FOXTON HARBOUR ENDOWMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 85, 24 June 1879, Page 2

FOXTON HARBOUR ENDOWMENT.

Although last year Parliament refused to look favourably upon proposals for the endowment of Harbour Boards, it is certain that during the ensuing session the question will come up for discussion. A section of the Wellington people (including the Chamber of Commerce) are strongly advocating the creation of a Harbour Board for Port Nicholson, and if we remember rightly, Sir George Grey has indirectly promised Government aid towards the attainment of that object, and also towards the endowment of the Hoard by grants of land. Should this be done, and endowments be set apart for a Board at Wellington, a principle will have been affirmed, that Harbour Boards are entitled to assistance, and Manawatu can with perfect c >nfidence present its claim. It will be remembered that when reference was made to this subject by tlie deputation to Messrs Macandrew and Ballance, the latter gentleman remarked that the reason Manawatu received no endowment was because no data were sent in to enable tlio House to understand what works were proposed or required. The Foxtou Harbour Board should profit by past experience and the remarks of Mr Ballance, and bo prepared with at least a general plan of what they think should bn done to improve the river for navigation. At present the Board exists in little else beside name. It has comparatively speaking no funds, nor any source of revenue. It can only waii, Micawber-like, for something "to turn up," Bud the members should bestir themselves, and be ready to take advantage of tho tide of fortune, when the flood sets in. It is certain that the decision of Parliament last session to grant no harbour endowmeu's, is not uu changeable. A few days ago, we quoted tho remarks of Mr Moweu, M.U.R. for Kaiapoi, who holds that " we should go on developing our harbours until not a siuglo navigable creek in the colony is left - undeveloped," and who ridiculed tho idea of the railways being damaged by good harbours. Tbe same vi'jws aro largely shared in by the colonists. The House of Eepresentatives put a stop to tho whole affair, simply because an endowment " rage " had set in. To refuse all endowments, would bo a greater error than to give too many. We trust the Harbour Board for the port of Mauawa'u will lose no time, now Parliament is ou the <3ve of meeting, in obtaining the information necessary to enablo them to go to Parliament with a strong 3ase. A. few pounds expended in tho liraction indicated would perhaps bring about a largo result. - i'

ic Commission of the Peace Sottlcmcn. lias been rapidly progre.*i:ig la'cly iu th" rf-indon and Carnarvon Districts) and the "p:o ; .;it.iiicnt of Alussrs Sanson, M'K 11,510 an ' Rockol, will supply a decided waut. Building Society.— ln another column, appeais an advertisement c-.llirig a uubhc meeting for Fi idny nexc, at tho Foxt m Atlieiituuai, "to consider tho desir;ibili:v of forming a Building Society iu Foxt.m." Th.) chief object is to thoroughly von ilati th-j question whether such all instil ulion would receive sufficient support from the general public. We understand one or fcwc residents think the proposal premaure and that a sufficient number of shares would not bo taken up to nialco it a pay able and prosperous affair, whilst a failure would perhaps prevent tho matter" bein» taken up at a more opportune time. These views are not at all generally hold, but we think it will be far bolter that tho mattei should ba gone into and discussed fully, sc that tho number ox shares likely to be taker up will become kiuwn. To expect the Society to be a large affair at first woulc bo absurd. We believe that though small aud working in a humble way, it would b( an institution of great benefit (u the plac> and therefore claim* the support of th. residents, "iVorkmen, apprentices, a.'K servants, wonid find it 'il ve:y pi'ontabl menus of investing their surplus vaires We do nob look upon it merely a3 a median for capitalists to invest their money, bu rather as a kind of savings bank, iu whid persons of small means could lay aside thei earnings. At any rate, we would urg every resident of IToxton and its neighbour ! hood to attend the meeting on Friday, an judge for themselves of ihe argumeni used in favour of or 'gainst tho proposci ' I Society. We will gladly make room fo 1 j any letters forwarded to us upon tho sul jc-ct. VALfJATros. — We undersfniv.l a number 0 ■ j persons liaVe objected to the land tax val untion on the ground that since it was mill a great depreciation has tuiien place. Iti j stated that no objections on that score, wil i 0e allowed, aud tl)Ot for the purposes of th • I tax, the value of the land in la&t Januni 1 ) . j when the valuation was made, will be atl , hered to. i CoUut. — A sitting of tho R.M. Court wil I be held at Foxion on Wednesdnj- next, whe the case of tliroateriinsr language agains 1 Kawana Hunia, of Horowhenua, will b 1 tri/d. VSastjon EAir.WAV. — It is stated that D Rockstrow intends to oppose tho Sando 1 Railway Scheme, on tho ground that the re quirement* of " The Distii-.t Railways Act as regards deposit of list of tolls, &c, hav not been complied with, the said document being left at the County office after th time specified by law. We notice tw 1 of the documents deposited by the Compan are marked with the date of receipt, an . tho initials of Dr ILockstrow. CnoiiAL.