The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 221, 25 July 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1879.

The Hon. Mr Waterhouse is second to no man in the colony for patient and thorough investigation of any question in which he takes an interest, and the conclusion to which he arrives may generally be regarded as impartial and accurate. Mr Waterhouse lias recently taken up the Waimate question and thoroughly exhausted it, The result is a charge against the Government of error or incompetence which it is almost impossible for them to rebut. The utterances of Mr Waterhouse in his place in the Legislative Council on this subject carry more weight to our minds' than the more dramatic oration of Sir William Fox; the former having the appearance of emanating from a careful and impartial judge, and the latter sounding very much like the attack of a brilliant but partial advocate. The conclusions to which Mr Waterhouse has come to on the Waimate Plains question are, briefly stated, as follows: That this territory was only nominally confiscated, that a former Government pledged itself to return the land to the Natives under Crown grants, and if any were taken for the purpose of settlement by Europeans, to compensate the former Native owners, That this pledge has been completely ignored by the preseut Government, and that ■ therefore the Maoris were justified in asserting their claim to the land, every foot of which was being wrested from them, by pulling up the surveyors' pegs. It would appear that the Maories, like the Europeans, have a distinct and definite charge against the present Ministry of broken and unfulfilled engagements, Had the Ministry taken the trouble to ascertain, as the Hon. G. M. Waterhouse has done, what pledges were given by former Governments to the Maories, the Waimate and Parihaka difficulties would never have troubled us. It is the carelessness and culpable neglect of the Premier and the Native Minister that has brought us into conflict with the Native sacej and it is very desirable to restore peaceful and honorable relations with the Maories that some one should now be appointed Native Minister whoAvill organise the Native Department so that the pledges given by oneMinister'gM}^

not be broken by his successor, and that the Maori race shall be able to obtain justice and right, not by an appeal to a person who for the time being is invested with supreme power in all Native matters, bnt to a department which is controlled by fixed rules and records. We further think that there is no man better qualified in the colony to act as Native Minister under Sir William Fox than Mr Waterhouse, He is neither versed in the Maori language nor in Native customs and traditions, but lie is inflexibly honest and upright, and quite capable of organising a demoralised department. It is time that such qualities were brought to bear on the Native question, and we believe that it would be a wise experiment to hand the Native Department over not to a Maori-Pakeha tainted with some of the vices of both races, but to an upright inflexible European: who will see. thatthe law of the land is observed by both races in all their dealings, and will let fanatics like Te Whiti amu.se.themselves with prophecies as long as. they do not become lawless and turbulent,

Tub no-confidence debate 'was continued on Wednesday night by the Hon J. Sheehan. It had been impossible for him to remain in the House during the whole of the debate in consequence of his onerous public duties. He could not therefore reply to all the speakers who had attacked the Government, but he would reply to the leader of the Opposition—Sir W. Fox, Whatever might be the end of that debate he wished personally to express his high admiration of the mauy public services done by that gentlemen. The only fault he found with him was that he came down the back stairs. His orders and distinctions should be given at the wish of the colony; nevertheless, ho could afford to say he hoped the lion gentleman would live long to enjoy his distinctions, He did not think tho present Gevernment compared very badly with their predecessors, while, as for their successors, if the Opposition came into power, they would then be able to draw comparisons, He replied to many minor points on native matters which Sir William Fox had raised, In referring to the Waimate Plains difficulty the Hon gentleman said lie would describe exactly how the difficulty arose, He had always acted in perfect good faith with the Civil Commissioner for the Crown, When he (Mr Sheelian) took office one block was being surveyed, It had been said that the present Government undertook the survey of the Waimate Block without notice. He himself had told Te Whitl, Titokowaru, and other influential men in 1877 that these surveys would take place, and they were asked to decide themselves about the reserves, but they refused to do so. (Hesr, hear.) Out of 60,000 acres of land taken by the Government no less than 4000acreswerereseiv edfor the natives, Hedescribedthatportion of the West Coast as a mass of unfulfilled promises, and held that much of the trouble was created formerly by the leader of the Opposition himself. Referring to Te Whiti, he considered he (the speaker) acted properly in declining to have any further talk with him when he acted in a certain way, It was quite true that Te Whiti had called him (the speaker) a theif, and instead of abusng him for that, tho lion, member for Wanganui ought rather to sympathise with him for having borne the epithet with such a Christian resigna-tion-particularly as he (Sir W, Fox) had himself taken so much land in 1864. In conclusion he referred to the remarks made by the lion, member for Wanganui at the conclusion of his speech. He should consult his own self-respect by not replying to such charges. (Applause.) He did not profess to be infallible, but he had never done a thing of which, as a public man, he need be ashamed. (Cheers) He had worked very hard for the country since he had been in office. If he had kept himself perfectly aloof, after his rise in life, he dared to say that ho would not have spoken to those who now spoke against him. (Applause.) He could only say this, that lie had worked hard in the public interest, and had nevsr gained an acre of land, or gives any ot his friends a billet, but he had always acted in a perfectly independent manner. Since he had gone into the Ministry he had not earned a single shilling in his profession, and after the way he had worked for the . country he did not think he ought to have been attacked as he had been. (Applause.) In summing up he might say that the troubles on the West Coast arose from the action of the predecessors of the present Government. ,He trusted that whoover was in power would try to fulfil the promises of the Government, so that if they went to war they might do so with clean hands. There were now in Wellington goal thirty-four prisoners who had never taken up arms against the Government ; but who, on the contrary, had always fought on their side. He thanked the House for the great patience with which they had listened to him. (Loud cheers,)

