The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) SATURDAY, JULY 31, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 294, 31 July 1875, Page 2

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

SATURDAY, JULY 31, 1875.

“ W. shall .ell to no man justice or right: We ahull deny to no m.ii justice or right: e shell defer to no man justice or right.”

Now and then we find exemplifications of ignorance, both as regards matters of fact, and geography, in the New Zealand Press that are positively astonishing, or, at least, they would be astonishing did we not know what unreliable stuff newspaper proprietors have, sometimes, to work with, ’Prentice bands find their way to the management of acertain “ department,’ ’ before they are sufficiently acquainted with even a smattering of public affairs ; and before they have studied the geography of the Colony with that accuracy necessary to enable them to draw lines of administrative deuiar-

cation, and to animadvert on the relative proportions of political justice that should be meted to districts and provinces. One of the most remarkable instances of the kind of colonial ignorance to which we allude, is to be found in the Auckland Weekly Herald of the 26th June last. The scribe who “ does ” the “ Farm ” column in that journal, must be a new hand of the very latest importation. He has, evidently, got a file of Poverty Bay papers (we were going to say) before him, but as he quotes from the Poverty Day “ Times,” we have a doubt on the point; however, he proceeds to give us the benefit of his opinion, prefacing his quotation from the aforesaid “ Times," thus: — “At the expense of the Colony the “ sheep difficulty with the natives of “ the East Coast has been arranged.” There are many phases and conditions of life in which men, let them be ever so ignorant of the subject matter on which they dilate, sometimes stumble across the truth, and are the means of setting others thinking. We do not know that it is correct to state that the expenses attending the scabby sheep business, recently concluded between Captain Porteb, and the Natives of the coast, are to be borne “by the Colony.” It is true that the Colonial Government have, very properly, endeavored, and, we are glad to say, successfully negotiated for the destructiou of these animals which have so long been a terror to the European settlers whose clean floeks are in close proximity ; but we are not so sure it is intended that the Colony should pay for any loss that may arise from the necessity of taking those precautionary measures which have been forced upon it, ab initio. The writer thus coutinues:— Of course, it would nerer do to allow the plague to spread ; but it seems a most unsatisfactory thing that, for the negligence of propertied natives of Napier, the colony should bo put to a pecuniary loss. We are inclined to think that the amount should be debited to Napier, as it is that province which receives the benefit. Under any circumstances, the residents on the other side of Cook's Straits may well object to contributing towards the eradication of scabby flocks in a North Island province. The evil has long enough been brought under notice, and had a “ prevention ” been instituted sooner, the cost of “ cure" would pot have been so great.

Barring the profound, Cimmerian darkness of understanding that veils his geographical knowledge, he has hit the right nail on the head—he has stated what is quite correct in principle and equity ; and, assuming the Herald to be responsible for what it publishes, we are glad to find it so ready an advocate for righteous judgment. Let each carry its own burden: so say we. It is a most unsatisfactory thing that, “ for the negligence of propertied “ Natives of Auckland, the Colony “ should be put to pecuniary loss.” And we quite agree with the writer that “ the amount should be debited ” to the province in which the loss occurred, namely to Auckland, (not Napier), “ as it is that province which “receives the byChow any loss can be considered a benefit is one of those mysticisms of logic that puzzle our philosophy, and dim our powers of calculation.

Circumstances, however, sometimes, alter principles as well as cases. Although the expenses, and losses, whatever they may be, attending this business, ought, properly, to be borne by the Province of Auckland, there is even yet an argument in favor of the Colony being debited with them. The Provincial authorities have, all along, it is true, persistently turned a deaf ear to this one among our many other complaints. Year after year they exhibited a stolid indifference to the sheepfarming interests of the East Coast. The men who were really opening up the country, and sharing the hardships of exposure, and risk of life incident to the times succeeding those of war and bloodshed, were left to shift for themselves, and while they willingly contributed a sheep poll tax towards the pay of an Inspector, chosen from among, and by themselves they got no protection, and were hardly recognized by the Government for whose future benefit they were working, coevally with their own. Some two years ago, the “ East Coast District Sheep Act,” which became law last year, was initiated, as comprehending provisions peculiar to the exceptional circumstances of this part of the province, one of which provisions is that of the appointment of an Inspector by the Superintendent. Mr. MELDEUMhas periodically brought the attention of the Provincial Government to the ravages the scab was making, but, as the disease was confined principally to flocks owned by Maoris, its indifference was as great as its desire to act in the matter was small. Undoubtedly it was the duty of the province to take steps in the matter, but, failing to do so, the. sheepfarmers, aided by the local press, at last succeeded in stirring the General Government to a sense of the danger to which so many interests were exposed. And this helps us to illustrate our argument that the Colonial Government ought to bear the expense. The Native Minister alone is responsible for the existence of this scab scourge so long amongst the flocks of his own peculiar people. Although the Sheep Acts of the province give no immunity to natives, the Provincial Government excused itself by saying it could do nothing in the matter, while the Colonial Government as represented by (then) Mr. McLean, would do nothing until the force of public opinion moved it to action. Opposing powers were not at work ; the peace or disturbance of the

district was deemed, in a measure, to be involved in the investigation of any social problem affecting the Maoris, and as the General Government took upon itself the responsibility of sanctioning the continuance of a disease known to exist, while expressly prohibited under the pains and penalties of law, we consider that, not only is the Colony bound to accept the consequences of the act of its own Government, but that it is equitably bound to compensate any who are known to have suffered therefrom. Therefore, however, much “ the residents on the other side of Cook’s Straits ” may object, the residents on this part of the Coast have a just claim on the Government to see that justice is done.

The remarkable discovery made, at the end of Jauuary last, by Mr. Gbokge Smith, in the course of an examination of some burnt clay tables which he had sent home during the last two years from the village of Kouyunjik, in Assyria, and which were deposited in the British Museum, has already awakened much conjecture. He found that these tablets contained, in cuneiform, or arrowheaded writing, records of the Creation; of the Rebellion of Satan, of the Fall of Man, of the Deluge, of the building of the tower of Babel, and of the Confusion of tongues. Mr. Smith has promised to pufflish a book on the subject, in which translations in full of these important legends are to be given, and the work is looked forward to with intense interest. It has been suggested that these rude tablets may have been looked upon by Abraham when he dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees and it is certainly a most remarkable fact that in the neighbourhood of the plain of Shinar, where the descendants of Noah, long before the days of Abraham, said, to one another “ Go to, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly; and they had brick for stone.” There should be found in this country, bricks or cakes of burnt clay, more durable as memorials of the past than brass or marble. The discovery of these Chaldean or Assyrian tablets may be regarded as another instance of that manifold confirmation of the sacred history of remote antiquity by which this age has been distinguished. During the past forty years great light has been throw’ll ou the records of the past, by explorations in Nineveh, by the discovery of the cities of Bahan, (with the stone palace of the giant king Og) by more recent excavations in Jerusalem and many other remarkable discoveries. Just at the period when the attacks of scepticism upon the religion of the bible have risen to unparalleled vehemence, a divine hand has enabled explorers to bring to light relics, monumental inscriptions, and forgotten manuscripts, in unwonted force for the defence of the truth.—Waiapu Correspondent.