ROUND NEW ZEALAND.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 250, 14 November 1872, Page 5

ROUND NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Evening Star.)

I have been so busily engaged in the perusal of Hansard, that all my spare time has lately been occupied in digesting its fascinating contents. * " Dreary Murray " took me fully two nights to get over; Header Wood a week to understand ; the member for Hokitika gave me a character I rfw.ll incorporate in a New Zealand novel-I intend writing, while our "Donald," Curtis, and selfimpugning Fitz. combined, left such a triple commingled impression on my liver, that I have been compelled to confine myself to such stimulating beverages as mild coffee, seltzer water, aßd drinks analogous, so abhorrent to my whiskey loving soul. I read the immigration and public works debate a I through, and divesting myself of prejudice tried to judge fairly, and came to that long editor of Oamaru's conclusion a3 to the charges laid against the Government — " not proven." Knowing how anxious the public would be to have an impartial opinion on the matter, never for a moment dreaming that tney would read such endless iteratiou through, and considering how anxiously your readers would wait to hear what I had to say on the matter, 1 hit on the following plan, which I commend both for its originality and perfectly satisfactory character : - / caught a new chum — a man of average education and common sense, and managed by persuasion and the purchase of a keg of whiskey, to induce him to wade through the debate and give me his opinion as to the truth of the charges made by Stafford, Curtis, and Co , against William and his clan. The experiment resulted to my satisfaction, though the experimenter swears he would not go through such another ordeal for a hogshead instead of a keg. He thus gave his opinion when the debate was finished :—: — " That long-winded complimentary beggar who called himself an old woman unconsciously hit the nail on the head. In my remarks I shall uusex him. In her old age she saw a child born to a neighbour, and, mourning over the inexperience of the mother who has given it birth, she calls all her old cronies together, and. by sheer force of numbers, scolding, and clamor, takes the babe from its proper guardianship to nurse herself, volunteering to make the pap, the swaddling clothes, to watch the nurae, aud to purchase Godfrey and Steadman's elixirs incontinently. To the mother's entreaty to nurse her own child, she and her confreres exclaim simultaneously, ' Impossible, my dear ! You know nothing about the croup, the measles, or the hooping cough ; — not even how to wash the child— so we'll take it off your hands, and you get well again. What a beautiful baby ! How like his father All right, dear ; we know better than you what should be done, so be quiet aud get well.' Women, you know, rule the world ; and had the number you appear to have in your Legislative Assembly been young and witty, instead of old and senile, why I would have gone and seen them. Brew another jug of punch." You thus have in a short and simple manner the result of my experiment and tbe experimenters' words verbatum. lam not, remember, responsible for their tone— oaly for their truthful transcription. Marlborough Province is like man—wonderfully and fearfully made.. This portion of it is of the wood, wooden ; built of wood, living on wood, covered with wood, exporting wood ; and!, in consequence, its inhabitants may possibly have become so woodenheaded as to imagine in the lifetime of the present generation that the railway in course of construction will pay. There are three principal townships in this Province— Picton, Blenheim, and Eavelock. Ihere are three inferior. The three enumerated combined are not as large, as well-built, as populous, or wealthy, to all appearance, as Tokomairiro. The first-named I have written some ' 'Notes" anent ; the others will come in their proper turn. I don't know whether further inquiry and travel will confirm my conviction or not, but at present I would sooner possess the Taieri district than the whole of this Province.

I am thus particularising because I want your Otago readers to understand what sort of a country the railroad is going through, the number of its population, amount of revenue and expenditure, &c, bo as to com* pare ifc with their own well known districts, and understand yby their claims should be ignored, and preference given to this locality for the disbursement .of feorr^ved capital. The number of inhabitants i# ithis province is about 4000. Its exports and i^poct.s 1.10,958 and L 57.705 respectively 5 its revenue about L 12,000 per annum, ajn.d its expenditure about the same. Of the revenue received, some LSOOO per annum results from the occupation of land by squatters, aud abojufc LI, 750 from Consolidation Fund ami capitation grants. 'It possesses some 150 miners, and no goldfield receipts. (See B. No. 4, App, No, I, 1871). The waste lands are estimated to be about 2,500,000 acres, of which some 1,100,C08 a*e held under depasturing leases, the character of which may be inferred from the letter .of the Superintendent, of the Ist of March, 1871, i» reply to the circular letter of the Colonial Secretary, of the 24th January of the same year, relative to immigration :—": — " There is no land jn the Province which could be made available for the settlement of any large number of immigrants, neither do the circumstances of the Province warrant such introduction." la private hands there are estimated to be 162,000 acres of land suitable for agricultural settlement, while the Crown retains .only 25,000 acres adapted for a similar purpose. This bloc& jj since mortgaged to the General -.Government for railway extension, You will thus gee fctot tiie ,s»all block of

land disposed of to Mr Clarke at Moa Flat is double the amount of all that is available for settlement in Marlborough, and that the amount paid yearly by publicans iv Otago for licenses is nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Province.

