The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 290, 17 July 1875, Page 2

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

SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1875.

“ We shall Bell to >lO mini justice or right: W 0 ahull deny to no mun j ust ice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

The narrow escape the town hrs just had from a serious conflagration should act as a warning to provide some means of protection from fire, or, at least, to form an organised body, which on emergencies may act with authority, and reduce the disastrous consequences of such a calamity if possible. We have drawn attention to this matter so often that we almost despair of anything being done until after a large portion of the township is in ashes ; but we shall not stay our pen in persistently advocating the prosecution of those precautionary measures, most conducive to the public good, because no one cares to move in the direction which duty points to pretty plainly. The fortunate discovery of the fire in the Court-house on Thursday morning last, should now point to the necessity that exists for something being done by the authorities towards putting that building under safe custody aud responsible control. For years it has been a refuge for the destitute at night, the Court-room affording ample accommodation for two or three wellknown members of the loafing fraternity, who seek that shelter, free of expense, which their drunken propensities take from them the means of legitimately paying for. It is quite time that the police should look these characters up, and deal with them as drunken, lazy, vagrants are usually dealt with. It is wejl known that they hang about the bars of the hotels all day long, getting so drunk at the expense of those who are foolish enough to “ shout” for them, as to be unworthy of a decent habitation, and, oftentimes, quite incapable of properly conducting themselves in the nocturnal lairs to which they sneak w'hen turned out of the public houses. And not only to the Court-house do these persons go; any stable, hay-loft, or out-house to which surreptitious access can be gained, is open to their patronizing presence, and liable to destruction owing to their besotted incapabilities.

In the Court-house itself are deposited nearly everything that is valuable in the shape - of public, records and other property of the Government, the building being used by most of the officials stationed in Gisborne. It is to the Government, therefore, that we look for sieps being taken that may secure it from the risk to which it has all along been exposed. A custodian should be appointed, under Dr. Nesbitt, the .Resident Magistrate, whose duty it should be to see to the building being properly secured at a certain hour every night, and by day to keep it free from the state of accumulated dirt and filth which has for so many years made it a thorough disgrace to the town.

Protests, we learn, have been lodged with Captain Porter, as Chairman of the meeting of Ratepayers on Wednesday last, against the votes of three or four gentlemen v. ho are said to be ineligible to exercise their privilege of voting because they hold Government appointments. Clause 10 of the Highway s Act 1871 is quoted in support of the protests, which contains the items of disqualification of certain Provincial and General Government officials becoming members of a Highway Board, and it is held to be conclusive that the disqualification extends to, aud excludes, those officials from voting at an election for members as well. Owing to the lateness of the hour in which we received this information, »ve have no space to say more than we think this v iew is incorrect. As far as can be seen there is nothing in the Act to bear the objectors out, as such a prohibition (if it can be discovered) would be a stultification of the mind of the Legislature, and in direct opposition to the principle laid down, aud rigidly enforced, in the higher and more valuable branches of political franchise, that all Govern-

ment officials, whatever their grade or pay may be, are entitled to vote at elections, the only proviso being that they are not to take any other active part at such elections ; but even this, we thin k, cannot be construed to include the election of a Road Board.

The annexation of New' Guinea to the British Empire will, in all probability, take phtce ere long; although it would appear from recent telegrams from London that the officials in Downing-street have not definitely made up their minds on the subject as yet. They took a long time to consider whether to accept or reject Fiji, and similar hesitancy seems to characterise their action in regard to Papua—as New Guinea is also called. Australia is, however, strongly urging upon the Imperial Government to take possession of this large island of the Australian Archipelago, and its importunity is sure to prevail. We may, therefore, look for the early establishmentof another Crown Colony iu the Pacific. It was to this vast island that naturalists and ethnologists have ever looked as the only probable mine of the strange and marvellous that was yet left to man to explore ; but they were by no means prepared to hearthat it could boast of mountains which tow ered into the sky far beyond the loftiest pinnacles of the Andes or the Himalayas. To Captain J. A. Lawson, a recent explorer in the interior of New Guinea, belongs the honor of discovering what is certainly the highest mountain yet visited by man, and probably the very loftiest that is to be found upon the surface of our planet. This is “ Mount Hercules ” —as it has been appropriately named—viewing its glistening summit in the interior of New' Guinea, to the amazing height of nearly 33,000 feet above the level of the sea! More than half of it is covered with perpetual snow.. The big mountain is not the only monster; for everything in this marvellous island—according to the account given of it by Captain Lawson and others—seems to belong to the giants. Here are trees which rise to the height of from 300 to 400 feet, while the grasses are proportionately tall ; the toads are tremendous ; the butterflies are a foot across; and spiders measure as much, or more. There are fresh w'ater fish in the lakes 13 feet long, and snakes of 40 feet up iu the trees —with other reptiles to match. There are also huge tigers, crocodiles, and alligators, and w'ild pigs of unusually large size. The natives are superior in stature to average Europeans; and have the light complexion, and in all respects the appearance of the Polynesians typically represented by the New Zealanders. They are said to be ■ a a friendly, intelligent, and promising race, and with the aid of civilising influnces, a prosperous future is believed to be in store for them. The men build the houses, hollow the trunks of trees into canoes, hunt and fish; while the women do all the heaviest work. They have flue plantations, and their food consists of maize, sago, rice, fish, birds, the flesh of wild pigs, and fruits.—Contributed.