THE Bay of Plenty Times. Saturday, September 4, 1875.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 312, 4 September 1875, Page 2

THE Bay of Plenty Times.

Saturday, September 4, 1875.

"Tr!!; SPifiJ Or iHI l\m S.iALL TEW'! M- 3?EE ; J.'

In a loading 4 u (iclo in last Wednesday’s issnl Clp r c gave it as opinion tliat/|- r j conclusions arrived at by the pi ' lately hold in Auckland Is environs re the Abolition Qtu' J mi 'wore not ilio result of honest conviction, hut rather of excitement caused by questionable oratory of a fervid nature. All public assemblages are liable to maladies of electioneering of infinite variety and subtlety, whereby they are not imfrequontly made to express an opinion diametrically opposite to that liar bored in their innermost hearts. The world has got so much accustomed to regard public meetings as affording’ the best method of eliciting the independent opinions of the community that one is apt to forget how completely a figure of speech this is. Assemblies, casually collected under excitement (such as vas palpably the case in Auckland), amusingly illustrate how impossible it is to vote anything without a recognised authority to determine vlmt snail be voted. Hundreds of persons stormily propose a hundred questions with more or less ability, and after all storm, in vain, do tahe a rote at all, there must ho a partv to propose some question or nothing is done, and the critical point ah\uy& is, who Is it that proposes? The Jiistory of plebiscites may instruct tio how vcry

easily iny result* is obtaijed by any one, Vkb b the imincnt. commands ■ the ? oiib iu|>orta|l point k the process—be pcwer £ frame tie question of app'ul a a manner the most secludfe b tlujiniud of ilio public. If ton liousmd cdaeiis vrhout concert were privity to write down their grp auto oj-uions ai questions of Cobnial polifV, and deposit the pa port iu ti* 1 I Alt box, a reliable expulsion Tuulu k evoxcd which can neverbe luped f a d pul Ik meeting's. The Opposition ib'ss profess to regard the lesobticas carried almost unaaimousV at die meetings recently held as the sir* exidence of the real state of llmpd-dle aind as existing in Auckland aid tie immediate neighbourhood : onireb ignoring the probability thatnuny o. those present at the various noting were entirely ignorant of tin ■milt' under discus- : sum, actually went hr the express purpose of obtainng iiiormation from the speakers ju the platform, and ultimately allox-ol thefiselves to be led by the nose by sick d them as could disclaim the Most It is an old sarcasm that tin \to of the wisest and the vote o’ tic sEicst member of the eommunitj daub each alike for one. The vote of i public meeting professes to express.the will of that mooting, not so nacli its wisdom, biif in fact, in m degree cam it be said to express is elective will. For. taken in any IgA. the wills of dif - ferent persons near totally different forces. One nun sarccly lias a will; his feeble impilsns at most, take , shape in a doiutful preference. I Another man lus a rill before which, that of thousands welds. Wo never in practical Jifcrcgrd men as having e|ual force of mure, nor do we account vague imhneies as cqnivallent to resolves, bis the same with opinions: the opiiion of one man is a thoughtless faap of another it is a reasoned convivial. In practical affairs wo allow’ ill this, if wo arc j dealing with a of people wo pay more regard to tic vehement will and solid convictions (f ten, often oven of one, bum the shipless impressions of a hundred or e,a:i a thousand. "Wo value the foniioi and neglect the latter: wo feel tint the former is n force, and the letter is not, and wo ■issuine that in tine, sooner or later,

tiro former will carry its point. Whenever mou neet, in politics, in business, or in «• minty, wo assume as a matter of course tint the leading wills laud soiid beliefs out;weigh the rest. |ln anyway in whicl forces can ho I (c:dod wo ihul tlus i nit. and expc-l 1 "■ /■* c 'P y , community, 1)0 it ebb, association, constituency, city, or nation, will ho determined hy i bose membtuu who, relatively to the rest, arc rot the cleverest or the best, but the strongest, and the most tenacious oflkir om aims, and most apt to laid otlm to (Mr aim. Of a thousand men present at a meeting, the vote of each is exactly cqnivallout ; but how many express conviction of knowledge, hove many ex- | press habit, accidcn:-, irresolution, indilb Tern o, ignoranm, prejudice, or - thoughtlessness, wo can never know. Yet those arc precisely the facts we | need to know if we are to measure | the forces which the nnoting posi sossoa; if the vote is to bo o real test of the balance of forces, and not simply an enumeration of heads. Tlio organised j I resolve of one-tenth of the community j is often a gr .iter power than the flabby volleities of tire oilier niiio-

tenths. And yet those very men v;ho I UTLCunsdollßlv 0 iohi to - • ll: ; tlSCOlmcwyy--oftliO Uliudst tllOlft If (lie i (allot hoi wore c;l:ri, -d round av mid belie their own jbnlgfient, and go bmk upon their formal de»y on. Almost nil great tilings for a line have rested in the energies of , small majority, and most groat clnngcs in history have slioavu a resoldc ion,' assorlng the ascendancy of oimdion. Vath regard to the quest m nose agitaing the public mind, tie battle is vifch the strong fern, am sooner or Her, the many mill bo bong]it to viol, to them, and heartilraud intcliigatly join them, Hochtief, like individials. have epochs vliei the lesson.: oi union and dub Invo to bo iored on them from Avitioa before they uivo become siiHlnbutb habitual to bo adopted from dame. Children Horn to act like rospnsille citizens by l?mg trained to (lonanj things contrary to their will md contrary to tlioir understanding Jfct as caste, slater)', and Avar hav< hac a power for good in the educaion of the human race,

