THE Bay of Plenty Times. Wendesday, November 17, 1875.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 333, 17 November 1875, Page 2

THE Bay of Plenty Times.

Wendesday, November 17, 1875.

“THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES SHAH TEACH ME SPOT KING JOHN, ACT IV :

Ix our issue of the 6th wo drew the : attention of Captain Tanks, Immigration Officer, to the inadequate pjo- * vision made at the immigrants’ cottages, for the disposal of refuse, and sug-1 gested that a pit should be dug at some distance from the cottages for its reception. Wo understand that no action whatever lias been taken in tin matter, and several of the now arrivals have expressed regret that our sugges- ; tion has not been acted upon. To-day we have to call the attention of Captain Tunks to a far more serious nuisance existing within the radius of his jurisdiction, the abatement of which we

insist upon as an absolute necessity, affecting the very lives of the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood. Wo allude to the disgusting state of t the closets sot apart for the accommodation of the occupiers of the immigration cottages. By reason of the many complaints made to us personally and in our hearing, we were induced to pay the purlieus of the cottages a visit a day or two since, and the tout ensemble recalled vividly to mind the : back slums of a seaport town: bones, ; sheep’s heads, egg shells, vegetable matter, in a fast decomposing state—harbingers of disease and death—lay profusely scattered on ail sides, seething iu the sun, while the condition in which we found the closets was truly, revolting. It is on occasions the most unpleasant duty of independent outspoken journalists to dwell on subjects not admissible in everyday conversation ; and we find this to be unfortunately one cf those occasions., From under the high boarding fence on one side of the principal closc-i = we saw exoding and working its way obliquely towards the cottage opposite a liquid mass of putrefaction, a stream on its bosom carrying the germ of desolation to countless households. It is with regret, not unaccompanied with much amazement, that we notice that many of the new arrivals ■ apparently are not alive to the dire evils which under the hot sun of a New Zealand summer are the natural

result of the surroundings of their temporary habitations. should have thought, and to speak . plainly, had hoped that they tbemsolves would have broached this moat unpleasant subject to the Inmigration Officer, and thus have spared us tlw painful duty; because, while db* approving of the apathy of that officer, we cannot hold the new arrivals entirely blameless, for, doubtless, baa proper representation been made to Captain Tanks as to the want sanitary precautions in connection wita the immigration cottages, that gentk* man would have inspected the closed | and entourage personally, and adopt 1 -# precautionary measures against disease and death. Those of our readers have not been in the locality roferrea to on a hot day about three o’clock » the afternoon may fancy we are draff* , ing on our imagination when speaK* : ing of disease and death , as the, bufflaQ-J ; speaking, imminent result of the lilt j entourage of the immigration cottage® i hut we assure them we are nob : that we are conscientiously of that if the nuisance is reincv ? this summer will be one of disease JJ death. Now the removal oi dangerous nuisance rests in a ■. shell—any person can remove it j * - r the Immigration Officer and occupy ; of the cottages may roly upon 1 , steps for its removal will bo without delay. The matter under section 5, sub-section I*

Auckland Municipal Police Act. and under its provisions the owner or occupier of a tenement suffering a nuisance to exist on the premises is liable to a penalty. Wo should strongly advise that, if the nuisance is not removed forthwith, one of the leading men among the now arrivals at pros out located in the cottages bo Bimniioncd—ibo consequence will bo a f] no __and he, we should imagine, will then have grounds of complaint against tbo Immigration Department. As they are, wo understand, all paying jY nt, tiiov, wo think, como under the heading' of tenants or occupiers, and h) cmuing are legally bound to keep the i)remises clean..

AVh would draw tlio attention of the newly elected members of the Committee of tbo Tauranga Mechanics’ Institute to t lie desirability of placing on the tables of the reading-room newspa jams of a more varied nature than [hose hitherto provided. Tho peculiar character of the present age is sometimes denoted, perhaps not in-

■iptly by tho term liberality—a term of ambiguous import, and therefore denoting a quality of questionable price- - —for if, by liberality bo intended a licentiousness of sentiment, careless ■is to the grounds of the opinions it adopts, and indifferent to the essential distinction between right and v,nmg, truth and falsehood, it is a duality worthless in itself, and baneful in its consequences. Such is not tlio liberality wo desire to see more palpably adopted by those having the management of the Institute; the liberality we would inculcate is one oi allowing every man to judge for himself, to consider dispassionately for himself, and of affording assistance to such as are threading their v. ay in tho shady paths of indecision, seeking for an inexpressible somethinggiving to every man a gonej reus freedom from irrational prejudices in the forming of opinions, and a courteous benignant manner in j maintaining them. It should over be j borne in mind that the supporters of I tho Mechanics’ Institute are of varied i denoniiiiations, and that, therefore, |j everything savouring in tho remotest | degree of party feeling, should be | carefully avoided. Wo would not I advocate tlio introduction of -papers of I a mnimemal nature, but papers of a I demninnfkml nature should certainly Ibn placed ou the table. Hitherto, I The Church Gazette lias been tho only | denominational journal to bo found in £ the reading-room; whether such was | die case intentionally, or whether it I happened to bo there simply because I forwarded by tho publishers, as would The Advocate, Tuhtci, Jewish Chronicle, or any of tho various denominational journals published at homo or in tho Australian Colonics, had tho rcspcciivo publishers forwarded them, wo cannot say; but we know for a certainly that the fact has for some conIMderablo period been a topic of surmise, and one not calculated to promote the best interests of the Institute. We Mould suggest that such denominational papers as are not received gra--4 tuitously from the publishers, bo subi scribed to at once, and placed in the | reading-room.

I: is pretty authoritatively assorted hy those acquainted with tho native ! wind in this district that some diffii, unity will arise in tho surveying of tho TVko and Ihnigiora Blocks hy f renew of tho dissatisfaction of the | alive owners re the alleged non- | ■ dlilment of tho bargain made with | ' p m hy Messrs Davis and Mitchell | n behalf of tho Government. The | alive owners state that they sold the | clocks for a lump sum and not at an (acreage to bo hereafter estimated: that tho sum agreed upon by Messrs Davis and Mitchell and themselves as I purchase money was £3,000 to be I paid in cash when certain signatures I wove obtained ; that such signatures (iuivo been since obtained, but that the sum of only £6OO lias boon paid on { awomit, leaving a balance due of

; £2,-100. Wo do not vouch for the correctness of these assertions, but are satisfied from tho source we obitauod tho information that' the native I Toners have much ground for dissatisfaction. Captain Lloyd proceeds I this week on to tho blocks for the purI pose of commencing tho survey, as I T.mouncod by ns last issue, and we I are anxiously awaiting the action the j; natives may take on his arrival, and varied experience in the matter dealing with natives with regard io surveying disputed blocks, &c., and Tg have the utmost confidence that I tact and judgment that officer has Induced on similar occasions, will tend much to tho abatement of any inflation that may at present be operahng on the native mind.