The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 716, 18 January 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1877.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political # * # # # Here shall the Pres-j the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

We feel confident that we are expressing the sentiments, not only of the people of the district, but of A uckland generally, when we assert that the Waste Lands Board do not command the confidence of the public. Their proceedings have been characterized by a want of foresight and an undue haste that does not augur well for the proper administration of the Waste Lands of this ; part of the Colony at their hands ; and the curious part of the matter j is, that the more powerful and i influential portion of the press have encouraged the Board. Both " Herald" and " Cross" have backed 'Tip ft!U*Jßi»r.r> Tn ]-»g,ll j a <vhat seems to us to be a very shallow and-Tvesir-attempfc to get the th 3 Colony in a laud speculation We over and over again pointed out that the deposit of 5s per acre as a guarantee of the fulfilment of conditions costing veiy large sums of money, was totally inadequate to meet the desired end, and that Mr Broomhall could afford to sacrifice his pledge and re-sell the land at a large profit. And now, forsooth, he is to get time in which to pay his purchase money, and to be allowed to lodge the amount of his deposit in New Zealand coupons, when indeed he does not appear to have had any resources whatever at his command. He can now wire home his very advantageous bargain, and of course the money will be forthcoming. But suppose the terms had been a little harder. What then would have become of all the gush of Mr. Firth and his confreres, and the varjtnrc of the Aj.ick.laud

crease of taxation by the introduction of foreign capital," and such like nonsense. Broomhall would have quickly memorandum myzod the Board to the effect that he could not agree to the terms, meaning, of course, that the speculation was not profitable enough, aud the affair would have lapsed. We observe that the "Herald" of Saturday comes round at last to our way of thinking, and following the lead of the hero of Taurangamoana concludes that the deposit money is not nearly sufficient to guarantee the " bona fides" of Broomhall & Co. But the evil accruing to us from this insensate rush after "foreign capital" does not unfortunately end here. We have agreed to alienate 45,000 acres right in the heart.of the country, uponwhichminy whohave saved money on the Thames have long looked forward to settle. The re fusal of the application of Messrs Rowe and Payne for land promised to them as a special settlement on the ground that Mr Broomhall is to have it, appears to us lamentable. Here is an Association of 13 " bona fide" colonists well known to all of us, men with grown families possess-. ing the requisite bone and sinew to tackle the hard work of reclaiming a new district, with thorough knowledge of the peculiarities of the country and with & fair amount of capital with which to carry on operations. They only ask for consideration for their claims on something like the same basis as Mr Broomhall so readily attained for his 600 and odd —well, human beings—and ai*e contemptuously refused by Mr J C Firth, who informs them that the promises of the government of the country which have kept these men here for the past two or three years are to weigh as a feather against the diction of the man who has " made a road " from Turangamoana to Matamata, through a part of his magnificent estate of 100,000 acres of some of the finest country of the North Island. These men ought to get the country if anybody does. If they leave us, carrying their money and their energy with them, the country will sustain more loss than the whole of BroornhaU's raw immigrants can rectify for years to come. We trust the Waste Lands Board will yet reconsider its determination, and thus give to a long-suffering public some slight assurance of their competency to administer the important affairs intrusted to their management by the colony.