-honsps he closed at 8 p.m. Tho Lore 1 Lieutenant, in acknowledging the receipt of the memorial, payß be has made a note of the. views expiessedin it. A meeting was hold at Nelherton at the house of Mi* Win. Moore on Tuesday, the 13th inst. , at 7.30 p.m., to take into con federation the advisability of shifting the Rangiora punt to the junction of the Koma.ta swamp road and the Netheiion road, now laid off by Government ; also to conbiderthe best means for maintaining the punt, It was propoHed by Mr S. Chalton, and seconded by Mr G. Simpson, that the punt be handed over to the Ohinemuri County, and that the Council be requested to shift the punt to the junction of the Komata swamp road and the Netheiton load, Tlie proposition was carried unanimously. A good deal of discussion took place about the treatment which this distiict has received f 10m the Ohinemnri Council, thesettleis not even having a legally defined road through the distiict up to the present time. It was freely stated that unless they could induce the Council to form the district into a new Riding and thereby got representation in the Council, they would not get justice as the interests of the Upper Waitoa Riding are as far apart f 10m the Lower Waitoa, with regard to Wards, as the No/th, and South Islands are. It was staled at the meeting that tho rates from the Netheiton district exceed LIOO per annum, not including Government st^bsidy, and there •were also rates collected fiom native lands, while the Council o.nly spend L 5 per annum in the district. It was theiot'ore unanimously agreed to petition the Council to form a new Riding in, such a manner as would take one member from Paeroa Riding and give the new Riding one member — Thames Star.