The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning. Saturday, November 2, 1889. THE ATKINSON MUDDLERS.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 372, 2 November 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning.

Saturday, November 2, 1889. THE ATKINSON MUDDLERS.

Be just and fear not; Lot all the ends thou aini'at at bs thy country's, Thy God's, and truth's.

ONE of the most glaring instances of the incompetency of the present Government is that of the purchase of Rotorua, o( which there was a lease of 99 years to run. But the Wellington Post, which is possessed of all the facts, gives the whole history of the affair, and no further words need be added to the quotation • The latest land purchasing exploit of the Native Department is not one with which the country will be satisfied, or of which Parliament will be likely to approve. It is the acquisition of the land surrounding the mineral springs of Rotorua. This land is already held under lease to the Crown for 99 years, and it is therefore difficult to understand why the Government should have coveted the freehold. In all human probability theArawa tribe, to whom the land belongs, will have ceased to exist before the lease falls in. It must, at any rate, we think, be perfectly evident that no urgent necessity existed for altering the tenure, and we think that at the present time the Z9OOO which has just been paid as purchase-money might have been mnch more usefully expended. The land acquired is simply a mass of pumice stone, of no value whatever except on account of scenery and the volcanic springs which abound. At any moment this land may be overwhelmed by a con-vc'.-ion of Nature and disappear in the great lake, which has since the Tarawera eruptions considerably enlarged its borders by encroachment. But even if the purchase of the land was necessary or desirable, we hold that a most extravagant price has been paid for it, and we object most strongly to the manner in which the negotiation has been conducted. The Under-Secretary of the Native Department, having nothing better to do we suppose, appears to have constituted himself a Land Purchase (Commissioner for the Crown, and conducted the negotiation in person. He was at first accompanied by Captain Gilbert Mair, as interpreter. Captain Mair knows the Arawas well, and had the matter been in his hands, he would probably have been able to complete the purchase on very much better terms. Captain Mair, however, was got rid of, and Mr Lewis opened the ball by an offer of Z6OOO, just about treble what the freehold was worth, subject to the Crown’s lease, and fully double what the native owners would willingly have taken. They, however, knew with whom they were dealing. Maoris are shrewd judges of character, and well able to understand when they have a good soft thing on. They accordingly opened their mouths very wide and demanded Of course they knew they would not get it. A case is on record where a Taupo chief gravely demanded two millions (a sum of which he had of course no real conception), and wound up by accepting the same number of hundreds. Having made the extravagantly liberal offer of £6OOO, Mr Lewis, if he had understood those he was dealing with, should have mounted his horse and informed the natives that the Government would renew the negotion when the lease expired, 09 years hence. That would have brought them to their senses, and they would have jumped at the offer. What Mr Lewis did, however, was to use the wires to an enormous extent in communication with hischief, the Native Minister, to summon him to the spot to assist, and then to go on haggling with the Arawa owners. They saw they could afford to stick out, and so they bounced Mr Lewis to an advance of 50 per cent, on his original offer, and at this worthless purchase was completed. An army of bank clerks, policemen, and others accompanied the Native Minister and Under-Secretary to pay over the Z9OOO in gold for a few acres of pumice stone, and the operation was performed to a joyful chorus of ‘ Kapai Lewis, fcapai the Native Office.’ Altogether, it is believed that the purchase will cost the colony some /t 1,000. It will probably be recollected that some of the Rotorua land was laid out as a township, and strange to say tije allotments were let on lease at high rentals, many of the lessees, we believe, being members of the Legislature. The bargains proved very bad ones. The land was not of the slightest use, and we doubt very much if the rents have been paid. That there are arrears, we are quite sure. We shall now be quite prepared to hear that the Government, having become the ground landlord, will proceed to cancel the existing sub-leases, or to reduce or to remit the rents. This will, no doubt, quite suit the Jessees, but we regard the whole transaction as one which will not suit the taxpayers of the colony, at whose cost it has been effected