— The Choral Society will mec ; at the Public Hall on Wednesday evening Sal/E. — Messrs Thynne, Linton &Co hoi a sale of various articles on Thursday next The Gale.— The wet weather which pro vailed during the early part of last week was succeeded by a frightful sou'-westerl; gale, which ha3 blown almost without inter mission since Friday last, and is still howl ing furiously as we write. On Saturday and Sunday the force of the wind was ter rifle, but we have not heard of any damagi being done. The Manawutu River ha3 alsi j been in a state of high fresh, but no damage has resulted. The steamers Stormbird anc Tui hhve been detained in pott since Fri day through stress of weather. The gale ! appears to have been felt severely in othei parts of the Colony. At Wanganui, the cutter Annie and tho steamer Patea have both been sont ashore, the former being a total wrock, whilst the Patea is high and dry at low water. The ss. Wanaka met with fearful weather at Napier, where the storm appears to have hurst with tremon doii3 fury, and the officers say that the sea ni3t ou. the passage of the steamer bjtwcea Napier and Wellington was tho heaviest they ever saw ou the coast. At Wellington, as might be expected, the gale blew furiously, and on Sunday several vessels dragged their anchors, whilst tho heaviest sea known for a long time, was running at thcH>acls. A bit-quo named tho Bells has ■sunk in Lyttelton Harbor, owing to injuries received duri:)g the gale. Land Tax —There will be work for the Courts, owing to the largo number of ob jectious to tho land tax valuations. In C.interbtUT, tho total number of objections lodged is -2800 ; whilst at Nelson it is 400, and at Wellington 2200. Hospitality v. Courtk3y. — Some timo ago, on tho motion of a gentleman who holds several rather shaky appointments under Government, a leading member e>f the Opposition, who is spoken of as tho r nture Premier, visited one of the towns in Mmawatu, to give a lecture on Personal Experieuces, and as theM.H.R. picfers private lodgings to a hotel, tho gentleman at whose instance he was invited, could of course do nothing else but open his house to him. This was done. But on tho evening of the lecturer's arrival, a plain man knocked at the door, and expressed a desire to see him. " Ah," said the host, " you sec this is not a hotel, and it would not do for mo to allow you to disturb him here." The man pleaded that the M.11.R. was only down for a short time, and pressed his suit, which the host sternly rejecicd. At last tho latter said, " So ; here. Ho is going along with Mr Blank in halt' an hour. Wait in tho street, and speak to him then." I-I<>. waited, but though Mr Blank came out, the M.M.Ii. did not, and ho went disappointed to his home some miles away. Not to be outdone, however, he took the train a day or two after, and went off to the M.H ll.'s residence, about 50 miles awav, where lie did his bas'njss. Tho M.H.R. said to him, " Why didn't you soo mo when I was at ?" ''I couldn't," was the reply, and he proceoded to rolato tho wheile of the jirciunstauci'S. The gentleman listened with surprise to the recital, and though ho saiel nothing, it ij generally understood ho thinks his host hospitable, bat rather lacking in some other qualities. Otehgovekxed. — The Patoa Mail in n recent issue remarks upon the scarcity of candidates for seats on the local Road Boards. At the nomination for the Patoa East District, only three out of seven Commissioners wore proposed ; aud at the Patesi West nomination, the snnio number of names wore sent in; whilst Hawcra Road District neglected to comply with the Act at all. Our contemporary remarks as follows •• — " However much ratepayers may bo against nidging Hoad Boaids into the County Conned, it seems to us the only reasonable way of getting out of a difficulty, for it cannot be denied that the keeping up of so many local bodies is becoming complicated. Good men arc scarce, and those who are competent, are not willing to t-ike soats on the Bonrds and the Council at tho same time — therefore one or other of these bodies should be abolished. This is a matter that requires well looking into, and ratepayers should not jump at conclusions' and say that tho Council is not fit to un dertake the whole work of the County, for it remains with them to elect men that are competent to do it, and this would not bo found difficult if it were not for so many local bodies."