T.K. MacdonalclA Go sell on Monday next, afi ve -roomed cottage and allotment of land, now in the occupation of Mr H. Svendsen Cabinetmaker, The horse case in the KM. Court at Masterton yesterday was- an almost interminable one. The question to be decided was whether the plaintiff, in breaking in the animals, had used undue harshness. To get at that there was a volume of evidence. The description of the two quadrupeds was carefully-gone into. Their condition at different periods was exhaustively ascertained. How to drive horses was another mine which was carefully worked out. Sores were counted,' numbered, and measured. The origin of sores was a matter of anxious inquiry. Fetlocks were a theme of unlimited'dilatation, We are sorry we have not ten columns of space at our disposal in order that we might report fully this extremely interesting case. The nomination of candidates for the Masterton Borough Council vacancy takes place at noon to-day. We hear that the proprietor,of the Waipoua Brewery has forwarded jamples of his beer to the Sydney Exhibition. The Court business, both criminal and civil, is very heavy at Masterton this week. The sittings will be continued this day. The Court House at Masterton becomes every sitting more uncomfortable and inaccessible. The small space allotted to the 'public is invariably closely packed, so that it is a work of no small difficulty to cleave the living mass and communicate with either the tifficers of the Court or the bar. It is time that more suitable accommodation were provided. If there is no money available for enlarging the building the sittings should be held in the

The case against Murtagh was called yesterday, ..but-remanded to this morning. Messrs' low's and Jergusson hold an importarit sale of land at noon to-morrow, and at 2 p.m. on the same day an auction of the large and valuable stock of fruit trees, shrubs, and flowers placed in their hands by Mr W. McCardle for unreserved sale, . . ■• . As an incontrovertible proof of the efficacy of prayer, we clip the following from an exchange;-"A gentleman in New South Wales was possessed of a parrot that had acquired a knowledge of the English language, let the bird out for a sunning. Whilst out in the garden a large hawk swooped down and bore the distressful parrot off as a prize. The parrot had a religious training, which came to her assistance, as at tho top of her voice she shrieked, "0, Lord save me! 0

Lord save me !" The hawk became so terrified by the unexpected cry, that he dropped his intended dinner and soared away in the distance. Polly survived her abduction a short time.

We hear, says a contemporary that there has been a terrific waste of forms, including many printed on parchment, in tlie Government printing and lithographic offices in Wellington, It appears that the authorities went on the assumption that the Marquis of Normanby's reign in New Zealand was to be perpetual, and printed large quantity of documents, many on parchments, containing the late Gouernor's titles, etc., at full length. This printing is now of no value, as the new Governor will not sign documents containing erasures of the titles of his predecessor. In a Canterbury paper we see that an extraordinary carrot is being exhibited in a shop-window in Cliristchurch. Its not weight is lClbs. This carrot is of the variety known as the White Belgian, and has been grown from seed supplied by Messrs Duncan and Son. The sowing is made in September or October, and with favorablo conditions a very heavy crop is secured. The White Belgian will no doubt be found a specially valuable carrot for feeding horses, since it has been noticed that, when mixed lots of carrots are given to horses, the white is invariably picked out with avidity. A Dunedin paper reports as follows of the labor market in that province :—" The usual quietness' of the winter season; between the short days and the broken weather, employers postpone engagements. Masons, bricklayers, etc.. are frozen out; couples, milkers, boys, bushmen, hotel people, and girls are in fair demand. Wages-Day labor, 7s and 8s; couples, £OS to £75; bnshmen, 8s per day; milkers, 10s, 12s, 15s, and 255; ploughmen, £52 to £00: shepherds, £65 : ordinary girls, 10s 12s and 15s; upper do., 20s to 30s; cooks, waiters, etc., 15s to 255; station smiths and carpenters, 35s to 50s, and found.