Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1872. "MEASURES. NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 235, 1 August 1872, Page 7

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1872. " MEASURES. NOT MEN."

According to "Hansard," in the debate upon Mr. Shepherd's motion for the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the recent sale of land in the Teviot district to Cargill and Anderson, Messrs. Reid and Mervyn maintained that the public interest was not injuriously affected; and that there was no agricultural land whatever upon the block. In support of his statement, Mr. Reid quoted Mr. M'Kerrow's report that the land in question is wholly unsuitable for agricultural settlement. Mr. M'Kerrow is a gentleman of the strictest integrity, and well qualified to decide what is and what is not agricultural land. His reports have, however, acquired an unenviable notoriety in this portion of the province in consequenre of one feature invariably present in them, viz., his opinion of the suitability of land for agriculture exactly coincides with that of the runholders. According to his report there was no agricultural land on the 50,000 acre block sold to Clarke ; yet the land ex-

eluded from that block and submitted to public competition wat sold in one instance at £4 an acre "When the Government is taken to task in matters pertaining to land, it always shelters itself behind Mr. M'Kerrow's reports. Probably, in the opinion of that gentleman, the Shingle Block is eminently fit for settlement ; and the stony desert in Ida Valley, kindly given up by Messrs. Stafford and Bell, is magnificent agricultural land. Mr. Reid judiciously refrained from mentioning that a number of water races traverse the land sold, and that there is every likelihood of rich auriferous deposits being found upon it. Mr. Mervyn's remarks were evidently dictated, as Mr. Shepherd said, by a feeling of revenge towards the district which sj ignominiously rejected him, and are not worth noticing. The information imparted to the meeting held on Wednesday iaight, at Roxburgh, completely refutes Mr. Reid's statement, and Mr. M'Kerrow's report to boot. It was shown there that half the area of the block is fit for agriculture ; that it is probably highly auriferous ; that the sale will interfere with many valuable water rights, and seriously injure the interests of the province. We are glad that Messrs. Mervyn and Reid's defence of the sale did not influence the House of Representatives, and that Mr. Shepherd's motion was passed.

So far as the sale of the land is concerned, we have now pretty clear proof that what we hinted a fortnight ago was perfectly correct — that the sale had in reality been effected pome time ago, and that the proceedings of the Waste Lands Board in the matter were humbug, and could not in any way affect the sale. The action taken by that precious body in the petition of the TeviQt raceholders was what might have been expected under the circumstances. It had no power in the transaction, its members being merely lackeys, and only discussed the matter for, the purpose of throwing duߣ in the eyes of the public. . . , : I4 seems clear that, whatever the ffcßtlft! Assembly may do, the

Teviot people may expect no sympathy from the provincial authorities. The raceholders and miners may make up their minds that their interests will be disregarded. The Mount Benger miners will do well to bear in mind that for the future, should they ever wish to take water from the Teviot river, they will have to pay Messrs. Cargill and Anderson for so doing. The vexatious complications regarding mining on private property, which have for years distracted Victoria, will by this sale be precipitated in Otago, to the great detriment of the mining interest. In that colony we notice that as much as £2000 an acre has been extorted from miners for the privilege of cutting water races through private lands.

We confess that, after the 50,000 acre block affair, we have little hope that the Colonial Legislature will cancil the sale to Cargill and Anderson. It rests with the people of the district themselves to prevent it. Prevented it can be ; but not by petitions, prayers, or select committees. Those means have been tried, and found unavailing. If the people of Mount Benger possess the spirit of free men, they will not stand tamely by and see their interests trampled upon and their remonstrances treated with contemptuous indifference by the provincial authorities.

The provincial party has rallied for a final struggle for power. The jealousies which exist between the various provinces have, for the time being, been forgotten ; and the Superintendents and their myrmidons have made common cause for the purpose of preying on the colonial purse. The audacious proposition made by the meeting of Superintendents and provincial officers is exactly what might have been expected to emanate from such a gathering. The carrying out of the Public Works and Immigration policy it is clear is sapping the foundations of provinciali ncial institutions. The men living on those institution have taken the alarm, and resolved that, whatever it may cost the country, their salaries and endowments shall not be interfered with. The Government have refused to grant the demands of these harpies, and we are sure that it will have the hearty support of the country in the course it has adopted. Were the views of these Superintendents and their satelites adopted, all the worst features of American political corruption would be reproduced in this colony. Log-rolling and jobbery would be rampant in the land ; and the boiTOwed millions would vanish, as many millions have before under provincial auspices, without leaving a trace of their expenditure behind. What have provincial authorities done that they should be entrusted with the carrying out of a great national policy ? The history of the provinces is a melancholy record of misrule and extravagance. There is not a province solvent; and though immense sums of money have passed through the hands of their rulers, there are scarcely any public works of utility in the whole length and breadth of the colony. We hope the Government will not yield an inch to the demands of these rapacious provincialists. If a dissolution takes place, and the country appealed to on that point, a large majority of Government supporters will be returned. Should a dissolution be necessitated, we recommend the Government to put to the country, as one of the salient points of its policy, the, exclusion of all Superintendents and other paid provincial officers from the General Assembly.