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Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 475, 12 November 1879, Page 2

Mu Ballance has given notice to move that the functions of Waste Lands Boards ho exorcised by County Councils within their respective boundaries, and that Land Boards bo abolished in 1880. Probably few things, in the power of Parliament to enact, would be welcomed in this district with more enthusiasm than an Act making this proposition law. We have not been in the habit of supporting Mr Ballance or the party to which he belongs, but we are prepared to support him through thick and thin in this matter. We are ready to fish beside all waters, and take the good the gods provide, although they may not always choose a messenger to our taste. A pious old woman was once without bread for her supper, and, therefore, had recourse to a very audible and lengthy prayer. A kind passor-by, hearing what was the matter, hurried to the baker’s, and loturned with a loaf, which he placed on the sill of the open window. As soon as the old woman discovered it, she fell to thanking Heaven, but the passer-by stepped up and said, “ You make a mistake, I brought that loaf.” “ That may bo,” she replied, “but God sent it if the Devil brought it.” There have been few greater stumbling blocks placed in the path of progress in this County than the rule of that enligtencd, unselfish, and immortal clique, tha Taranaki Waste Lands Board. Being in league with the New Plymouth Habor, they have delayed as much as possible the sale of lands, in the hope of realising better prices, and being also identified with Now Plymouth, they have invariably striven to make that town as much the centre of the settlement on this coast as possible. They have done this by selling chiefly from their own side, and keeping our land shut up, and as the railway has been pushed along, so have the the sales extended, the object obviously being to make the new settlers absolutely dependent on New Plymouth. All this is natural and human, but a high authority informs us that human nature is corrupt, and can be trusted with its own affairs better than with those of other people. The sale of the land in the Patea County is obviously the business and interest of this County, and not of a knot of residents in a rival settlement. It is clear also that, inasmuch as the proposal in question is in the direction of simplifying our administrative machinery, it is in the right direction, and in accord with the spirit of the times. We should strongly advise the inhabitants of this district to hold meetings at once in support of this excellent and common-sense motion.