PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1881. CENTRE OF THE DISTRICT.

Patea Mail, 14 April 1881, Page 2

PATEA COUNTY MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1881. CENTRE OF THE DISTRICT.

A petition in favor of forming a separate County north of the Manawapou is to he circulated for signature. Is this really a burning question ? One thing should be explained before petitioners sign, namely, what is the real object of forming a separate County ? In the absence of information, we may suggest several objects in the hope of hitting on the right one. Perhaps northern settlers like County government so much, they arc anxious to have more of it. Perhaps they don’t, but half a dozen townsmen may desire to make Hawera the capital of a new County, not because that will conduce to economy, nor because many northern settlers want the change, but because it doesn’t matter what settlers want so long as the half dozen at Hawera get their way. Hawera is vaunted as the centre of the settled district, the centre of the land district, the centre of the County, and therefore the the only proper seat of local government. The provoking thing is that nobody outside of Hawera can be made to see this. There are persons at Hawera, numbering six if not seven, who can see this so clearly that all other persons must be blind—color blind, as experts call this defect of vision. The six if not seven see another thing, namely that if Hawera be not the centre of the whole district, it may be the centre of part of it. Thus from the Manawapou to the northern boundary of Patea County may be created a separate County, with Hawera as its centre of administration. A good idea! because Hawera would be the capital. But here comes a hitch. If the cry has been that Hawera was the centre of the district, and ought therefore to be the capital, and if that one reason has been sufficient for all the deputations and strong speeches, how does this all-sufficient argument apply to the new County area ? Instead of being the centre, Hawera would be only six miles from the southern end, while it would be 25 miles from the northern boundary. The Oeo block will be sold and settled as soon as the native reserves are fixed ; and the bush land behind the Plains is in process of settlement. The new County would be so lop-sided, that northern settlers might soon have reason to complain of the grasping unfairness which had fixed Hawera as the official centre, its location being at the remote southern end, and therefore away from the bulk of settlers in the new area. Thus we deduce a Hawera text in political morals:—Get your township made the centre for honest reasons if you can, but any way (jet it.