The Standard. (PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY.) THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1874.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 160, 16 April 1874, Page 2

The Standard. (PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY.)

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1874.

We t-liH 11 sell to no num justice or right: We shall deny to no niun justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

\Ve fully expected to have heard something by the recent mail from Wellington 'in amplification of the terse telegram sent by Jiis Honor the Superintendent to the Chairman of the Poverty Bay District Highway Board, relative to the building of the bridge over the Waipaoa river; and the metalling of the trunk roads in the district. And we also looked for some new or additional light to be I brown on those other cognate questions : the terms on which it is proposed to sell the Patutahi Block, and what portion, if any, of the proceeds arising from the sale thereof, is to be set apart for local requirements. Nothing further, however, so far as our advices show, has reached the public press, therefore we can only hope that the good work Mr. Williamson has begun will be completed in such a manner as will be most beneficial to the district of Poverty Bay.

We have tried our “ level best ” to bring about the result which His Honor the Superintendent has, so far, achieved for us. In the face of the small official opposition to be met with here ; independently of the contempt which the Chairman of the Road Board has feigned to entertain for our opinion ; notwithstanding the existing desire in high places to assume a Dictatorship of personal Government over the local affairs of this district, we have striven hard to raise the veil which clouded the perception of those who, seemingly, did not quite understand, or refused to follow up, a clear duty ; and we have succeeded. There are no thanks due to the Road Board for the bare escape we have just had from seeing, not only the District capitation allowance from the General Government, but also the Provincial Government grant, and the locally raised rates as well, expended on metalling the trunk lines of the district, over which, as we have often written, neither the Provincial Government nor the Road Board have the slightest control. At the Board’s last meeting the expenditure of some hundreds of pounds w as voted for this work, and the advertisement calling for Tenders was in type, when the telegram, which we have already published, reached the Chairman ; the advertisements were, of course, withdrawn, and that large sum of money has been saved to us. In the clear way of wrong doing, it is idle to say that the money would have been refunded to the Board by the General Government. Those who are experienced in that part of finance which makes unsecured advances to Governments, know what little chance there is of having sums of money recouped to them, that are illegally expended bv incompetent hands. But, allowing tliis, it is not enough to be told that there was a chance of the money laid out on these trunk lines being refunded. Great and urgent as was the necessity for this work being done in view' of the coming winter, we unhesitatingly affirm that the Board has ' been unfaithful in its Stewardship of the funds confided to its care. Why, we would ask, was the winter allowed to creep so close upon us, before steps were taken at all in this matter ? And, when taken, we again ask, why in this direction? Why expend monies appropriated for other purposes, on roads over which the Board has no authority? The “Payments to Provinces Act, “ 1872 ” expressly declares that the amounts “ allotted to each Province “ shall be divided amongst the several “ Road Boards therein, in aid of the “purposes for which rates are leviable “ by such Boards." Does the Poverty Bay District Highway Board maintain that the rates levied by it, ought to be expended in forming the trunk lines of the colony? Its recent action — from the dire consequences of which we have escaped by the most lucky interposition of the Superintendent — would seem to say so. It was clearly the duty of the Board immediately on the proclamation appearing, which placed these roads under the provisions of the Public Works Act, to have put itself in official communication with the Geseral Go-

verninent, so as to ascertain its own position, and the views of the Government relative to opening the trunk lines for public traffic. That this has not been done is now made certain by the first fruits of Mr. U illiamson's negotiations at head quarters ; and we repeat that it is due solely to that gentleman that we have escaped a great monetary embarrassment, for the sums at the disposal of the Board would havedone comparative!vnothing in such a huge undertaking; the money would have been sunk in an unprofitable work, and nothing would have been left for other local repairs. We ask the Ratepayers to look these hard facts steadily in the face in view of the approaching annual election. We have little to complain of taking the Road Board as a while, but in its individual aspect, there is much for serious reflection. The Poverty Bay District Highway Board, like all corporate bodies, has a head, in this instance its Chairman, on whom devolves the investigation und elucidation of public questions. Emphatically this portion of the duty is claimed and conceded by the present Chairman and Members : but, unfortunately for their own independence, they do not place that check upon bis action which Trustees of the public estate should do; the consequences are, an individual—personal Government. There is but one member of theßoad Board, ami he’s the Chairman ; there is but one man in Poverty Bay, and Poynter is his name. Guided in the main more with an individual eye to personal influence than “ with an eye single” to the public good ; urged on by outside pressure to take some action in repairing the roads; too idle to ferret out the right thing to be done ; anxious to bolster up a spurious popularity by a large illegal money expenditure ; fearing his enemies and suspicious of his friends, the present Chairman moulds and fashions the business of the Board as it suits his own complexion. Between this and the election day, we shall take occasion to review some of the acts and deeds that have been chronicled during the last few months; but in the meantime we ask the electors todosotoo,and not lettheaffairs of this fine district be so thoroughly neglected, and the use of public monies so utterly perverted as they have been by being practically placedin the hands of one man, anti he beyond the reach of public opinion.