The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 985, 15 October 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1878.

Equal and exact justice to all inon, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. * ***•*■ Hero shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by i'dJuencw Ullt l "iibribed by gain.

Xhe common sense of the Assembly has saved fche colony from being made the victim of too nice a sense | of honor and justice m the case of] the Broomhall contract. We could understand the position of a Governmout anxious to keep the spirit rather than the letter of an agreement where the oth^r contrasting party, through accident or unforseen j circumstance, had been unable to fully complete the terms of the contract— " we. could understand how, at any loss and at any cost, a Government should seek to validate an agreement; ifformally made where the otljejir contracting party was anxiously waiting to carry out tne full terms of the contract. The case of Mr Broomhall, however, was not one of such a kind. From the very first he had obtained a grant of this land, so to say, under false pretences. He had visited the colony , us a philanthrophist anxious to promote the immigration of the working classes at home and to settle, m the cause of temperance, a community of these personsin some part of New Zealand. With an admirable eye to business he selected one of the most fertile and best situated tracts of country m the Auckland Provincial District, and, dazzling the eyes of the local Waste, Lands Board with visions of British capital, cajoled them into granting what really was not theirs to grant, was not indeed, as Mr Sheehan has pointed out, at that time the property of the colony. The bargain, however, was struck, aud a very good one too for Mr Broomhall and his scheme. Still good as it was, Mr Broomhall was not content. The original agreemeut wus that he was to pay the price agreed upon for the land at one©, and give a guarantee of £12,000 for tho fulfilment of tbe conditions,^ a snm which we pointed out at the time was utterly insufficient to secure theii faithful completion, But Mr Broomhall was not t)o he hud even on these terms. The Waste Lauds Board thought they had done a wonderful stroke m the work of colonisation. The Auckland Press caught up the strain and gJoritied Broomhall and the Whitworth settlement as it was called, and Mr Broomhall was not; tbe man to lose sight of the opportunity. The original terms of the purchase were, on an application from him, modified to an arrangement that instead of paying the whole price ot the land he was simply to give security for the payment of half the' amount, and receive a clear Crown grant. Strange to say the Waste Lands Board did; not see what tbis meant, but granted the request. Then there carae oat the real facts of the case. Broomhall, with such an agreement, could go into the market at h'bme I and negotiate the bargain as a marketable commodity. And this we are not surprised to hear he did. When this became known to the Auckland Waste Land Board the scales at once fell from their eyes, and at a resent meeting | they besought the Government to introduce into the Broomhall Validation Acb a clause embodying the original conditions of settlement upon which the Board concluded its negotiations with Mr Broomhall. J The report, which we publish eiaewhore, of the proceedings m the rlouse of Representatives m this matter .will meet with the verygeneral approval of the public. The eolouy v/as b »und neither m law nor justice, neither as a matter of business nor as a question of liouor, to keep its terms of the arrangement, while Mr Broomhall so flagrantly refuasd to abide by his. The Assembly has taken a perfectly legitimate coarse, fiuding itself master of the uitaatiou, m puttiug- down the Broomh-ill .scheme with a high hand. It was never from the first intended us a legitimate colonising undertaking. We pointed that out; more than a yo;tr and-a-halt ago m thi-se columns. Tho English speculating public wore tired of doubtful mines and dubious raihvaj' schemes. They wanted n new unnffcxtion, ?{ew

Zealand wis r An>. i'.iNorite uoiuuy, ami New Zealiiud w ( >eoi.ii settlenißut, estates had all tlu- elements of a taking nature likely io become ilk; rage at home. There was ihe laud, •iii.i liiu . m Knglsunl . arrios with it n eorl.iin amount of res|K!ct«l)ilUy.. •md weight,; ;horo w»s (ho modtil 1 : community 100, (o lio established, nd .ibnvt! all, there was money m i c scliHin*'. And, doubUoss, Imt for the fortunate hitches which havo arisen to mar the smooth ness of the uoiirse of fnie speoul ition, the ' Auckland VVasJe Lands B aid would kave had many another similar ■ipplication to that of the Broomhall jne to consider. ludeed, W3 may be thankful that Mr Broomhall was the arrant speculator he ha 3 turned out to be. Better as it is, than that he should have attempted to have fulfilled his agreement and raa le New Zealand, and this part of it, the Qeld for the sefctlemeut of the re. rase population of tl.e mother country — that while he kept the promise to the ear he should have broken it to the sense. Better :>« it is,, than that our wast.lands, instead of being taken up by bona fido capitalists aud others for purposes of genuine sottjemeut, should h«vo passed iulo the hands of English speculato>s, for the Waste Lands Board aud the colony would have found themselves — -like the Vicar of 'Wukefield's am Moses, who, when the fauiilv w«"-n pushed fop money, sold his father's horse for a gross of green spectacle- 1 — m pos>ession of some shiploads «>f v ery cjtuestioiiivble 'i rnmig-ra nts i 1 1 returrifor; the pick of the public esta:e of the district. We warned the Board- that, irrespective of legi.l i difficulties which hayed 'sine-* cropped up and proved fatal to the giant, they were morally '.wrong, and acting illegally as well, m grantiug a pre-emptive right to land which it was their duty first to have thrown open for selection by the general public. A.ud herein was the great wrong sought to have been inflicted by the Auckland I Waste Lands Board on the public at large. They were taking the children's bread and casting it to the dogs. They denied to men who had borne the heat and burden of the day— who had fought the bitter fight of the ooiouy through the hard times of early settlement — the reward of their Jabor, and offered their heritage to strangers. This very block was the one to the opening of which numbers of indus tiious miners at tho Thames had been looking forward for years. Many had waited till all hope was past, and had left for other fields. Some still remained, and then, when at last it became certain that the Government would soon be m a position to open .these lands, they suddenly found a stranger's claim preferred to theirs! Thank Heaven, however, this monstrous wrong has been thrust aside by the good sense ot the House, and the colony will now be m a position to do a tardy act of justice to the people of the Thames, which the iniquitous alienation of the pub ie estate m the interests of the Broomhall scheme must have prevented.