The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2063, 25 April 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1907.

Tub burgesses of Gisborne ar anticipated, have given Mr rownley another year of office to be added to his already long public career o seventeen yoars as Majoi, anc twenty-nine years’ continuous service in the capacities of Mayor and Councillor. It is a record to bo proud of, and as Mr. Townley Ims announced that this eloction will bo his last, he will bear his honored unbeaten certificate with him to Ins grave, but very few will fail to express the hope that that event may lon<r be delayed. Ho has fought the battle and won, and oven Ins opponent cannot say that he has said or clone anything that would bo in the least calculated to cause unpleasantness, and for Mr. Lysnar it must also bo said that ho conducted Ins campaign very fairly oxcopt that lus information was somewhat misleading. Bo that as it may, the hotter man won; and our support of the winning candidate was baset solely on that assumption. Wo should have regretted to see Mr. Townley defeated by Mr. Lysnar because of the firm conviction that Mr. Townley is the bettor mail to servo the ratepayers, yet it may happen that as Mr. Townley has fought his last fight for the. civic chair, we may some day he found [ supporting Mr. Lysnar; but that will entirely depend upon who Ins opponent may be. There are those who regret Mr. Townley’s success on this occasion, believing as they lionestlv do that he has “got into a groove” in municipal management, and that his ideas have not progressed with the times: hut it is scarcely fair to lay all the blame for that at his door, for the Council over which he has presided must take their share of it. We are far from thinking that the Council as a whole lias exhibited that’ lively interest in the town that could fairly be expected from it, and manj things have been neglected that ought not to have been. Ilofvever, we°have now a new Council the members of which are pledged to observe broad progressive lines, with perhaps the. solitary excepeion of Cr. Whinray who has not committed himself very far in his published address, and if they are true to their election pledges there . ought not to be any cause for complaint in the future. The majority of the newly elected Councillors admit, and none of them have denied, the necessity for an early drainage installation, and the question of obtaining a plentiful supply of suitable road metal comes next in importance; but in view of the strong probability of the starting of the harbor works at Kaiti at an early date it would not bo wise to make any permanent arrangements iii another direction in the meantime. When the Waihirere quarry is opened up it will be found that broken metal can be supplied at either Whataupoko or Kaiti from the trucks by the Harbor Baord in such quantities and at such a price ns will enable the Council to metal all the streets at a less’ cost than they could be metalled from any other source, and at the same time enable the Harbor Board to get rid of its spawls at a fair profit. In view of that being done, it would not be a had move to municipalise the gas works for the double purpose of supplying cheaper gas to tlie users and of utilising the tar for road making with the metal. •This experiment has been tried in Wanganui with more than anticipated advantage, and the Council there has already lowered the price of gas from ten shillings per thousand foot to five shillings and three pence at which price a fair annual profit is shown. In Gisborne the same result might easily bo achieved with good management, and if tlio project is to be seriously considered at all, as it deserves to be, there is no time like the present. There is not much use now in discussing the past, and while there is work to he done the best tiling is for one and all to join hands in the one endeavor and with the fixed idea to maintain a steady progress ill municipal work consistent with the borough finances and the ratepayers’ ability to bear the burden of necessary taxation. While congratulating the successful candidates upon their victories, it ought not to be forgotten that the defeated ones have done their duty as citizens in coming forward to work for the public good according to their several lights, and that all the candidates could not be successful. Probably the Council as elected does not as a whole meet with the approval of the majority, and it may br found— Irl.nt, as a TCSIIIt of tile cumulative system of voting, that very few voters, if any, voted for every member of the Council as it now stands because there are so many ways of bunching nine out of the number of candidates without touching the nine successful ones. Then there are many who voted for a lesser number and did not approve of the others; blit on the. whole the business strength of the Council ought to be sufficient to do all that is required of it, and to do it well.