and have hitoried Justification and value, so tie caw-ion of irresponsible masse by llw ruling will ami intellect of the hr has its own historical inipa-tanu and honor. H conclusion, it attars to ns tl-it, if the object cf th? Provincial Pa.ty in Auckland vis to discover, not chore political ior-e wai to be fount but. where it omanil/ was not o tc found, if its aim was not tcmai--sure the i>ne of tiro citizens, >ut to ; form a muse an. of -rotchots, wlvrc- the

schemes of all the cliques _ pedants, ami fanatics in the might be collecteii it has snt’ccdod admirably by means of public meotina's. ; _

| A Napier correspondent informs a I Southern contemporary 11D “ travel- ) levs from the Hot Lukes veport the | road between Tauranga md Oliinej mutii very had for cughcen miles. I They recommend tourists ‘g go up | from the Napier end.” Wo regret I that by sue h Telegrams us the above j appearing' in the papß’ s tourists ! should he misled, for. thoigb Imre is u portion of had road in -ho Europe bush, to width, reference if lUtide, yet all through the past wiuteith) coaches | have never failed to run regularly ; from Tauranga to Ohinoiiuitu, and passengers have always Icon safely landed at their destination, TTioonly slight inconvenience experienced by travellers being that occasiofidly they may have been asked to wilk for a short distance when the pull was particularly severe cm the horses and this lias only occurred when the ;oaoti lias been extra crowded, though never by any chance have lady passengers boon put to any inconvenience fwm such a. cause. Wo admit the road t) ho very bad in places in the winter hue. A\ e have drawn attention to tie fact in our columns, and Captain Turner in his annual report for the past year makes the following rinarks: — “ This road was in good d’der until the winter rains set in. Slice then the part which lies in the fbmgorciva Forest lias been in a bad state, and. will always bo so in wider unless it be metalled, which wit be an expensive operation, and unTss the bush bo cat wider—say one drain extra on each side of the oeitral chain, which would have a ver- beneficial effect.” But the iucontro'ortible fact remains that any difllcultie attendant on tiie bud state of the read in the bush between boro and Ohincmiitii have only boon felt in roility by the mail contractor, who las had to supply the moans of conveyance, and not by the passengers, who have always boon convoyed in safety. Whereas there is a portioi of the road between Napier and Ohiivimitu which has cm several occasions during Iho last winter been wholly iripraciTable for conches—wo allude to the distance between Napier and Melaka, some 40 miles, over which the trivcllors have lead to ride if they wishoc to roach the Lakes ; mid wo actually mow of eases where travellers who have started on their way to Napier overland from Taurnir have return'd after travol--1 a,y„..w ~g a.vy,wJy, -s.. "&•*•*““*■ face the difficulties to lie cnouutorod at the Napier end of tie road. Under any circumstances, however, these remarks only apply to the winter time of the year, and then only in rainy weather, as in the Spring, Summer, and Autumn worths, the tourist, after being landed at Tauranga, can. in the space cf a few hours, and by the most agreeable and easy of coach-roads, find himself comfortably seated in tbo parlor of bis Inn at the Lake District, whereas, should lie lie foolish enough to take the advice given in the telegram wo have quoted, ho must spend throe or four long days on the road before lie can arrive at his journey’s end.

Wo would direct special attention to Ir I M, 1 largaville’s letter appearhig || another column. It is a master!™ production, and if road in an uiliilasM'd spirit, cannot fail to ro"jVnru] itself 1.0 l]u‘ l -^ ! 0()lISiuOillft)Ji u tanking mom 'Mr Hargavilc hove cmiriy how little tire Province wil giinby that insular soparaion vvldoj h d'claros to ho Bir George Greys oaicmtnitcd programme. CalouhIhgihe revenue of the Ncrtli Islanl G i*i0(),000, and estimating tliopr*prtim of .Provincial and Genoril lans for winch the Island | responsido at one-third of the Hole, Ir largmllo shows inmihtalnhlv tint tfviuy into account the mpenscsot iMdh Dcparlancuts (such ;s pxoiiti|o, Stamps, PriulLgy dh), Postal and Telegraph charges, (istnns, Grants to Municipalities aid Ibadßoards, Constabulary aid Miltia ! iid Tdimteors, it will ho hand tiat | slbuld have to face a dheit oat ; pot £ (MO. 000. Ho abuses Bir P/‘-org Grey of receiving the ooyfmrcton of Messrs Pollcitoii, Iflz- * i'ior. and MeAndrow on lie tndcrsUmding that the revenue of heir Provinces is secured % tlicnhiidieraoly. Yorily, a bold assoj*tbn; lut pain speaking is now the older of tie day, as witness Mr lavs Megran. ? o his constituents, in wliicl lie tolls hem that “those who voted ngaiH the Government Bills, mat k o like ; Mind or rnad!