ILhwi — Ader b.-iug fe'ed to his hearf.'* coutesit, Rowi h;i<s left, Aucklanl and gone i 'o h!s home iu Waikato. Whether any perin.-tiioiit good will result, from his visit iiucl nil the accompanying hilkj is at least doubtful. Tho oUjeot dF thu Q- ivermnenfc 1 appears to liavo been sines the K>p>ia [ mooting to exalt Rewi into a power independent of Tawhi o, w ih the hopo that ' the Is ing 1 rrioyeuient wduld fall bdtween the , '• t.vro stools." Kow'i, however, appears too 1 wily to be caught with guile, and hua been , fiinUitig' a series of mystical addresses, in ( which he expresses nil kinds of good desires for the ui'urp, biit nothing definite. ! Ho continues to harp on the o>i' idea of being made a petty E ng; and desirtti th> s Government to hand over absolutely to him f a block of laud extending from Whain [ garoa Harbor lo the White Cliffs on one [ side, nnd to Lako Taupo on the other. This '. would contain, it is computed, between j three and a half and four millions of acres l of land. Over this vast area, he asks the } Europeans to surrender all rights. It would [ become, in fac'j a Maori Kingdom, as perfectly independent of New Zealand laws as 3 if it were a thousand niiles away. All Europeans would be rigorously excluded, 1 and a Maori Parliament would legislate for I the subjects within its boundaries. Upon B this t'.io N. 'A. Times of Saturday l'eni irks :— L " The questions of a large native reserve ' x and of tli9 buying- and selling of native f lands throughout tho ialaud are intimately [j connected with one another) and the great v beiiffit which we think might possibly ho e derived from the adoption of some such „ proposal as Rewi has niadcj is that it would j provide an asylum and a refuge for all those g natives who had sold tileir land and Spent j the money. Europoan purchasers of all r classes might operate with far greater f i-ee- ( dom in the native land market if it were known that a Maori territory existed ink Which landless Maoris might retire wlMi a I* certainty of securing a livelihood.. We l ~ suppose that Ifcwi's territory would sup- "■ par 1 ; every Maori i:i New Zaaland j then would be within the area nearly 100 aci'e; for every man, woman, and child of tin 0 native r ice in both islands, and more thai '» five tin es that quantity for all the Maori; who could possibly avail themselves of tin chance of establishing a little Maoridom fo II the Maoris, an imper'uim in imperlo, " Th< n following letter was sent by llewi to th it Auckland Star :— " Saliitations to the Euro e peans of Auckland. Having visited you town after tho absence of so niaay years, 1 ! i was much pleased by the hospitality showi me. This is my word to you all. Be care ful in assisting the Government and m; '„ people in the administration of affairs, am then the settlement of our difficulties wil L^ be the certain result. I wish you to kno\ '" thaj; 'he Governor and my party have com [ thus far on our journey (Mercer) in safet; and I am pleased to come with the Gover \ nor through this once isolated country. W are now on a new line of railroad, and w have also struck out a new line of policy >fc (meaning a pacific one). Let us go i! ;- future hand-in-hand together. — From you; d true friend, Rewi Maniapoto." t. Slaughteu.— On Thursday last, as th< , late train from Napier was approaching the '. bridge between Mr Dougl.is' aud Mr Camp^ '' bell's run, a flock of about 200 sheep were observed on the line. Instead of jumping off tho liue, the animals, with characteristic stupidity, in a body made for tho bridge _ The train sped among the fated mob, and , made frightful havoc. One unfortunate " } ewe got stuck in the cowcatcher of tbe s engine, and the train had to be stopped J to extricate its mangled remains. The extent of the carnage could not bo ascertained at the tim3, but when the early ' train noxb day arrived on tho f ital scene, | seventeen oarcas3>s and eight half-deid ' sliaep had to bj removed before the train 1 could pass. The sheep wjso the property | of Mr Douglas. As a precaution agaiust 1 danger to hum-in life, humanity towards [ live stock, and to prevent loas of property, ! the railway linj ought to bo fenced in aa s oou as possible.— Waip.iwa Mail.