The football season was commenced at AVairoa on Saturday last when AVairoa North beat AA T airoa City by 9 points. - AVith the addition in a few clays, of a couple of extra telephones, the Tahora line will have thirteen stations in circuit.

The Cook Countv Council has a notice in this issue to carters and carriers.

The programme for the steeplechase meeting iuifj“r_ the auspices of the Gisborne Racing Club, which is to he held oil July 4th and sth Will he found on another page. The stakes have been considerably increased, and everything points to the meeting being a very successful one. Mr. O. G. Brown advertises that he has the cutting of 2,500 acres of light hush at Ruakituri to let. A pleasing feature of the Mayoral contest yesterday was "the friendliness exhibited by each candidate towards the other after the result was known. They shook hands cordially, and fraternised afterwards away from the gaze of “the man in the street.”

In another column Mr. J. Townley returns thanks to the burgesses for liis election as Mayor. The return match between the Gisborne and Tnranganui Bowling Clubs takes place on the latter club’s green this afternoon.

Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure for Coughs and Colds never fails.—ls 6d and 2s 6d.

The worklv sock sales will lie held it' Mntuwhe'ro to-day. Present en trios are advortisod in llus issue. After the police business yesterday morning, the Magistrate, Mr. Burton, issued a prohibition onlci against a middlo-agod wan, upon bis own application. A mooting of tbo Marumaru Racing Club (the first for three yearn) was held at AA’airoa on April lotn. Over thirty new members were oloctod, and it was decided to hold a race mooting on June 3rd. Tlio following letters nro lying at tlio Post Oflico awaiting claimants : From United Kingdom: J. Cartwright, T. Hughes; New South Wales: A. Johnston, F. Kingston, J. Murphy, J. Fella green ; Victoria—J. Deo, H. lid wards, F. llardy, J ; McDonald, M. Murphy, J • O Keefe; Q-ueonsland —D. Campbell; Tasmania —T. Mahoney. At the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning, before Mr. V . A. tsarton, S.AL, Henry Spencer 1 hipps, charged with entering licensed promises during the currency ol a prohibition order against him, pleaded not guilty, saying ho did not remember being there.- Constable Irwin stated that at about half-past one on Monday, ho saw Phipps emerging from the British Empire Hotel, and knowing him to he a prohibited person, arrested him. Accused explained that during the last week, his head was muddled, hut it was clear now. His acts had already cost him and lie asked for a chalice, Premising to do better. Detective Maddorn stated that some people got liquor for him. His Worship said lit would like to have them before him . they were ten times worse than ao cased. As accused appeared to he m a reasonable frame of mind, a chance would he given. He would , have to come up for sentence if callei. upon, in a recognisance of £o. Upon a further charge of procuring liquor 1 re pleaded guilty , and was dealt with f in the same way, tbo amount belli; [ £lO. The Magistrate made it cion that hoavv penalties would lie in ' dieted if Phipps offended again.

A visitor from Dannevirko, recently in town, informed a Times’ representative that business in that town is still very brisk, and is likely to continue so. Tlio cutting out of tlio vast areas of timbor around the town and district caused uneasiness to some, but the opening oi large areas of land, which are being cut up, principally as dairy farms, will form a permanent industry. Twenty-five thousand acres are being opened up at Tamaki, within a couple of miles, and some good dairying country is also available on tlio Piri Piri side. Some of the bush, including that at Tiratu is being gone over for the fourth time, tlio sawmilling industry being still in existence. Many of the sawmillcrs, 'however, have emigrated to the Waikato, King Country, and Taupo districts,, where there are millions of acres of virgin forest. As the vast areas of mixed native hush are being ruthlessly destroyed at Motu, an object lesson can he drawn from Daneevirko, which ten or twelve years ago was a very small place indeed, hut is now a thriving town of 3500 inhabitants, tlio success being entirely owing to the working of the timber, and the ready means of transport. In one month alone (a record) twenty million feet of timber left tlio Dangevirko railway station.