EAST COAST NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1592, 2 November 1905, Page 3

EAST COAST NEWS.

PORT AWANUL

i (From Our Own Correspondent.) Oct. 26. This has boon a very wet week with occasional thunderstorms,, and consequently the roads are still ? in a very baa state, more especially the 000 between tnie port and To Araroa, which, is almost impassable in places. _ There is plenty of young feed now, and all stcok are beginning to recover from the eßeots of the exceptionally bad winter. ■ The settlors have oil finished lamb marking, -and everyone repo ts a good i lambing. . , On Tuesday tho schooner Aotsa arrived, add sailed the same day for Auokiand. The following day the s.s. Haupiri called, ! aod left on her way north after discharging 1 a small oargo. , . I Mr F. Delaney leaves ns at the end ot 1 the month for Tuparoa, and Mr Walworth, I who left hore some months ego, has I retarded to tako his plaoe, . I Great interest is being taken hore tn the I comiog oleotion. Last week Mr H< HWall paid os a visit and held a very successful meeting here.

.TOKOMARU BAY,

• (From Our Own Correspondent.) ~ October 80. We are at present eojoylDg summer wcaiber. Tbo roads have dried up, and already wool is on tho way to the shipping sheds, only light loads being passible owing to the roughness of tho roads. Mr C. McCracken was the successful tenderer for the new wharf and landing stage, the road formation from the hotel to Waima whore the wharf aod sheds are to be ereeted, and for the concrete culvert and filling on tho Hikuwei road washed I out duriog tho winter. Mr MoCracken will be a busy man for some little time, 1 and will require a large staff of men to put I the work through in the time specified. I The Haupiri landed last week the I greater portion ,of the timber from I Napier for the new sheds, wbioh are to be I erectad by tho Messrs Howetson Bros. I The Kugby UnioD Ball wbb a great 1 suooess, considering the lateness of the I season, and busy work having commenced, 1 Mr Fox is to be praised for the manner in

whioh ho oarriod out all tho arrangements, praotioally siDglo-handod. Tho soolal and danoo in aid of tho Cricket Olub bus ■'caught on,” and promises to bo a success. An open invitation Is extonded to all who oan find time to got away for tho 9th November (King’s Birthday). The Rev. Mr Walker delivered an interesting lecture on Friday night, and had a most attentive and reßpootful hearing. Several questions were askod and satisfactorily answered, and a cordial vote of thanks was accorded tho lecturer, on tho motion of Mr Siglßy, who thought the lecture a very instructive one, and to the audlenoo and himself quite a treat. Mr G. Kelley kindly officiated as chairman.

WAIFIRO BAY a ,

XErom Oiur dwn Correspondent.) At Waipiro on Saturday a large whole was seen disporting itself in the bay for about two hoursi and attracted a considerable number of spectators. The Bov. E. W. Walker, Ormond, addressed a fair number of people at Waipiro on Saturday night on the nb-itoense question. The speaker was aooorded a patient and attentive hearing. Mr Walker oonduotod service in the Waipiro Churoh on Sunday evening. The s.s. Haupiri worked ooastal ports last week, and experienced fine weather along the ooaat. : Mr H. H. Wall, in his electioneering trip along the Coast, donated one guinea towards the building of a publto hall in Waipjro. The building trade along; the Coast at the present time is pretty brisk, especially at Tuparoa and Waipiro. The visitors from thb Coast, who attended the annual Show in Gisborne last week have mostly all roturned to their respective homos, and speak in glowing terms of the undoubted strides of Poverty Bay from an agricultural and pastoral point of view. . Tho Tokomaru cemetery was surveyed last week by Mr 0. Nurse and party. i understand that a resident of Waipiro, riding to a danoe at Tokomaru the week before last, bad the misfortuno to meet with an aooident near Tokomaru owing to his horse stumbling in a wash-out near a oulvert, and . that the Waiapa County Council are to be asked for compensation, Politios are raging mad along the Coast and candidates had better beware, although Mr Wall had a fair time. However, Ooastal eleolors are waxing warm, and anxiously looking forward to see their old representative, who is certain to receive a very hearty welcome. There is very little likelihood of the representatives, of the Waiapu County Council being changed at the forthcoming triennial election. , The roads aloog tho coast are now in splendid order Bud the mail coaoh will start to ran again as Boon as a few neoossary repairs have been eSeoted. Shearing |bas been started on several places along the coast, but is being very muob retarded owing to tho weather being showery. The beginning of November will see all the sheds in fall swiag.

TUPiICRO*,

;From Out Own Correspondent.) Ootober 28.

On Wednesday last the funeral of Mrs Tamibere, wife of the Rev. A. Tamihere, took place at the Tuparoa cemetery. It was largely attended by Europeans and natives from many of the ooaat. settlements! showing the esteem in whioh the deceased was held. The stations ;in the districts are now busy preparing for shearing, whioh is expeoted ti ootnmenoe rarlv in November, a heavy clip being anticipated, The Toparoa station will this year have Moffit Virtoi e machines installed in all their sheds. Mr Coohet is at present engaged patting one up at Pakibiroa. The wet season has done considerable damage to roads in the district; they are now rapidly drying up, bat still leave e good deal to be desired. It will give our Parliamentary candidates—when they visit us—an opportunity of seeing our requirements in this respect, and of making wbat I hope may not prove rash promises. Perhaps this latter eIaUBO is superfluous, as it is well -known that candidates never promise anything they oannot oarry out. Perhaps you will exclaim, "What, never 1” Well, hardly ever, yon know. : It is rumored that tbo residents of Tuparoa contemplate starting a subscription with tho object of placing a olook in the PostofSoe tower, as they consider it a pity that n etruc’ure of snoh magnifioent architectural beanty should be lacking in this respeot.

