Our Somnolent Reporter on the Waikanae

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1135, 31 August 1882, Page 2

Our Somnolent Reporter on the Waikanae

I MUST once more express my deep regret, but as I sat down on the bank near the flagstaff I slept, and, whilst in Dreamland, saw a vision. My thoughts wandered back to incidents which occurred some months ago, and I dreamed of the time when a permission was given by a Native philanthrophist on behalf of a dusky but evidently attractive lady of the aboriginal belief. It was thus : “You can erect here a flagstaff for the benefit of the township.” The individual to whom the control of this plot of land was given, thought that in addition to the flagstaff he could erect two cottages wherein he could locate two men with their wives and families, and secure to himself a return of something over fifty per cent, on his outlay. He did so ; but without the sanction of the donor. As it happened, the tenants were thoroughly under the thumb of the astute controller of the property, and, although charged an exhorbitant rental, were unable to point out the injustice which was daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly being done them. Somehow or other my thoughts fashioned themselves in this wise, and I awoke with a start. Seeing that every thing was lovely and the goose hung high, I again slumbered, and again dreamed. In my somnambulistic state I saw a steamer arrive in the Bay, very much down by the stern, and it seemed to me as if the weight of two Government cheques had occasioned this stem depression, and that the two men before mentioned (with their wives and families) 'er the scene, and I saw that these honest sons were about to become affluent. A change came of toil received, not Government cheques, but money ! (less the rent due). Again the scene changed, and another Nelson appeared. Strange to say, the gist of my dream reverted to a vessel arriving with Government cheques; but how altered was everything. The two men received their cheques, there was no deduction made, and the sight of the documents (such as they had never seen before) caused them to exclaim “ would it had always been thus.” I so heartily sympathised with the men that the remaining portion of my dream was chaos, and I have only a i°Sgy idea that there was a lawsuit in eonsequence of a man having built certain houses on ground to which he had no claim, and that the old 50 per center was thought of by the public as lie deserved to be. These latter remarks may appear to be somewhat incoherent, but you know I can’t be always awake, and, under the existent circumstances, Morpheus claims his 50 per cent, off me.