The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 717, 20 January 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever /state -er-perftuasien, religious or political • # ■■-# ■-» # « Here shall tbe Presi the Peoplb's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

BATURDAY. JANUARY 20, 1877.

There was a remark let drop by Mr Firfch, at the meeting of the Waste .Land Board, held m Auck- : land on the 12th inst, and published m our issue of Tuesday last, which has a very- ugly significance. Mr Firth is reported to have said, v He : " would be prepared to move when " other applications should be made ■" for land, as he believed would "shortly be the case, &c." Now. we had hoped that the Broomhall application would have been both 1 the first and the last of the kind. Indeed, a special clause was inserted m the Waste Lands Administration j Acfj, 1876, without which it would (haye 1 been illegal to have sold these lands to Mr Broomhall as has been done, and when Mr Firth alludes to similar applications, which he knows arc -about to "be oaaade, and talks of entertaining them under the altered condition of doubling the money penalty for non-fulfillment of improvements covenanted f©r, fee con- ' templates what would really be an illegal action of the Board. We do most earnestly protest, m the 'name -of the people of this province and colony, against private sales by any Waste Lands Board of portions of the public estate. The system is , one which opens the way to a perfect-; flood of jobbery and corruption. It is 'contrary to all fairness and justice j that any man or body of men, either! within the colouy or without it, shall have the privilege of picking oui the eyes of the public lands and j leaving the remainder for the ) general public Yet this . is .just what Mr Firth and his fellow boards-men have been allowing; 'to be done m Abe <;ase of the' Broomhall application, and, as it would appear, contemplate allowing m future cases. But such a thing must . -not be permitted. Where was the Leader of the Opposition, that his voice was not heard m indignant protest against such an abuse of the rights and privileges of the colonists # Alas, no party p-urpose could be answered by such a protest, and the watch-dog lay sleepily dozing, while the Act was consummated I It is contrary to all principles of justice that any portion of the public ; estate should be alienated by arrangement with the Waste Lauds Board until suob lands have been thrown equally -open to selection by the; .general public, and this principle will, wetrust, m all future transactions of the Board, not be allowed to be lost sight of. In the case of the lands parted with to Mr Broomhall, the colony has sold some of its most valuable lands for fifteen shillings per acre, for this is virtually what the purchase money and the amount to be forfeited, m <jase of non-fulfillment of conditions, amounts to. Mr Firth proposes to double this latter amount m future cases. The question, however, is not one of degree. It is not whether a speculator shall pay five shillings, more or less, for the price of lands thus arranged for with the Waste Lands Board, but whether it shall be permitted to such Board to grant to any one a privilege which is none ' ather than that of a pre-emptive right ia the purchase of the public estate.

A carrespondent writes to bs calling m question the accuracy of two statements made m our leading article of the 13th instant-, tbo first of which was made m reference to the necessity of county councils forwarding the valuation list of the lands witl\in their respective boun-

daries to s the Colonial Treasurer, the second refeiing to the danger which any county oouhcii runs, relying on this heing done by the several road boards, of losing part of its lialf of the £ for £ subsidy should any one of the road boards neglect to famish the required account. He takes objection, to the words of our article " on this valuation being* sent to- the Colonial Treasurer, on or before ihe 31st insli,, depends the payment of subsidies, <fee." This he objects, io, and endeavours to ride aw,ay on the statement that what is required is <l an account" setting- forth the total amount of all rateable property, -which has been, or might have been received by such council or board during 1 the year ending on the . 31st of March then previous, and the total amount of till general rates actually received by such council or board during the said year. Now our hypercritical correspondent is scarcely ineenuoras m his charge against us, for instead of correcting us with tihe statement that what is wanted is "an account setting forth," he should have quoted the words of tbe 32nd clause of the- Financial Arrangements Act cprpjectly^and have said "a true and rfetc£ihd account, :s£ci" The word italtcised^^kes- alt^he difference, for whatr jjs; ; -&;**. detailed acconnt of such particulars but* the valuation list itself,; 'not — we may state to save further hair-splitting — necessarily the identical copy of the list -made out by* the valuer, but a rescript of it ; therefore we adhere to our statement, that such list must be furnished as required, or that the local body; neglecting to do so runs the risk of losing all colonial subsidy as threatened m the con•cluding sentence of clause 32 above mentioned. The second statement for which he takes us to task is when we said : '• To put a <jase, any oae of. the v many road boards m a countyysay "of Waipa, may neglect .to coni- *" ply with the requirements of the " Act, and may thus forfeit its -share "of the subsidies through such ne- ■" gleet. If the county council had " depended on it own valuation list, " or on those of jihe boards, adopted " and sent m as its own, it would •" have drawn its full half-subsidy. H If, however, depending altogether "on this duty being performed by " the boards, it finds, when too late, v one or -more of tkem have sent m \ •' no valuation list, then the county's J " half-share of the subsidies will be ; "less than what it would have been <l by the amount of the rates of such " boai'ds thus neglecting their duty." j He quotes section 138 of the rat-] ing Act thus : — "lf the local body or the Assessment Court fails through misadventure or accident to do any- ( thing which by this Act is required to be done within a fixed time, the Governor may, by an Order m Council published' m the Government Gazette^ "and publicly notified, extend the time for doing such thing," and further goes on to argue '" I should imagine from this that if the county council found that a dis- ; trict m the county hai not made a ; valuation list they could apply to, the Governor for- an extension of time to enable the Council to get one made, and besides where no • valuation list has been prepared the , Court is required ;(sec .28 Eating Act) to get one made. If the Court • happeaed not to do so, I suppose the ; above clause would be applicable to the case," We doubt exceedingly if ! the term " misadventure" or " accidI ent" wonild -cover such an act of neglect. " Accident", it oertainly ; would not be, and " misadventure" I only m the sense of a "misfortune," : and if m such the local body can look with certainty £&c indemnity from sec 68 above quoted, the ■Htjoanty oouncils and road boards may^set about their business m a very perfunctory majaaaer relying on the application of sec 68 of the rat--1 ing Act to coyer all sins of commission or emission of which they may be guilty — a very couveuient creed. We shall shortly refer to several clauses and provisions m the Eating ; Act, with the object of enlightening our correspondent aad others.