The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1876.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 159, 18 October 1876, Page 2

The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1876.

Oi;u New Plymouth, friends—for such, we trust, the people of that part will allow us to call them-—have been sadly exercised over the now positively defined limits of the Patoa County, and, contrary to what wc supposed, thoy are exceedingly dissatisfied with the Tangatara boundary. They have vented their displeasure in various ways, by telegraphingdo the Shiperiuteudent in Wellington, to Mr Kelly, the other member for that portion of the expiring province, and by other means. Our Taranaki contemporary, + hc “ Herald,” accepts the inevitable in a more philosophical style, and we reprint the following from its columns entire, in connection with the question. A short leading article published on Wednesday last runs as follows :

“Taranaki has hitherto been looked upon by outsiders as the pet province of Yew Zealand, but really the only portion of it that has been any way petted, and had the most done for "it, is the Patca district. Our portion of the province has borne the brunt of the difficulties of the past, whilst Patca has received nearly all the benefits. The Counties Bill has passed its third reading in the House, ami Patca has been lucky enough to secure the whole of the open land in the province within its County, it having been decided that the boundary lino on-the East Coast is to be the Tangatara Liver, which is about.three miles south-of Opunnke. _We have been soused to Provincial institutions that wc camiot®all at once get rid of the idea that by a curtailment of onr boundary wc shall be losers. In. looking over the Counties Bill we find that the fund for the management of the affairs of the Comity wiU be derived from the following sources —from rates, toils, grants or appropriations of the General Assemby, license fees, publicans licenses, dog taxes, hawkers, pedlars, ami brewers licenses, and other lees. yio residue of the land revenue for the lime being available for distribution amongst Comities, all rents from lines, and penalties rccoA’crable for oh dices committed against the by-laws of the C omities, and moneys by way of loans, subscriptions, &c., also" all other moneys which may become the properties of the County. It will bo seen from this that as regards the land revenue we shall participate in that raised from the sale of the open lands in a similar proportion to Patca, so the division of the County in that respect will not matter, and as we presume the making of the main line of road will devolve on the General Government, our best course is to agree to get the road at the back of the mountain made as speedily as possible, so that we nmy be connected with the Patca district, and thus become united with its open country.

We might supplement our contemporary’s information by stating that the Bill "has virtually passed the Upper House, and the boundaries may be said to bo now irrevocably fixed, is rather hard, however, that the New Plymouthians should exhibit what may be almost termed singular jealousy of Patea, as evinced in the opening of the article. We arc glad, however, that at the close some comfort seems to have been gathered, and wc can assure the people of Now Plymouth that Patea will" work heartily with them in doing all that is possible to secure the road in question, or to obtain the construction of any other work that would be so mutually advantageous. Though about to separate from Taranaki, as a County, the interests of the people [tore and those at the seaboard are bound up intimately, and whether Patea be a County or an outlying district of a province, the residents here will always wish Taranaki well. After the present feeling of irritation is over, we trust their ideas will be reciprocated by the. about-to-be-con-stitutod Taranaki County, and that, Though divided geographically into two Counties, Taranaki, as a whole, may unite in doing all that is possible for the good of its divisions, .