FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 122, 19 November 1932, Page 11

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FKOM « THE POST "

A NEW GOVERNOR

Under the heading '' Governors, Old and. New," the following appears in "The Post" of this date fifty years ago:—"lf the report mentioned in today's telegrams as current in London last Friday evening be accurate, our new Governor has at last been selected bj' the Imperial authorities. Tho intelligence will not cause a thrill of enthusiasm to run through the breast of the entire population like an electric shock. At one time the nomination of a new Governor would have been an event of paramount interest, eagerly watched for beforehand, and earnestly canvassed both, before and after. But all that is changed now, and the announcement, if it is officially confirmed, ■will be read -with almost absolute indifference. Wo have all grown used to doing without a regular full-blown Governor, and -we get on quite well with a mere administrator. Nay more, we are much better off'under a prudent and capable Administrator such as Sir James Prendergast than we were under so ungenial, so unsuitable and incompetent a Governor as Sir Arthur Gordon. He was glaringly unfitted to fulfil the functions of, Governor over a constitutional colony. .3?or the sake of his own reputation, as well as in the interests of the colony, it is greatly to be regretted that he was ever placed In such a false position. But he has gone now, and we shall never see him again as our Governor. The colony has enjoyed the distinguished privilege of paying him at the rate of £7500 per annum, while a considerable portion of his Governorship, thus handsomely remunerated, has been spent away from New Zealand, either' in visits to Fiji or on. a holiday, trip to England. We have always ■ done quite well without him, and never wanted, him. at all. It was a rather stiff 'pull' having to pay him £7500 a year for 'showing off' at Fiji as High Commissioner or enjoying himself in England, but it was •worse to have him here meddling and interfering with, his constitutional advisers, and hampering their actions at critical periods with his whims and prejudices. But if to-day's news is true, the Home Government has on this occassion made a very judicious, choice, and one which we have no doubt will prove ihighly acceptable to the' colonists of New Zealand. In Sir William Jervois tho colony -will have a wise and constitutional ruler. He may rest assured of receiving a most hearty and loyal welcome on his arrival in New Zea-^ land." ' A NEW ENTERPRISE. ■ "In another column of this issue wo publish the prospectus of a new joint stock company which has been formed to purchase and continue the extensive business carried on by Mr. James Gear, in the way of meat preserving and exporting, and of butchering generally. ,We learn from the prospectus that tho promoters have arranged to purchase ;the business, and all the property connected 'with it, for £60,000, of which bum no less than five-sixths, has already been subscribed, being equivalent to half the proposed capital of the company. Mr. Gear's business,'its magnitude and success, are so well-known in .Wellington, that no .comment is needed en this head. It-may be remarked, however, that the prospectus bears the Jiames of a very substantial and influential directorate, comprising some of our most capable business men, while the rapidity with which the sharos have been taken up privately appears to indicate general confidence in tho proppects of the undertaking. It is contemplated to carry on meat-freezing and exportation of frozen meat as well &s the other branches of the trade, and to make advances to stock-owners on tetocfc sent Home through the agency of the company, or to purchase direct from stock-owners if preferred. Altogether, the new company will havo the means, of developing an important trade, both local and export, and if the business continues to be as ably managed in the "future as it has been in the past, it ongEt to have a prosperous career before . it, while as a means of further developing the "resources of the country it has our best wishes for its success." NATIVE AFFAIRS. "Those rat£er obtuse persons who Mem to imagine that Tawhiao 's refusal to accept Mr. Bryce's handsome offer means the permanent shutting up of the King Country, and the stoppage for an indefinite period of any further extension of the Auckland-Wellington railway southward from Awamutu, will, if we mistake not, find themselves greatly deceived. It seems to us that matters .have now reached a stage when the only negotiations needed are the ordinary;ones which pass between the Government and the proprietors of any land which is for sale, or through which a line is to pass. If the Native land-owners are personally willing to sell, they ought to be enabled to do so without any interference on the ground of antiquated savage prejudices or superstitions. If they object to a railway traversing their lands, that ought to be no more insuperable difficulty than a similar objection on the part of a European. There is a legal mode of procedure available, and the North Island has a right to demand that its progress shall no longer be delayed by weak concession to illegal and treasonable pretensions. Mr. Bryee is armed with a potent pacificator in the Amnesty Act and the various Native Acts passed last session. It will be strange indeed if with those he ia unable to secure the co-operatioir of a large proportion of the Northern Maoris, and if the minority detest progress and prefer savagery, they will have to subordinate their preferences to the general good and 'lump' what they do not like. We believe that the Government are now- quite strong enough to ignore Kingism altogether in dealing with the Northern Natives and we shall be much surprised if some course such as that above indicated is not followed out." WHEN MAILS WERE SLOW. "Tho Wanaka .with the San Fran--cisco mail reached New Plymouth at 1.30 this morningl. Tho landing authorities tended her with such commendable promptitude and smartness that she was able to proceed after only hal£-an-hour's detention, and left for Wellington direct at 2 o'clock this morning. Now that it has been proved practicable .to discharge and dispatch the mail steamer at Taranaki in only half-an-hour, in the middle of a dark, moonless night with unfavourable weather, we hope we may not again have to complain of the monstrous delays which, have so often occurred in the past, and on which we have been compelled to comment strongly, not, we are glad to find, without effect. The Wanaka comes hither direct from Taranaki, but as she has a strong adverse wind and heavy head sea, her passage may be somewhat protracted and she can hardly be expected to arrive before 8 or 9 this evening."