LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 6, Issue 319, 27 November 1862, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui, November 9 1862. Sir, —I think the public of Wanganui should be made acquainted with the Superintendent’s Conduct in all matters connected with this town ahd district, and more especially when it appears to me that he has forfeited our confidence by promising what he did not perform, and that too oh a matter of the greatest importance to this town. Ou a former occasion he promised to lay Two hundred Pounds on the estimates for the purpose of protecting the river bank, which promise he never performed.-''- •« He appears to confirm the old proverb, “ Out of sight, out of mind. ” The great object with him is to find employment for the people of Wellington, and keep in their favour. For he has found out by past experience that they carry the great majority of votes, as it often happens that the many do an injustice to the few, and seeing that the Wellington district has twelve members and we have only three, they have got the power to out vote our three any time they like, and as the Superintendent has turned against us, our members may as well stay at home, for any good they can do with a majority against them. Our old friend, Mr. Fox, gave us a good illustration of the importance of having the Government close at hand. He compared it. to a horse. If, said he, the horse is near at hand, so that you can lay hold of him, you can back him, or turn him any way you like, or give him a crack up With the whip ; but if he is at a distance, you have got very little power over him. This appears to have been the case with the Provincial Government of Wellington for some time back. Since Mr. Wakefield and the Rad- ; icals of Wellington flogged np the provincial horse, they can lay hold of him, and back or lead him in such amauner, as to produce great sums of money for building Council houses, Court houses and Gaol, making metalled roads, and draining the town of Wellington, and for reclaiming land from the harbour. ’ And they are now getting the harbour surveyed for the purpose of erecting a convenience for repairing the largest sized steamers. And all the above we have got to pay our share to. But they will say the money is borrowed for the purpose of doing the above works, and that the reclaimed land from the harbour will pay itself. If the money is borrowed, we have to go part security for it; and reclaiming land is quite a speculation, and if it fail, we shall have to stand by the loss, but if it succeed, we are no gainers by it. Now, as the Superintendent has forfeited our confidence, and as he was the only, safe-guard that we had got to see us fair play in the Pj ovincial Council, we have only got one road open to us—that is, to separate from. Wellington, and set up a provincial government of our own. Then we shall have the horse, (the provincial government), near at hand, and, as Mr. Fox said,; all the Government officers will expend their money .in this place. We shall then he able to convince our Provincial Government that it will pay to reclaim land here as well as, in Wellington, and protect the river bank at' the same time; and the monej will be expended here, instead of doing as we now are—paying our share to reclaim kind in Wellington. By that means, a greater number of people ■will be employed. Instead of paying money to the Wellington Provincial Government to keep ifcin office, we in Wanganui would be able to put up large public duildings, by doing the same as Wellington has done, namely, borrowing mone\r on the security of the Wanganui Provincial Government, and thereby create a great deal of employment for all classes. At, the present time, we are getting nothing laid out, and their only wish appears to be, that when any of the Provincial Government of Wellington happen to fancy a ride up the coast, they wish to have a good road to come on. I am &c. John Jackson.

