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Bay of Plenty Times, Volume I, Issue 69, 30 April 1873, Page 3

When Captain Turner was down the Coast, we understand he let five and a-half miles of road, known as the Opotiki and Torere extension (betwten Torere and Marienui) to the Whanuapanui tribe. This road runs through very broken country, and when finished there will be a good tiding track in the direction of East Cape for a distance of about 40 miles. An enquiry has been held before Major Roberts, respecting certain charges preferred against Mr Tait, native schoolmaster, of Maketn. The evidence has been forwarded to Mr Commissioner Clarke. We refrain —for obvious reasons—from making any comment on the matter in its present Bfate.8 f ate. We have been requested by Captain Tovey to publish the foliowing letter :—“ In reply to your memo, of the 6tb, I have the honour to inform you that the boundaries of the district are being prepared at the Land Office, and that the district will be proclaimed as soon as the boundaries are obtained. You will then be able to elect a committee under the new Act, of which I enclose a copy for farther information.—l am, &c.. Feed. J. Moss, Secretary.—A. Tovey, Eeq., Hon. Sec. Tauranga School Committee.—Auckland, April 16. 1873.” In the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday fee police withdrew the charge against Charles Motsman, for fighting in the public street. Patrick Mulligan, drunk and disorderly was fined 10s. The same prisoner pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Charles Mossman, and was fined £2 and costs—£l of fine to be paid to prosecutor for damage done to coat. Coffee! —Brown, Barrett, and Co.’s Standard Coffee is both delicious and strong. Brown, Barrett, and Co.’s Excelsior Coffee deserves preference to any Coffee on account of purity and distinctness of flavour. Note the brands! Sold at almost every Grocery Establishment in lowa and Province. —£Adtx. 1

A meeting of the Town Board was held in 9 ’ 8 atore yesterday. The memorandum of the Board and Mr lerey, lessee of the pump, was read and approved. ' ° f £l ° 10s, rent of wharf, from Mr Boded, acknowledged. Mr John Harris McCaw’s appointment as auditor read from Gazette. Letter from Secretary to the Provincial Secretary, respecting the grant of £ICO, and reply thereto, was read, stating that the amount, and likewise the handed carried on. would bo Beach d ßo»d ho . co,n P letio " of thb Beach Road to the satisfiction of Mr AllhTr f ? r °P° Bed b J Captain Norris, seconded by Captain Tovey, “That Mr Burro ws be re« sion of d ß°/K r i’ Sh o pl r n and *P ecil Station of extenPorn« B h . Kuad J rom the Wharf Sellars' Corner so as to enable the Board to at once call for tenders for the work. he^ fte J ° Q Saturda 3 r afternoon the mQtnbera of the Tauranga Ride Volunteers held a meeting to discuss the advisability of advertising the parades in the local paper. After some general remarks, it was decided that the financial committee stiould present a full account of the monetary returns of the corps on the 21th May next, and that after parade on the same date a meeting should be held to consider all other matters of importance in connection with the corps. The meeting was decidedly in favour of having the parades, &c., advertised as usual.

Asmodeus writes as follows :—“ X consider myself a public benefactor in haring elicited your very well written and temperate article in Saturday s paper. On reflection, lam disposed to withdraw any former remarks savouring of inhospitality to travellers of the native race, and freely to admit (hat the maintenance of a hostelry is an inexpensive mode of pr -erring triendly relations with the native people. But what about the Pakeb -Maoris? The ‘intelligent’ writer of your article affects to be ur cert in as to the meaning of the 'erm, but at the same time gives capital definitions of two classes of the Pakeha-Maori, from which it appears that there are more than one cls°s of the family. The latter of the two are floridly described as possessing a practical knowledge of peculiarities of tribes which enables them to go straight to the heart of matters, and using influence derived from worthy and honourable (!) careers pursued within sight of tbe Maoris (! S) for the patriotic purpose of furthering the real interests of their countrymen—(l gasp for breath). There is a pretty general impression that it is the ‘ practical knowledge of the peculiarities of tribes * which prevents the persons alluded to from going ‘straight’ at anything, and that if Europeans derive no other advantage from contact with the savage they must inevitably acquire his craft, which is not, as maybe supposed, of the most exalted kind. The noble savage, both here and elsewhere, is only a specimen of humanity in its lowest state of development, and the * practical knowledge ’ of aboriginal peculiarities implies a reduction of the civilised to the level of savage usage and morality. I deny, sir, that ‘ Asmodeus ’ exulted in the ill-success of his fellow citizens He merely stated a fact which you have not yet contradicted. I did not make more than a passing allusion to the Missionaries, which, however, seems to have scraped a sore place, and, like the cabman with his horse, ‘touched’ somebody ‘on the raw.’ I ask you, sir, with all deference, do you expect to be believed wht-n you state that you are not aware of any Missionary who as be pointed out as a large property holder on his individual (italicised) account ? I presume you do not, or it would let d to loud cries of ‘ name ! name !’ from your readers, and to personal allusions which it is desirable to avoid. I honour the early Missionaries for the dangers and difficulties they encountered in days when the prospect of their career was far from inviting j I respect them as pioneers of a civilisation wfcmh was to wipe off an imperfect race and substitute, if not a better, at least one better able to keep up with the rapidly accelerating pace of the times, but as to ‘ dispelling heathen darkness,’ Ac., the evidence is not visible, except in tbe reports of Missionary magazines published in England from devoted servants of tbe cause in foreign lands, and from sensational speeches at ‘ May meetings ’ in Exeter Hall. An ecclesiastic .1 dignitary was once heard to say that he did not believe a single Maori had ever really been converted. Josh’ Billings says be thinks there are more Missionaries converted than heathens. Some years ego, it was stated by one who had been i tached to the staff of a M'ision in China, that on one ooeas'on the repoio sent home was that the congregation bad been greatly on the increase, and that converts were supplied with rations of rice, but afterwards, the supply of rice having failed, the congregation had almost deserted them. This kind of statement would excite a howl of indignation in the old country. Pious old ladi 3 who have sat all their lives under the ministrations of the Her. Barnabas Boanerges, who have wept into their pocket hankerchiels at the pathetic narratives of sufferings by the Rev. Jeremiah Jonas, emptied their purses into the collection plate afterwards, and who swear by their Missionary magazines, do not like to have their little pious romance so pitilessly destroyed. The poor old fellow who bad read ‘ i obinson Crusoe’ all bis life, believing it to be a true history, when told that it was only a fiction, closed the book with tears in his eyes, saying, * you have destroyed one of the greatest pleasures of my life.’ Tbe societies at home don’t wart this kind of information ; they represent extensive and influential institutions, commanding a large amount of patronage, and were an individual found daring enough to volunteer such statements from a platform he would, without doubt, be forcibly expelled and fearfully anathematized. The horror-stricken agents and subscribers of societies would exclaim that the hope of their divinations was gone. Like Demetrius, they might be supposed to say, “ this, our craft, is in danger to be set at nought, and the temple of the great Diana despised,” and they would be full of wrath, crying out, * Great is Diana, of the Ephesians.’ ” Mr John Harris McCaw has been gazetted auditor of the Tauranga North Township Highway District, in the place of Mr James Bodell, resigned.