SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1894. POMAHAKA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4907, 20 December 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1894. POMAHAKA.

A singular telegram appeared in the Evening Post on Saturday night to the effect that the Minister of Lands had said, upon a visit of inspection to the Pomahaka estate, that he was of opinion too much had been paid tor the land, and that, to quote the telegram, it would bo a blue lookout for the Colony if the rents were reduced, Strangely enough there is no sign of this apparently enigmatic telegram in the morning's paper of the following Monday, but next day the Government organ, without re-producing the telegram, intimated that the little word" not" had been omitted from the sentence while the message was in transmission, Whether the somewhat tardy explanation of the difficulty is to be accepted we know not, but if the Post version be true, the Pomahaka purchase would be invested with a new interest. Surely the Hon. Mr McKenzie has not, after all,been forced 1 into the conviction that the Colony really did pay too much for the land, and that in plain English helms been fooled from beginning to end. It may look like it judging from that burst of confidence at the Clinton banquet, and the Minister of Lands is far too honest a man not to own up when he discovers he is wrong, If the Miuister has been reported correctly there is now no doubt, as has been suspected by those well .qualified to know all along, that too 'much was paid for the land, and the Colony has therefore been victimised, To do him but the fairest justice, no one would be more indignant than the Minister himself, if it does turn out that an over-valuation has been made, and he is not likely to spare anyone, be he friend or foe who has conspired to deceive him in the matter. ' To use a trite phrase, further disclosures will be awaited with interest. We have never ourselves had doubt about the Pomahaka purchase being a piece of scandalous robbery'and jobbery, although we credit the Hon, John McKenzie with being only a tool in the matter, There is in Masterton a sensible straight forward man who knowß the estate well, and his description of it is conclusive. We would sooner take tho word of one honest man in such a matter than a Parliamentary report brimful of quibbles,evasions,andmisrepresentations.