The Tuapeka Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1869. "Measures, not Men."

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 70, 12 June 1869, Page 2

The Tuapeka Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1869. "Measures, not Men."

In the immortal history of Gargantua there is a panegyric on " backstairs " worthy of attentive perusal at the present time. The Otagan intriguers, if less open in their avowals of respect, are not a whit less enthusiastic in their adoration than the courtiers of the gigantic monarch. They believe, — and their belief amounts to credulity, — that a popular demand, based on justice and supported by the whole force of public opinion, can be shelved by th.3 machinations of a clique. We have a M'Lean Government, but it is proposed to submit its operations to a Court of Cassation, in which another Maclean shall be at once plaintiff and judge. Such is the latest project for propping the threatened supremacy of the squatocracy. The plan has been boldly conceived and shamelessly executed, but fortunately there is still a prejudice in favour of accepting as final the deliberate decisions of the representatives of the people. The intrigue which attracts our more immediate attention springs from the not unnatural reluctance of the holders of run 137 to relinquish a portion of their territory for the formation of new Hundreds, and were it confined to these, our criticism would simply be a smile of contempt. Unfortunately the matter is elevated to a much greater importance by the appearance among the train of partisans of a public official, whose light to the position he occupies is based on his assumed impartiality and indifference to extraneous influences. It is reluctantly we are forced to comment on such an unfortunate dereliction from the path of honour ; but were tho contested point at issue of less vital importance ; were it the most trivial piece of local politics that ever disturbed the peace of a Little

Pedlington, our voice would be raised with equal indignation against those who endeavour to pollute the judicial ermine. Many a man whose honour has resisted the base temptations of gold and position, has been bribed into error by the smile of a fancied aristocrat, and the maxim is as applicable to puny Otago as it is to the mightiest empire. Toadyism is a growth that flourishes on every soil ; the potentate at whose frown millions tremble is not more bepraised and flattered by his courtiers I than is the paltry owner of a few hundred sheep by his puny satellites. As in the great country the courtier is willing to sacrifice soul and body for a yard of ribbon or some glittering gew-gaw, so in the little community the patronage of a squatter is held cheaply bought by a betrayal of friends, principles, and justice. Yet, strive as we like to be indignant where indignation is so appropriate, our laughter dispels the rising frown. This Otagan edition of the Tooley-street Tailors is so irresistably comic, that we believe the most saturnine of our readers will derive amusement from the following sober narration. The demand for land for settlement is no cry of yesterday: although a long-enduring and lawabiding people permitted themselves to be • gulle4 by the magnificent promises of the office-seeking hordes ; some nine months ago, even their patience was exhausted, and

the result was the formation of a Land League. Crowded and enthusiastic meetings at every centre of population attested that the public interest was aroused, and a petition, signed by nine-tenths of the adult male population, provedhowunanimous was the belief that land was required for settlement. The then existing Government) resisted the demand, and finding themselves unable to face the storm they raised, took a lesson from the proverbial well-bred dog, and resigned oflice voluntarily, in order to escape a forced retirement. A new Ministry was formed whose platform included a liberal land policy, and to a certain extent their pledges have been fulfilled. The petition from this district, along with many others of similar import, was referred to a Select Committee of the Provincial Council, embracing men of all classes. After a .careful consideration, and after hearing the evidence of both settlers and runholders, they came j to the conclusion that the wants of this district demanded the throwing open of 15,000 acres on Smith's and Maclean's runs. The evidence was conflicting, as might have been anticipated, but the only two witnesses, Mr. J. L. Gillies and the Chief Surveyor, whose impartiality was unquestioned testified to the high agricultural value of the land, and the probability of its immediate settlement. In their report to the Council, the Committee embodied a recommendation to throw the disputed territory open; and after careful consideration, their report was adopted and approved. Here, .we in our simplicity imagined, was an end to the matter, but not so. The interested runholders had officious friends who, doubting the propriety of any decision affecting the pocket of their patrons, formed themselves into a commission, for the pnrpose of reviewing the deliberately expressed conclusion of the Provincial Council. They proceeded with due form, and by dint of personal entreaty or private influence, induced a few persons to sign a deposition virtually asserting that the Chief Surveyor was an ignoramus who knew nothing about the matter ; and that, in spite of the agitation and excitement of the last six months, there was no demand for land in the Tuapeka district. Such is the history of the land contest up to the present time, for it is as yet unknown what this self-elected Board of Control propose to do with their precious document. Comment is needless, but it may be useful for the parties concerned to learn that waste paper fetches a remunerative price.

From our Fourteen Mile Beach Correspondent's letter, which appears in another column, it will be seen that however fair the prospects of the miners are in that quarter, the demand there for land is equallyurgent with other parts of the Province. Mining on the banks of the Molyneux, from the Welshman's Beach upwards, may pay exceedingly well during the winter months, but unless the miner can find some remunerative work during the other months of the year, he must ever be moving his cimp from place to place. The other week on a journey up the banks of the river it was quite heartrending to witness scores of old chimneys, the remnants of once comfortable huts, and to be told that Tom lived here and Harry there and made a bit of money, but finding they could put it to no account, left for Victoria or some other colony. If the Government would endeavour to counteract the depopulating influences now at work they must offer greater inducements to people to settle in the country, and the sooner a system of free selection, similar to that described by our correspondent, is carried into effect, the sooner we shall be in a position to hope for better days for Otago. Meanwhile we are daily becoming impoverished, and the melancholy fate of Marlborough, which Province has just signed its own death-warrant is staring us in the face.