The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1082, 31 May 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. t Here shall tlie Press the Peoege's right maintain, Unawed by influence and tmbribed by gain. '"'

Persistently for the past few years we have urged upon the Government and the public notice, the claims of the people of Ngaruawahia to have the lands put up for sale which lie aronnd thai; township. The progress of the Ngaruawahia settlement has been seriously injured by the action of the Government m this matter. To this cause alone may be attributed the stagnation of business m what was once the most thriving of the Waikato townships. Other circumstances and the growth of other districts may have wrested from Ngaruawahia the position which its settlers once hoped it would would have matured. But if this was impossible, Ngaraawahia might have progressed and flourished had it had fair play|in the matter of settlement. At the time when the railway was m the course of construction, there were scores of small contractors and others who had saved money, and who would gladly, if land had been procurable on reasonable terms, have invested their savings m small farms outside the township. The fact was pointed out by this journal at the time, but without effect. But, although so exceptional an opportunity has been lost of procuring a good class of cotter settlers m tho suburbs of the town, there is still no doubt but that the suburban lands, if offered for sale, would meet with ready purchasers, and if a large proportion of them was sold on deferred , payments, with conditions of residence or improvement,

to bona fide settlers. There are some two or three thousand acres of excellent land, forming, as it were, a belt around the township, which has been looked up by the Government for years, which, had it been sold, would now have, been covered with homesteads, producing 1 agricultural and dairy produce for transmition to the Auckland market, and maintaining a back country population, the beneficial effects of whose trade with the township of Ngaruawahia, would make itself unmistakably felt. ,We are glad to see that the people of Njjaruawahia are afjain moving m the matter. A meeting of the settlers called by the chairman of the township and district boards has been convened for this, Saturday evening, to urge upon the Government the desirability of at once offering those suburban lands for sale. On such a matter the voice of the settlers should be as that of one man. There can be no room for party feeling or jealousy but all should combine m one loud and hearty demonstration m favour of such a movement. The season for holding this meeting is ,'opportune. A few weeks ago aud it mi&rht have been urged that these lands or a portion 'of them were required t for native purposes, but the withdrawal by the i Premier of the terms offered to' the King at Hikurangi leaves the Government absolutely free to do what they like with them, and jnstice would point to the claim of the people of Ngaruawahia as the first to be settled. Nor need the Government injustice to itself and to the colony fix a large and prohibitive upset price upon these lands. The colony is a debtor to Ngaruawnhia m this matter, NgaI'uawhahia is, we believe, the only township m Waikato by the sale of lands m which the Government has derived a revenue, and m it's case a very large one. Other townships have been given away to military settlers, bnt owners of lots m Ngaruawahia bought tliem at the Government land sale, and at prices which nothing but a belief that the township would have boen maintained as the capital of the district would have warranted purchasers m giving, and it does seem most unjust, now that these hopes have proved fallacious, that the only opportunity the township has of progressive extension and improvement, should be studiously withheld from it, or that if, at last, the lands are put up for sale, it shall be at a price, as once before was intended to be fixed, which would render their purchase prohibitive.