The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 617, 4 May 1876, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

ultogoiher cedies; and tins liuy beiloiieby the Government at ouoe ,co rallying with the petition of the people of Ngaruawahia, to which we have before referred, anpl which will be found in full in oar issue of to-lay. Tno thcowing open of tua su'rburban lands of the district for sale at a reasonable puce, from .£2 to £5 per aero — instend of as now at a fixed price of £]0 ( — and in blocks of not rioro than thirty. ,icres ; or bettor otill on fcho deferred payment system, bona tide occupation to form part of the condition of purchase, would even now create for Ngaruawahia that which it alone needs to iu&nre ita steady and growing prosperity and to place its future upon a soaud basis — a settled back country. The soil of these semi-suburban lands is good and oasily workable, and they would be speedily occupied. There are in Ngaruawahia and the district, at the present time, a number of small contractor?, workmen, and others, who hn,ve saved, sums of from £50 to £200. wh0 would gladly settle in the distriot, if land were available for the purpose. To pay at the rate of £10 per acre for a homestead of bare land, in a state of nature, is simply prohibition, from sattlement to small capitalists such as these, absorbing the very mouey they require to establish themselves and bring their land into cultivation. Had the township of Ngaruavrahia, as other Walkato townships have, a fair proportion of cottav and small farm settlers around it we should hoar no complaints of present dulness of buain p sa, or of dismal forebodixxgfi for the future. The matter is one of such immediate importance, that it will, we trugb, be prominently brought before the notice of the Defence Minister during his ensuing visit to Waik.ito. It is owe that should be entertained, not only in the interests ol Ngaruawahia, but of the Colony, and as n matter of simple justice it is no more than the former has a right to expect. Apart from the claims in this respect set fortli in the petition, aud they are in themselves no light ones, there is another aspoot from which the matter must bo viewed. According to the direct promise of the Gov-. ernmenfc, fcheßelandaare.toa certainextentthe recognised property of the district. A distinct promise wassome time ago madebj Mr Vogel, in his capacity of premier, that one fourth tho proceeds of the sale of confiscated lands should bo handed over to thr Board in whose district tho land was nituated. Thus a Lugo reversionary interest in this very land hn* b?et» vested in the township and district, and the people ot JXgaruawahia havo an additional right to point out to the Government how best that property in which thoy hold so largi> an interest should be managed for their ovsuand the public benefit.

Equal and exact ) tinned to all men, Or whatever itate or pgmuasiou, religious or political # # # # # Here nhall the Prcsi tho Pkopi.x's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbnbed by gam.

THURSDAY MAT 4. IST6.

The ease of NgariMwahia, is a bard one. Adventitious eirea mstances in the earlier occupation of Waikato gave to it un, impoi'tance and a temporary prosperity wliich olaced it at the head of the Waikato settlement?. As tho presumptive capital of Waikato large euius tvero freely bid at the Government land sales for town lots, it was made for a time the head qaarters of the Government and the military, and all went swimmingly. At tho pi escnt time it is the mobt compact and the prettieit township hi the Waikato. It -boaste its -hotels) shops, ehrmcheri, bank, milia, brewery and other adjuncts of business prosperity, but the life and briskness of trade have declined. That it is so isowinij to no want ot enterprise) on the pait of the settlers themselves, but to circumstances over whioh they have had no control, and for the continuance of which the Colouul Government is much to b!xi/>e. It was not sufficient that iidture hhould havu hemmed iv tho tawn.^hij and the dinti ict on one side by tho steep hinges winch form its western bo mdiuy, but t hatth&Guvernment must need erect an urtißuiul barrier to settlement in another direciiou by piaouuillt liC.insj ap soiuo tlioiis.i.i'ls vi ' acres in tho nnmed ute v lcinity ot hu cm-u 1 ship. This, with what seems the inevu.ibl 'curse of early sett ementH in New Xo.tlaiui, absenteeism, has entirely precluded tlu, lu'tilthy growth and cxpaiihion, witli out wliich no -settlement, -and esp • ci.ilfv <«ii inland country one, c.v' look tot petmiiuent and entablishcn pros erity. Bat lor the railway woik-, s>nU incomplete, which have given cm p'oymMit to ra<my and caused a cousidoi .«b'» l amount of money to be spent in tli dibtnet, Ng.viQAwahiii would have felt tht finch more beverety than ithasdo.m. h\t"i imw , however, the oppjt'tunitj 1 htnl ,iti .idei 1 to tho Cxovernm*Mit of ni.d - lMjr u uc'l) f»f the mi i hie! jlica y a „t, ('rum >» iiiij and lusi> fm^ uiiriii.B'if >•»;. muuD bftiwe «dveatitiou<i expoudituro