ROB ROY REDIVIVUS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 433, 14 September 1880, Page 2

ROB ROY REDIVIVUS.

To the Editor

Sip,—The recent arguments in your journal as to the best s)'stcm of local government—E»nd Boards and County Councils —is one of those themes in which personal interests are paramount, and on which the pros and cons of the whole question hinges. If anything were wanting to prove this, wo have only to refer to the recent actions of both bodies. Take, for example, the recent action of the Akaroa and Wainui Road Board in appointing a pjreon ca'lcd a ranger to hound and levy blackmail on their neighbours , cattle and horses. They sneaked into office while the electors were napping, and now they have begun to show their teeth. I ask a plain question—Wh it right has Mr Hewer to a billet of this description ? and what power has the Road Board to make such an appointment ? It is well known that any person, if he is so depraved, may take cattle off the public roads and impound them, and the owner is also liable to a penalty on conviction ; but it would be a monstrous thing if any person could take to the job, and levy driving fees, under a threat of impounding. A better opening could not be found for the many brokendown swells who won't work, and who might in this manner become a tremendous nuisance to the very many hardworking settlers on the Peninsula, which is literally gridironed with roads.

Let us take the properties of the Road - Board members for example. Messrs Piper, Shadbolt, McDonald, and Williams' lands have roads through thorn, and branching in every direction—some formed others fenced in, and gates placed across to prevent their cattle and sheep straying, — and in every instance the actual worth of grazing these roads is more than an equivalent for the ratos they pay, and thesn are tho men who pass a resolution — appointing Mr Herbert Huwer to do— what ? I'll tell you what he is doing :he id hanging round the smaller acttlers' places like a wolf, ready to seize any calf, horse i cow, or pig which may by chance be enjoying a mouthful of sweet grass, and the very lame plea is—the roads are injured. •« Now, I venture to assert that one heavy load of firewood coining down the Long Bay road does more burin than a'l tho 0 t le grazing on it in twelve months. Tho main roads certainly ought to be kept clear without unnecessary hardship on any individ al settler ; tho law is not always administered with iron rigour; tho bow string must sometimes bo loosened, or tho bow will 10-e its strength. There is another objection to such an appointment: the police havo hitherto in every case done their duty without fear or M favor, and it is much better they should do the work, aa theirs is an independent appointment, and not subject to local toadying, button-holing, spite, jealousy, and prejudice. I am informed on good authority that Messrs Hewer and Drury entered Messrs Kerridge and Co.'s pro mises at German Bay, and impounded some horses. Why don't the Eoad Board members order him to impound off the roads within their own properties first ? and thereby set a good example. It is j. w quite time this tyrannical and cowardly -action Avas put an end to, and I would suggest tliat a public meeting be called for Saturday next, at Akaroa, as being more convenient for the largest number of ratepayers, and to take such steps as may then and there be deemed necessary for putting a stop to Hewer and Co.'s peregrinations. Ratepayers, remember 12 o'clock, at tho Criterion, on Saturday next. —I am, etc., RATEPAYER.