CORRESPONDENCE. [We do not necessarily endorse the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 223, 14 October 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE. [We do not necessarily endorse the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]

To the Editor of the Waikato Times. Sir, — A paragraph in your issue of the 4th inst, states tbat " a correspondent points out " tint Mr Mackay is paying the natives five shilliugs per chain for clearing fern land for a road. This is a moat deliberate untruth ; the facts of the case are that the natives are engaged forming the road at 2s 6d per chain, and Europeans on the same work are receiving exactly the same amount. The work done by the Maoris is subject to the same inspection as that performed by European!, and is not paid for unless done properly according to contract. I much regret to find that you hold the opinion thtt the time has passed when the presence of a General Government Agent in this district is necessary. I believe I am expressing tlie jentunents of u large proportion of my fellow settlers m Waikato when I say that a very different opinion is held, and tlmt the removal of the General Government Agent from Waikato at present would be attended by anything but gnorl results. I would ask how are the Government to receive anything like reliable information if they havo no tigent here, or if they have an agent unacquainted with the Maori lapguage and customs ; I, for one, have no fuith m interpretations. In some of your late i-sucs it had been insinuated — and insinuation is worso than accusation— that lome one is trying to make out that tho nnlnes are in an unsettled stato with the ucw to Ins own employment and emolument. If it is sought to identify thn said person with Mr Mackay, a greater mistake was never made. Mr Mackays private business is infinitely more lucrative than that of General Government Agent in W»ik»to ; and the position he now temporal lly occupies, jntt-not sought for by him, but I believe he was requested to accept the appointment, and he did so most willingly, hoping to be of use to the country; and while he may ha\e had a certain amount of ambition to be able to ellect a peaceful settlement of tho very difficult question between the Government and the Maoris, I am perfectly certain that he is a loser in a pecuniary point of view, and we till know Ins occupation is far from a sinecure. His most bitter enemy cannot accuse him of supmenoss, or neglect in any mr\ His greatest crime, so far a* I can make out, is that he is not communicative enough, and tlmt no one knows exactly his objeot in goinij hither and thither; if it was otherwise, his presence heie would indeed be olhttleuse. Doubtless hiscommurieatioiia to < i o\ eminent urc us full as they require to be. I belieio I bpeak tho sentiment* ol a large number of W«ikulo men when 1 «aj that we owe Mr Mackny a debt of gratitude for the manner in which he has conducted the Government busmen* heie. Ey his knowledge of the Jfaon character he has averted the war wlucli seemed imminent ; and war moans ruin to WaiLato settler*, Let vi not, then,

when wo are out of danger, seek to disparage the man to whom we o\u> so n uch. 1 would be;; to ob»ene that Ido not thus write in defence of Mr Mackay as an old an intimate fneuJ ; I believe I liuve only seen Mr Mackay three times in my h'V, on I once only (now more than four months ago) since ho cuine to Wiukulu; my sole object is to do justice to a. most energetic und untiring man, and so far as I can to disabuse the public mind as to his receiving any pecuniary advantage from the appointment he now holds in this district. — I am, air, very faithfully joura, Patbick Leslie. Octobor 9, 1873.

(To the Editor of the Waikato Timk9.) Sir,— ln your paper of the 9th October, I observe that a person signing himself Waikato Settler, has written a letter in defence of Mr Mackay and hit policy. Your correspopondent avoid » the question at issue ; his remarks are retrospective, in place of dealing with matters as they stand. I admit that Mr Mackay '• presence did give confidence to the settlers, not however, became he was Mr Mackay, but rather because an agent of tlio Government, supposed to hold special authority from the Government (which he did not) to act decisively, was sent to the district. Waikato 'a letter assumes that great danger has been averted by Mr Mackay. I am of opinion that the existence of the great danger is more than problematical, and am at a loss to see how the danger, if it existed, has been averted by the amount of unauthorized bounce indulged in by the ' Agent of the Government. I tliink, on the contrary, that the Government and people of this colony are now held in greater contempt by the natives than they were previous to the late murder. It is assumed by your correspondent that Mr Mackay has power to commence active hostilities if another shot be fired. I, in common with several of the settler*, with whom I have conversed on the subject, are of opinion, justified by past experience, that the result of another murder would be ai heretofore, a little bounce, a few men sent to the front, a deal of indignation and louU talk on the part of the settlers ; then what ? — nothing. Mr Mackay may be a regular fire-eater for all I know ; but I think I am justified in saying that the policy of the Government is quite the reverse, and Mr Mackay not being a regular Government official, according to his own statement, it is fair to presume that he would not continue to hold his present office if he did not agreo with those above him. If fighting is to be the order of the day, Colonel Lyon is a vetpran officer, in whom all have confidence, and whom all would follow much more readily than they would Mr Mackay. I have ridden over the road made by the contingent, and a more wretched specimen of road-making I never remember to have seen. It appears to me that great cost is entailed on the country with little result. — I am, &c., Waipa Skttleb.