The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 238, 13 January 1875, Page 2

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

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1875.

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

If all we see and hear going on around us may be relied on, and accepted as an indication of coming events casting their shadows forward, there seems to be a glimmer of hope that something is intended to be done towards ameliorating the necessities and complaints under which this district has been so long laboring. As we have persistently agitated the several matters that require atteution, it gives us great satisfaction to know that our labors have not been in vain; and our complaining pen will cease from troubling whenever we see the Government is alive to a sense of its duty.

Foremost in the catalogue of works that are near to completion may be mentioned that of the Telegraph. As our readers are aware, the poles which for some considerable time encumbered the Custom House reserve, have been distributed along the line, and the whole of the material is now on the ground ; consequently little now remains to be done prior to setting to work on the continuous stretching of the wires. Mr. Bold, the District Engineer, who is now ou an official visit to the Bay, confidently expects —bar all accidents—to have the line open for communication by the end. of March.

There are, also,indications if amove being made in the direction of road making. For the last 18 months we have held to an opinion, with dogged pertinacity, that the General Government could not be aware of the effect of its own proclamation—indeed of the existence of a proclamation at all —by which the three arterial trunk lines in this district were placed exclusively under the dominion of the Colonial authorities, and. so it turns out. Continued thrusts have been made at the recollection of those whose own handy-work and political manoeuvring ought not to be so soon forgotten, with a force that would have pierced anything short of an official pachyderm ; and a deaf ear, or a blind eye, was always turned to the consideration of requests that, at length, assumed the form of entreaty. But, as the constantly dropping water weareth away stone, so are even official stolidity and indifference obliged to succumb to a persistent advocacy of right. A light has just dawned upon some of the principal men engaged in the proclamation of June, 1-573, and they' now see, if they refuse to acknowledge, that a great injustice has been done to this district through not carrying out to its logical conclusions a fiat of the Cabinet Council with respect to these trunk roads. Strange as it may appear, not a singleofficial that we have heard of, Ministerial or Departmental, was aware of the existence of the Governor’s Order, and the surprise they express at their own forgetfulness is aptly illustrative and suggestive of many things which, perhaps, just now, had better not be brought to light, while it confirms us in the opinion from which we have never varied.

There are but two courses open to the Government, namely, its duty, which is to make these roads at once, or an alternative of revoking the Governor’s proclamation, which latter, for its own honor’s sake we trust will not be seriously entertained. That the former will, after all, be the one acted on we have, good authority for stating, it is however, now a question of money ; and we may thank our local rulers in the Road Board at the time the proclamation was issued, for the delay that has been occasioned, and

the state the principal highways are in at this moment. But, although a light shines in upon the darkness, there ig no hope that we shall escape a tenfold increase of the calamities of last winter, that is as far as the roads themselves are concerned. A temporary tramway, to Ormond for instance, may be laid down which will serve the purposes of present traffic, and be utilised whenever the roads are made, but even that must be looked after. Sir Donald M’Lean will shortly pay a visit to Poverty Bay, when the people should give up the thought of effete resolutions and useless deputations, and advocate their own affairs in propria personce. The erection of General Government Buildings, is, also, a pressing work, which, we understand, is assuming a practical shape. Indeed, it is incomprehensible why the Government, with the proper authority of Parliament before it, delays this most necessary business. It also gives us a ray of hope to find that Mr. Bold is armed with instructions to take data in reference to carrying out other equally important undertakings, viz., the building of bridges over the Turanganui and Waipaoa rivers, and the Aral stream. These works are of the first importance, as the former will open up communication with the coast towards the East Cape, and the latter are indispensable, as, without them, the lauds south of the Big River are comparatively valueless for purposes of settlement. Much as we dislike the idea of tolls, we would, in some instances, infinitely prefer that course to secure a recuperative outlay, than that an utter prostration of public affairs should so long continue as the result of inaction. These works should be undertaken without local taxation at all. So much for the General Government. We now turn attention to the Provincial Government, in the hope that we may receive tardy justice even at its hands. A Report which we reprint to-day has been sent by Mr. Drummond, C.E., to the Chairman of the Poverty Bay Road Board, in amplification of the instructions he received to survey the rocks that, at present, impede the navigation of the inner harbor, and will be read with attentive interest. The report is not elaborate, but practical, and businesslike, and if acted upon, the recommendations—principally those of Captain Kennedy, the Harbor Master—will prove of great service to the port. It appears that there are no less than nineteen “ papa rock ” obstructions, in the fair-way from the outer beacon to the inner buoy, a distance of twenty chains with just sufficient wash on them at any state of the tide as to make them extremely dangerous. To remove these it is estimated, to cost the moderate sum of £228 only ; other recommendations are also made with reference to additional beacons and buoys in the Bay, which seem to be urgently called for ; but it must not be lost sight of that the removal of these impedimenta to navigation will not give any greater depth of water than at present, and which, it appears, is very shallow ; and also that, ere long, other means must be employed to increase the depth of the water way, if the shipping interests of the port are to be conserved. It is a work that looms at no great distance, and may as well be considered in time. Another valuable item in the Report is that of increased wharf accommodation. Captain Kennedy proposes to fill in a continuation of the present breastwork embankment to a depth of about 40ft, and extending frqm the present wharf to a distance of 235 feet up the river. Outside this, and parallel thereto, a landing wharf 12ft wide, running the entire length of the breastwork, is to be added ; this would be raised some two feet above the level of the embankment so as to facilitate the loading and unloading of vehicles. The Report is silent as to the spot indicated being the most desirable, there being but two feet of water shewn at low tide; but these and other engineering matters would, of necessity, be further considered before any action could be taken. To the foregoing we can only add our belief that a. work such as that proposed by Captain Kennedy, would not only pay the interest on the outlay, but, in the shape of laud rents, and wharf charges, (for some of the water frontage could be leased) would soon pay off the principal cost.