Auckland Provincial Government Gazette.

363

The sum of £728 14s. 0d. I have also always maintained ought, in accordance with all the usages of the Public Service, to have been paid on the responsibility of Ministers. Their duty was in this case the more obvious from the deliberate and repeated promises made by Ministers on the subject. If they had the power thus to pay it now, they had this power at the time they ought to have paid it. I will not accept the sum as a boon to help the "existing difficulties" of the Province. I claim it as a right, established by the usage of the Public Service, and by the rules of public honour and good faith. Either in the latter light the payment must be made or not at all.

The recovery of the amount due for interest on Onehunga Railway has not been made "in the regular course of business." The demand should have been made monthly, and accounts should by law have been furnished to me, to which I should have had an opportunity of objecting and of being heard, before the whole sum was arbitrarily levied on the Province. I have already stated my belief that to take this amount from the capitation allowance was an unlawful act. I beg you will take the opinion of your Solicitor-General on this point. I am now taking a legal opinion regarding it. If my belief on this point turns out to be right, and the capitation allowance is not paid, I propose to take means in a friendly spirit, to determine the great constitutional question whether or not there are legal means by which the Provinces can support their rights, instead of either craving them by an unbecoming submission, or engaging in disputes which might have most unhappy and dangerous results.

G. Grey

Superintendent’s Office,
Auckland, 21st June, 1875.

THE following Correspondence is published, by direction of His Honour the Superintendent, for general information.

Reader Wood,
Provincial Secretary.

(1.)
Warden’s Office,
Thames, 11th May, 1875.

Str,

I have the honour to inform you that I am constantly asked by men professing to be intending settlers, whether any portion of the Ohinemuri goldfield has yet been set apart for the granting of Agricultural Leases.

I believe, although I have not yet been supplied with a copy of the Native Agreement, that it includes the granting of Agricultural Leases; and if so, I can see no objection to regulations being made, and the whole thrown open under Part V of "The Goldfields Act, 1866," as it would tend to induce men to settle down on those lands, in the absence of good freehold agricultural areas.

You will see, by reference to section 8 of "The Goldfields Act Amendment Act, 1869," that the maximum area of Agricultural Leases has been increased from 50 to 200 acres.

I have, &c.,
W. FRASER,
Warden.

His Honour the Superintendent,
Auckland.

(2.)
Auckland,
15th May, 1875.

To the Honourable
The Colonial Secretary,
Wellington.

I have no knowledge of the agreement with the natives in the matter of the Ohinemuri Goldfield. No copy of it has been supplied me, or to the Warden. Can Agricultural Leases be granted under it? Could not a copy be supplied at once?

G. Grey

(3.)
Government Buildings,
Wellington, May 17th, 1875.

To His Honour the Superintendent,
Auckland.

Mr. Mackay will be able to give your Honour full information as to agreement with natives about Ohinemuri. Mr. Mackay will be instructed by Native Minister to communicate with you.

Chas. C. Bowen

(4.)
Hastings,
May 17th, 1875.

To
His Honour the Superintendent,
Sir George Grey, K.C.B.,
Auckland.

I regret very much that you have not been supplied with a copy of agreement with the natives for the Ohinemuri Goldfield, and have instructed Mr. Mackay to supply one without delay. There is a provision for an Agricultural Lease, but not having a copy of the documents by me, I do not remember the exact terms.

Donald McLean

(5.)
Auckland, 16th June, 1875.

To the Honourable
The Native Minister,
Wellington.

On the 17th May you expressed your regret that I had not been furnished with the copy of agreement with natives for Ohinemuri Goldfield, and said that a copy should be supplied without delay. I have not yet received it.

Questions have arisen which I cannot decide. My usefulness is destroyed, and my authority weakened by such delays.

A man named Porter has just been with me, to whom I made a promise in conformity with your telegram of May 17. He assures me he has been expending sixty pounds a week, relying on my word, and others spending large sums.

G. Grey

(6.)
Government Buildings,
Wellington, 17th June, 1875.

To His Honour
Sir George Grey, K.C.B.,
Auckland.

Re Ohinemuri agreement, I very much regret that delay has taken place arising from the agreement being locked up in a box by Mr. Mackay, with his private papers. Mr. Mackay is here, but will be returning on Saturday next, and has been instructed to furnish your Honour with a copy as soon as practicable.

Donald McLean