Wanganui, November 24 1862. Sir,Will you be so good as insert a few remarks in your . Chronicle which might be the means of assisting some abler hand than me to take up this subject? I see in your Chronicle of the 13th, a letter signed “ John Jackson,” in which he speaks about the river carrying away its banks, and Mr. Woodward reporting to the Superintendent that the breakwater was a failure and was awaste of public money. Mr. Woodward being a minister, he might be a better judge about the river of sin breaking in upon the body to the destroying of the soul. As for the Provincial Engineers, I am not to meddle with them, but will leave them to some abler hand than me, seeing the very great ability that class has shewn. We need but to look to the Wanganui bridge Mo be convinced of their understanding and great ability and superior judgment. 1 was one of a deputation that waited on his Honor about the river banks giving way. It was in the time of the 80-called Radical Council and he told us that he had no money at his disposal ; but he expected that the Council would he dissolved, and as soon as he had a working Council, he should put £SOO on the estimated for the protection of the river banks. . But he is so engaged in Wellington, taking ground from .the sea, that 1 think it must have put the river banks out of his mind, or he most certainly would have fulfilled his promise. 1 beg leave to remind his Honor that at the time the man that had the curious .shaped truncher on his knowledge box and his understandings incased ,in the preprred skins of the beasts of the field—when he opened the floodgates of Radicalism and let down such a flood Suit Hr. Featherston would, I think, have been carried off by the current if we had not protected his hanks j so I think we ought p'of to be neglected,

I am rather inclined to think that hia Honor is giving ua fi few rather Btrong Pills. I think that , there might be rather too much aloes in them ( they might-givo our political body too many grips, which might cause a little political eruption here. A stitch in time saves nine. I am &c. John Hogg. - Wanganui, Nov. 20, 1862. seen your -paper of. thia date, in express : hbrrhr at seeing the fence of; the cemetery lying on the ground ; and you also state that the person who has had the care of, the cemetery Las boon in the habit of charging more.jiban the fees fixed by the Committee. ■ : In reply T-beg to observe: that your horror must be of, a very sleepy kind, as it is patent to every one in this place that the fence has been in the condition you describe for upwards of 12 months. I never undertook to keep the fence hr repair ;my duty was simply to dig the graves, the fees for which have been those fixed for interments in the gronnds of Christchurch, and which I have never exceeded. . I distinctly denyjtlie so-called committee ever having fixed, or having the right to fix any 'other fees than those in force when, that cemetery -was fenced in. And further, Sir, if that Committee had any legal existence, the greater, shame to theni for • not attending to the state of the cemetery, when so foroibly exposed by Mr. J. Morgan in one of your papers of last April. I am dre, ‘ 7 J. Lockett. [Our information was derived from a member . of the Committee, which, we are informed, was appointed at a public meeting after tbe change of graveyard, and was understood to have full power to regulate all charges, and undestood that 10s. was to be the fee in question, whereas more has been charged.] Wanganui, 24th Nov. 1862. SiR, —It was with mingled feelings of disgust and astonishment that I saw in the ‘ SpectatoV’ the advertisement of the sale of the reserve on the left bank of the river—under tbe name of Campbell-town. ' I do not hesitate in stating that the Superintendent and all others concerned in it—including, of course, our members of the P.C.—have most grossly betrayed their trust ; and l firmly believe this, projected spoliation to be illegal. The inhabitants of this district purchased their properties with the knowledge of the reserves belonging to the l>lace,,\and to sell one, however small, is an infringement of those rights. If this is sold, what is to prevent the present or a succeeding Government from parting with the others ? For my part, I would sooner see the end of the Provincial Government than such an event taking place. In England, for some years past, great exertions have been made to purchase properties for the use of the pent-up town folk; here a very contrary policy appears to prevail. May I ask how it was that the J. P. s sent the recotamendation to the Superintendent for the sale: of this reserve ? In my opinion, and I believe of most others, it was quite out of their province. I hope that, before it is too late, our townspeople will rouse themselves from their torpor, and send a protest—memorials are no use ; and in .case of that not succeeding, obtain an injunction against the sale of that reserve. I am ready to give my mite towards such an object. Yours respectfully, Henry Lyon.