It ia refreshing to remember, however, that Provincialism ami its paraphernalia are here in full bloom, despite no lands to sell, no revenue scarce to receive, aud no goldrieltls to look after. if railway cost is to be Provincial) y c)jarge<3. aud the waste lands of Provinces held aa fv lien with other sources of revenue for liquidation of sulli liabilities, the sooner the remaining lands here suitable for settlement ara impounded the better it would appear to ensure a satisfactory ultimate liquidation. From these few statistics, collected without much trouble, yourreaders will understand two things — First, how prudent and reproductive an investment it must be to expend LIOO.OOO iv railway construction from Picton to Blenheim ; secondly, why the Messrs Brogden, in their model proposal to form a company to take over the in ew Zealand Railways, did not include this portion in their proposed " continuous maiu lines." brogden's maulborough navvies. Of course you have heard all about Brogden and his navvies, and their di-agreement with their bread and butter ; how Mrs Grundy has taken the matter up, and held public meetings ; the introduction of the truck system here, aud many tilings beside both true and false. ihe facts are as follow : — Some 120 men were landed here from Wellington hy steamer to work for the Messrs Brogden in the construction of the Picton and Blenheim E ail way, to be paid at the rate of 6s per day of nine hours' work. The rate of wages and time of labor were fixed in Wellington by mutual agreement after the arrival of the immigrants by the Schiehallion. The terms of their agreement 1 before leaving England were to work for the Messrs Brogden two years for a not less wage than 5a the day of ten hours ; the rate of wages to be determined from time to time by the Governor or some person he might appoint. One-fifth of their earnings were to be deducted weekly or on pay-days to repay the cost of tlieir passage and the outfits given them. It was further taken intd consideration by the tirm that these men, lauded in a strange place, aud iv most cases not possessed of a stiver, would want something to eat and drink and places to live and sleep in ; that the storekeepers here would be chary of trusting them, and that the residents would not inconvenience themselves to provide them with lodgings. Under these circumstances, the iiim purchased a lot of stores, hired a storeoun, and gave the men working for them provisions at current PictoH rates on credit, the cost of such stores to be deducted from their wa»es with their instalment of other indebtedness on paydays ; had houses built for them to dwell in, and. hired all the available empty tenements ia the town. Those who fortunately had money had no occasion to crave further assistance from their employers than that already afforded them, and could obtain their goods where convenient or desirable. Hence the origin of the truck shop. The strike arose something in this manner. The arrivals appear to have entertained au inflated idea of the value of their services, and wanted in consequence to be paid, wet or dry — work or pl.iy — and, considering that they were also underpaid, determined to do as little work as possible for the money stipulated to be paid them. Old colonists looked on amused, and wondered how long it could last, and some scrupled not to declare that the work paid six shillings for was not worth half the money. New management was then introduced ; the men informed they would be paid toJien they toorkej, and only then, when they struck en masse. Contract work was then offered them at prices which they laughed at, but which have since been taken by sub contractors, who appear to thrive at the prices given. In a small town like this, a hundred men thrown suddenly out of work and without means, threatened to be a burden on the inhabitants, who called a public meeting to consider what should be dune ; but not content with stopping here entered into the relationship subsisting between the employers and the employed. Although the avoidance of such a course of action under the peculiar circumstaucep would have been difficult, it has most probably had no benclicial effect. The Pictou people, however, gave food to those men who wanted it. It would have been better, and perhaps more effectual, had they done this alone — their expressing an opinion that the men were ill-treated, has doubtless confirmed the conviction in the men's minds that they actually were. But the above narration of indisputable facts entirely rebuts such a presumption.. Some of the men have gone away, others have taken contract work, many talk of leaving the district, some have gone to work for other employers, aud some refuse to work f r subcontractors, as by so doing they will have to gradually lessen their indebtednefs to their exporters. Sub-contractors employing these turn have ia deduct from their earnings one-fifth for this purpose. Now to many of these men's wives in England half pay, or so much per week, is paid weekly — the men supposed to be at work— while in some cases their wives and families have been brought out to join them, at the expense of the contractors. Your readers will thus observe the .case is complex, one difficult; to decide on as to the course to be adopted— infact a problem I shall not attempt to solve. A newspaper correspondent has no right to have, or at least express any opinion: only narrates what he sees and hears. There is a dearth of plant here, the railway has not ye;fc fairly started, and #11 the men employed at the present time io oojb .exceed 150 in number, f shall give current rates of prices and .other da£a in my next epistle, as this has be,en already too diffuse. For tbe satisfaction of him of -"clock" and Waikouaiti repute, I may infprm him that rails 301bs to the yard, and a line imperfectly ballasted, will suit all the requirements of this district for many years to come, He had better attend to the state of the "kine" and to the interests ot his pastoral supporters than start in his dotage as a C.E. Let my friend of the New Zealand Herald get a photo of some sort, and give us this illustrious rejected Motueka man's likeness among the other great and noble men of New