COAB TAL CURRENTS. By “ Roma.” The residents of the coast generally and of Waipiro in particular must have felt highly gratified at the eulogistic terms expressed by Mr H. HL Wall, respecting the great improvements which have taken place during the last few years. These remarks, all complimentary as they were meant to be, and probably given with the object of gaining the confidence of the electors—and a few more votes at the coming election—nevertheless con* tained an element of truth which is not unpleasant to hear at any time. The most casnal observer could not fail to notice the marked improvements that have taken place since the advent of our Coastal Townships. The Native Township’s Act of 1895 has undoubtedly had the effect of centralizing the business places and dwellings in the different Bays ; so that instead of a few places of all sorts and sizes, and in different stages of dilapidation, we have now new and improved buildings which remind us somewhat of the capital city, placed upon ground which gives us satisfaction in the knowledge of safety under the Government lease. Although the act, was intended to be and is, to all intents and purposes most beneficial to the Maories; in-as-much as it constitutes them landlords for all time, yet without it there would probably never have been any great sum of money spent on improvements 5 and the buildings would still be as scattered as the plums in the proverbial workhouse pudding. Taking the township of Waipiro as an example, the values of improvements which,already existed at the date of lease amounted to about £4,800, since that date now barely two years gone, I am informed that at least another £3OOO has been spent on buildings alone ; and the whole of the 95 sections with, perhaps one or two exceptions have been cleared, fenced, and put down in grass, or are being cultivated. And the other townships have benefited likewise. Although it is thought by many that the value put uponthe land was ridiculously high, there was no alternative, and we had perforce to abide by it. It is very probable however, that when the result of the revaluation is known, we shall find the values considerably lessened. This of course, will have no effect on the main issue j the annual rental will remain the same, but a little consolation is afforded us when we remember we may be saved somethinglike 25 per cent of the rates—consolation at a halfpenny a pound. ; \y e : have on the coast at least one permanent asset—or it might easily be so— which the Government have so far failed to recognise. It seems almost incredible that a sum of money, however large, could be put on the estimates for expenditure on the Rotorua Sanatorium without our Member turning his thoughts to the resources and probabilities of his own electorate. It is quite true that somewhere about last election time, the TePuia hot springs were visited by Mr Donne and Mr Simmonds acting under orders from the Department; and the prevailing inipres, sion at that time, was that a thousand pounds or so were to be spent in laying out the grounds etc. But for all that has been done by the Government in this direction, the Te Puia. springs are still in the same lethargic state as nine years ago; and .instead of being transformed' into a place of beauty and publicly notified as the beneficial, healthgiving resort that it is certified to be, and as it has every' right to be, its popularity still remains merely local. I noticed under the nom-de-plume of ‘•Tokomam’’ in a late issue of the Herald, that someone with a memory at any rate three years long, thinks fit to remind us of the circumstances connected with the lease given to the Gordon’s at Te Puia. ' •• •. •

It is not my intontion to question the < fact ’ as stated by Tokomaru ; no doubt the Hon Jas. Carroll will be able to justify his own actions in the matter; but I contend, and I think anyone who is prepared to act justly will be of the same opinion, that if the Gordons are actually in possession of a Government leaso of the land, they are certainly entitled to receive compensation if asked to give up. One thing is certain ; that had tho Gordons not gone there in the first place, the Springs would not now enjoy even the local notoriety. Anyhow it is ‘odds on that had ‘Tokomaru” been smart enough and with the same opportunity, he would himself have taken the lease, I and naturally would not have bothered I his head about “legality” as far as the Government were concerned. I

POLITICS OUT-BACK.

(By “Bush Lawyer.’’)

As election time is drawing near, electors on the Coast are becoming a littlo excited. 1 The two issues before them, viz., tho selection of a candidate and tho looal option 1 poll, are making them wax warm and I more determined to sliok to their guns, as they have done heretofore. Doallng with 1 the first issue, it is unnecessary for mo to state tho favorite. But before going further I would like to emphasise tho very good reception that Mf Wall has had along the Coast, and more especially on aooount of his candid oritioism of the Government. Mr Wall has unfortunately announced j bimsolf as a Prohibitionist, and therefore I am afraid bis support from the East Coast will be rather Burprising. However, there is no knowing what will happen, and with all hts faults in that reßpeot he is otherwise regarded as a good “ stayer.’’ I do not 1 propose to deal with oandldato Clayton ; ! in faot I do not purport any oritioism about that gentleman until we have had I his views placed before us, only that 11 understand he is to be aooompanisd on his I coastal trip by a personage of Napoleonio I repute In these parts. However, let ’em all come. I don’t think that the eIQOIOW on tho East Coast will bo found indulging in a midday ” nap,” or, to bo more polite, a midday siesta. Be that bb it may, last, I but not least, there is the veteran campaigner—the Hon. Mr Carroll —oxpeoted j qo the previous gentleman's tracks, and if I tho weather ia at all unfavorable there 1b a chanoe of Mr Clayton getting into a fowl bog-holes along tho road before getting I book; that is of oourae if the Native Minister gets any way oloso on his heels, I and if Mr Clayton adopts similar taolios to j Gisborne meeting, things will look that | ugly that be may think it advisable to I telegraph to Gisborne ohartering a apodal I steamer, say tbs Shirley Hasell or the Tuatea, something staunob, to bring him safely home, when be will be able to get onoo more on the platform the night previous to the election, and recite in mourn- I ful tones—

" Home again! Home again 1 From a foreign shore; ..■$ , And oh! It fills my soul with joy to meet my friends onoe more.” It will be what prioe the bachelors then ?