. Wanganui, 23rd Nov., 1862. Sir,—ln your issue of last week, my attention. wasVdirected to a schedule of the upset prices attached to the sections on the left bkuk reserve, shortly to be thrown into'the market. As regards the valuation of those sections, I may have my own ojunion upon the collective lot; but I wish to inquire—why that upon which the Lion inn now stands is rated £SO higher than either of those adjoining it ? When the original proprictor of that hotel first erected the buildings on it, he received the distinct assurance—“that in the event of the land being ultimately sold, he should have the pre-emptive right of purchase at the same price as the two adjacent sections were valued at.” There is no mistake about this. And now I ask Why, after the property has twice changed hands tinder this understanding, is the present proprietor to be. coolly, mulcted in the sum of £SO, in direct, contradiction of the ori- . giual contract ? Whether the Superintendent had any right to give such a pledge in the first instance is one thing ; but that after it was given,, and constituted the title to the land on which the property now stands it should now be virtually retracted, looks to me very like a deliberate attempt to extort money, by taking advantage of the position of the proprietor. The principle is not a new one in Wanganui. When the original settlers in this distinct were told by Colonel Wakefield, the New Zealand Company agent, to “ settle anywhere,”—pending the settlement of the native claims upon the land—they did so ; and after making such improvements as they felt disposed to do for their own convenience and necessity, their properties were valued ultimately, not solely according to the intrinsic value of the sections, but in a great measure in consideration of the improvements that had been made. Who denounced this system as a swindle the present Superintendent of Wellington knows pretty well; and who now adopts the identical plan 1 shall not offend Dr. Featherston by hinting at. Whether right 'or wrong we are bound to stand by the pledges that are given by those we have put at the helm of affairs; and if the Superintendent originally gave a pledge that he had no right to do, we cannot in honour refuse to endorse it. I have not myself the slightest personal interest in this matter, but I trust that by calling attention to what I consider a very unfair transaction, 1 may be indirectly the means of causing the Highest Officials to remove what looks very like a blot on their credit. ~ v I have, &c. &c. . Scrutator. • Newtonlees, Nov. 4 1862. Sir, —Since I have been,in this colony, I have always been an advocate for the heavy breed of sheep; and being aware that this is a time in which the sheep farmers of this district shoidd particularly direct their attention to the breed, or breeds, of sheep that will best answer their purpose in every way, that is, to obtain as good a fleece as possible, combined with a good heavy carcase, I make a few extracts from the “ Salisbury and Winchester Journal ” concerning the prices that one particular breed of sheep obtained, viz. the “Hampshire Downs.” The sale I allude to is Mr. Edward Olding’s annual Ram Sale, Ratfire farm, Amesbury. There were 20 ram lambs sold singly, and the highest prices realised Were, respectively. 26, 23, 21, 20, 19, the average for the 20 lambs sold being £l4 Bs. lid each; only four of these rams being sold under 10 guineas each. i There were a number of ram lambs let for periods of four to six weeks, and the average hire for each ram was £5 4s. 6d. The average of the whole stock sold and let, was £8 17s. 4d. Again, at Overton sheep and lamb Fair held ’ on the 18th February, wether lambs (of first quality) were sold at from 365. to 42s- each. One pen of lambs fetched 445. each ; ewes 60s. each; 4 tooth wethers from 40s. to 555. a head. Now, what can induce people to give such prices ? It must be, that the intrinsic value is there. It must be there in mutton, wool &c.’ Again, what induces the English farmer to make choice of any particular breed of sheep? In the first place, they have to consider that

which will yield them the best return for the capital invested. I believe the above prices will warrant mein saying that the farmers'-' (of Hampshire and. Wiltshire especially) find that the above named' breed answers .their purpose best. Can any person inform me why thoso sheep that are found to answer so well at home should not answer the purposes of the Wanganui farmer equally well ? Our climate is equally good ) our Srasses are good ; and at the present time, Tam appy to say, our markets are good both for mutton and wool. I trust that no persofif Willconsider that I advocate this breed; of sheep on the ground of private interest. I assure them that Lam not fortunate enough to be in poss-. ession of sheep of any kind. I merely direct attention tojthese facts, that every sheep farmer may consider which kind of sheep will give him the largest return for the capital invested. I also believe there are other breeds of sheep that should receive equal attention ; for instance the Leiccsters, the Southdowa, the Romney marsh &c. All are good, when properly managed. , Trusting these few remarks may receive proper attention, I am &c. John Morgan.