The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1877.

Waikato Times, Issue 844, 13 November 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1877.

Equal and exact justice to all men. ._/» iv.iaicvci suite oryv rsjasion, religious < r political *## # • *

Jere shall the Presi the People's right maintain, Gnawed nv influence and unbribed hy cjs.in

The new Government. seem determined to settle themsfilvsd in fcheir seats and v* en as best they au/ ja allowed with the work of the country. Whatever niay be the

obstacles in their way as regards business in the Assembly it is out of the power of the Opposition to, thwart them in any mere matter of\] detail in administration which they* may think proper to enter upoijif' Such being the case, we shall' not hesitate to bring into notice one or more matters affecting this district, which have been vainly urged upon the ~ preceding" XxdveTn-' meiit both by the settlers and the local Press. And one perhaps of the' oldest of these greviaucas, the neglect to remedy which is more than all a blot upon the administration of previous Governments, is that of the people of Ngaruawahia. That settlement was founded with a great flourish of trumpets. It was to be the central capital of the whole Waikato country, the specially favored of Government, and the town allotments put up at Cochrane's auction mart realised enormous' sums, at the rate of from £SOO to a £I,OOO per acre, all of which money went into the Colonail chest.

Now, we cannot of course blame the Government of the country, if as colonisation advanced in these parts the. natural centre formed itself elsewere and deprived the original investors in Newcastle town sections of the fruits of their expectations. That was a matter which neither the one nor the other foresaw, aud which no oue could control. But. if Newcastle could not be the the commercial centre of the Waikato, it might at least be the centre of a back country of its own, and that it should or should not be so was a matter which rested entirely with the Government. They have hitherto willed that it shall/not, and have deprived the town and district of a large share of general prosperity and advancement which they whould otherwiie have enjoyed. As we have said, the one great drawback to Newcastle is the want of back country, yf available farmiu<r land in its immediate vicinity; and that it is so is due to the neglect or determination of the Government. There is not much available land upon the western side the Waipa, the range upon its further side commencing to rise at a very short distance from the river bank, but as tho Delta op<ms out there is a good stretch of fair land—through which the roads to Alexandra and Hamilton run —still in a state of nature, except . that the clover growing freely where spread by the cattle speaks well for the fertility of the soil. The greater portion of this is locked up in the hands of the Government, and vain have been all the endeavours made to induce them to let go their grip upon it. Whether it has really been considered that £lO an acre was a fair upset price for this land, or whether, as was freely hinted at, that price was put upon it by the late Government as a purely prohibitive one, to enable them to put the land to other and less popular purposes at a future day, it is not possible to speak with certainty. This, however, is certain, that the price has prevented the land from passing into the hands of European settlers, and Newcastle, from this cause, remains to the present day a township without the immediate surroundings of a cultivated country to support it.

Some time since, while' public works were being- largely carried oa. in the neighbourhood of Ngaruawahia, there were a number of sub contractors, workmen, and others, who had saved various amounts of capital, which they would gladly have invested in suburban sections, in order to settle down as small farmers, and the Government was memorialised upon the subject, but in vain—even upw there are several such who would avail themselves of thf» opportunity were it afforded tlieui. And not these alone, but the original purchasers of town seciions and their successors have a right to such concession. They bought allotments in the township at fabulous prices, and would now be only too glad to secure the advantage of a garden or small paddock outside the town if the opportunity were given them. The upset price, however, is prohibitive in both cases. In the first, capital and labour are allowed to leave the district to seek a more .favourable field for investment, and, in the latter, the settler has to be content with his first loss in buying town sections too deal', and will not —or cannot —afford to give a fancy price to add to his already extravagantly purchased homestead. . We have had a change in the administration of the country. It has passed into new hands and we may therefore hope for a revision of the faults of- the past. The case of the Ngaruawahia settlers is one that claims the attention of the Government authorities. It is in their power to do an act of simple justice which will at the same time rebound to their popularity and credit. A year ago a perfcion, ox the lands about Ngaruasvahia those originally known as the Horotiu township, on the North side of the Waikato were adveroised for auction, at the same fixed upset price as before, £lO per acre. Before, how. ever that the months' netice of sale had expired thef were withdrawn. What we would now urge upon the government is to take steps to have not only those lots but the rural lands within the Delta contiguous to the township, surveyed off into five, ten. twenty arid fifty acre sections and offered for sale at the upset price of £2 to £5 per acre. There is no tiar of them going for less than they are worth but that will be;

far short of the prohibitive upset price placed upon them, and more?6vjer let of them beheldin the district and/jupt, as heretofore in the icase.df Waifcato lands, at Auckland.-; ! Nq; .■'■;man ofV/small mea'i%|§a. Wbicsh purchase thsse suburban lands cati afford' to go "to Auckland to bid for the lot he may want and which even then he may "hot" ¥e'cufe :: —while w tlie* faot: that hedid so : wx>uld ' be quite sufficient tocause Auckland laiid speculators to run him up and possibly purchase the laud-over his head.