Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELD REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 402, 24 October 1874, Page 2

Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELD REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

In a paragraph referring to the criminal sittings of tho District Court of Tukomairiro, the " Daily Times " and " Guardian," of Monday, comment upon the great inconvenience and oipsnss ntlonding the sittings of that Court. It seems that on this occasion there was only one prisoner to be tried before His Honor Mr. Justice Ward, at Tokomairiro ; and if we may judge from the Dunedin papers, the injury and expense which have been inflicted upon Dunedin by sending the prisoner from thence to Tokomairiro for trial has been immense. So strong are the centralising tendencies of the Dunedin Press that country people are even grudged their District Courts, which have proved in hundreds of cases incalculable boons to the inhabitants, both in the saving of time and money. And these they are grudged simply because in one solitary case, during nearly a decade of years, a prisoner had to be sent to Dunodin to await his trial, owing, we suppose, to tho Government having failed to do its duty in providing snitablp gaol accommodation ai Tokomairiro. We would not have considered ourselves specially called upon to comment on this case, but for the following significant conclusions, which the " Daily Times" would wish to draw from the opening of the railway :—": — " The opening of the railway will, however, probably have the effect of doing away with the Tokomairiro and Tuapeka sessions." It is evident our contemporary writes in ignorance, else why should he couple Tuapeka with Tokomairiro. The necessity of sending prisoners to Dunedin to await their trial, or even to " servo their time," in cases of conviction, does not exist in Tuapeka, as we have good gaol accommodation for about twenty prisoners and plenty work for those ,to do who are convicted. It seems to us that an^ amount of inconvenience may be suffered by country people without a murmur from our Dunedin contemporaries. Is it not a fact that although we have Supreme Court sittings in Lawrence, prisoners have been again and again committed from Clyde, Roxburgh, ond Switzers, to Dunedin for trial, where they have had to remain for weeks before the regular session of the Supreme Court came round, and in many cases days hare been loat to witnesses, who Jiave also been put to great inconvenience ? But these things have happsnedj and we have repeatedly pointed out the injustice of them, and although we have now had the matter remedied, wo have not to thank the Dunedin press for lending r.s any assistance ; on the contrary, as we have on many occasions shown, its chief effort is, and has been, to impoverish the country and aggrandize Dunedin.

JPbom some correspondence appearing in ; another column it will bo seen that; the Government still adhere to their promise of setting apart a portion of the Tuapeka Hundred under the Agricultural Leasing Regulations. The numbers of the setions so set apart appear in our advertising columns. This arrangement we think, will- meet the immediate demands for settlement of all kinds. The Government, we are glad to observe, are now giving every publicity to the " Gazette " notifications of the open-

ing of tlio land, and already several new arrivals of tho proper stamp lioto boon inspecting the deferred payment block. From what we have heard, there are some persons who are not aware that land taken np under the agricultural leasing system can, after being hold three or more years, be brought under the deferred payment system. This we may state can be done at acomparaHA'ely small cost, and tlie rent which has been paid during the time the land has been hold under lease goes towards its purshasa. Tlie holder of a lease has also the privilege to sell Ms interest in it with the improvements I made upon the land. It will thus be seen j that the land opened under the agricultural leasing system oilers even more inducements for settlement than that under the Deferred Payment system. However, we have no desire to set up the one system as against the other, believing as we do, that either ia very well adapted for the purposes of settlement. Our only objection to both in tho Tuapeka district is that they don't go far enough. If instead of 200 acres, 400 were the limit, encouragement would be given to a more desirable class of settlement in this part of the country without any attempt at an evasion of the law.