CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 253, 6 March 1875, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

:o: Our columns are open for free discussion ; bzit we do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents. :o: L letters to the editor. TURANGA LIBBABY. Sir, —Who is a Librarian, that he should be consulted as to when or how a meeting should be convened, when the business of that-meet-ing is for the purpose of electing his successor ? The Chairman received the Librarian’s resignation, and requested the Secretary to call the meeting referred* to, by advertisement, the other committeemen approving of day and hour. Thus, four committeemen out of five must endorse the above facts. Alas, poor Secretary! Why were you remiss enough, not to have waited upon Mr. Philanthropist Hercules Committee man and librarian, and confer with him before commit ting yourself in the disgraceful manner you have ? Console thyself poor Secret ary, and endeavor to obtain pardon for this, another of your sins of omission.—Yours, &c., Penitent. Str, —I should like to know the reason there are so few cases of “staggers” this season. If ergot be the cause of staggers, why are there not as many cases this year as last ? 1 have an idea that ergot has nothing to do with it, or else it is a long time operating, as all the seed has been on the ground some time. Experience induces me to believe that it is caused by the dryness of food, which heats the blood, and causes an overflow to the head. Last year I hud a horse bad with staggers ; I bled him and changed his pasture, with shelter, and he gut right in a very short time. This year I had a calf bud ; 1 shut him up in the heat of the day, and he got right very quickly. If we have moist seasons, like this has bet n, wo shall be troubled very little with stngguis Stock are kept in good, healthy, condition by the growth of the young grass which I think has been the cause of so few cases this sease n. Stock require shelter from the sun us much as from cold, for where feed and shelter are plentiful you will find very few cases of staggers.

As my object is to provoke discussion on this matter, more particularly as to what “ ergot” really is, I shall be glad if you will facilitate it for the public good.—Yours, &c., , Grazier. [Wo shall be happy in this, as in all other matters affecting the public weal, to insert any communications on the above subjects.— Ed. Standard.] Sir, —With reference to the scabby sheep on the East Coast, I observe in the Poverty Bay Herald of the 19th February, some remarks that are apt to mislead the public as to the existing stale of things up here. On or about the 11th February the Commissioner, Mr. Wilson, arrived at Waipiro, which is the commencement of the scabby district on the south, and which extends north about forty miles to-wards Hick’s Bay ; there he held a meeting of native sheep owners, of whom, however, very few were present, owing in a great measure, to the meeting being held at one extremity of the district instead of at its centre. At the meeting some agreed to sell at the price offered by the Government; some asked for more, upon which the Commissioner turned back in disgust, and left us in as bad a plight as ever. Now, Sir, if the Commissioner, knowing intimately, as he does, the natives and their ways, had been in earnest to carry the matter through, he would have come up through the infected district, made himself acquainted with the owners of the larger flocks, and, after that have called a meeting in some central settlement, (say Waiapu). Then, I have no doubt, he would have found them come to terms, for many of the smaller holders said that though they asked a long price for their sleep at the meeting, it was only to try what they could get, and that if the larger holders were willing to sell they, the smaller owners, would do the same. In reference to Major Ropata owning one fourth part of the sheep, he may be, perhaps, the largest holder of scabby sheep, but he is willing to sell, and there are several others who own nearly as many, if not more, than he does, and he cannot be held responsible for the actions of a great number of owners who belong to other tribes. I wonder that the Government did not send some one well known to the natives of the district, as the Maoris here always look with suspicion on a stranger. —I am, &c., Settler. Waiapu, Fob. 25.