The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1874.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 199, 26 August 1874, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1874.

“We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

The notice which appears in our advertizing columns, under the hand of the Chairman of the Poverty Bay District Highway Board, cautioning all holders of stock at present depasturing on the Patutahi Block, to remove such stock by the 15th proximo, is a step in the right direction, and will be the means of removing one of the chief difficulties that at present stand in the way of administering that fine niece of country to local advantage.

Pending the receipt of official advices on the subject, we are not able to lay before our readers any further particulars than are conveyed within the four corners of Mr. Habdy’s own notification ; but we think the reasonable conclusion may be arrived at, that, as the General Government has delegated its authority to the local Board to take the initiatory steps towards the ingathering of a revenue from the leasing of those portions of the block capable of carrying a crop of grass seed, it is with a direct promise, and on the distinct understanding that the nett proceeds will be handed over to the Board for local expenditure. This is not only reasonable, but just; and we could have wished that the information furnished semi-officially to this office, had been sufficiently clear on that point so as to place the matter beyond doubt. We do not care to open the question of grievance which some, who have a direct interest in gratuitous stockgrazing on the Patutahi Block, assert will be inflicted upon them by the action about to be taken with respect to the peremptory removal of their stock. But we may here state that it is manifestly absurd for those who are merely trespassers —tenants-at-will if they complain in having notice to quit an occupancy which is unprofitable to any one but themselves. They may, it is true, justly argue that the stock which has been grazing on the block for years past, has made the land what it is; but they have had their quid pro quo, and on remarkably cheap terms ; and the public may now say in reply to the graziers that the grazing to which reference is made has made their stock also what it is. If the benefits have been mutual, there can be no harm done, or injury inflicted, by a friendly suspension of favors which are no longer desirable or necessary.

The Patutahi Block stands, in its relation to this district, exactly in the same position as a block of land in any other district—held by the Crown, and capable of being administered under the land laws of the province—stands in relation to that district ; and we have yet to learn that it is customary for the Government to consider that the squatters without licence on Crown Lands have a grievance, or claim to special consideration, in being obliged to remove their stock for the public benefit. The broad, plain fact of the matter has, no doubt, an unpleasant effect upon the interests of those who argue their case from a personal, and, consequently, an interested point, of view. But we do not frame our remarks upon such a narrow gauge. We say that the public interests demand that the occupancy of those lands shall be turned to a profitable account, and the only way we see for the graziers to protect their own interests, is to become lessees for the period indicated in the notice given under authority of the General Government.

We have one concluding remark to make, and it is this: We do hope that in this matter the Road Board will act with firmness. There must be no half measures. We do not say for a moment that whatever is done will not be done effectually ; but we must confess that the words in the notice, “will be ZzizAZetobeimpounded,” leave a loop-hole for suspicion that private influence may beget an official leniency which will frustrate the object in view, and will operate largely in throwing discredit on the bond, fides of both the Government and the Road Board. We should prefer to have seen the “ liable to ” left out altogether, as it is an indefinite form of expression, although we cordially acquit the Chairman of any covert intention of playing into the hands of the Patutahi squatters at the expense of the district. To remedy this the tenders should be called for at once ; and the lessees will then see to a proper protection of their own interests.