CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1309, 14 April 1883, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

Wo do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents]. -- —..;0; VERITAS PUTS IN A “SPOKE.” TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —There are people who will “ play with the bull until they get the horn,” &c. I have read the various items which have appeared lately in reference to Gisborne hotels, and have tried to restrain my pen from interfering in the matter, but can do so no longer. I must paint a picture from my own experience, Being goaded on to this course by what J have read. I have paid at one hotel in Gisborne, 8s per day, for the bare necessaries of life, and this amount; together with an occasional “beer” and a stray “ tip ” to the servant maid, very soon brings the total to between three and four pounds a week. The fare was not by any moans bad, but it was not any better than you can get In Auckland, Wellington, or Dunedin for Isa meal, so that the correspondent who was the cause of all the discussion was not far out. As to the remainder of the statement from the same source, I can state from actual experience that a lodger in “ one of the Gisborne Hotels,” slaughtered 35 bugs in one night, and he immortalised the fact by drawing a tombstone on the wall of the room, with an announcement testifying to the fact, and another lodger in the same building was actually chased out of the house by bugs and fleas. It is stated that a well known Legislator takes up his quarters at tne house, and gives his testimony to the effect that the house is particularly clean. He may be right. What is one man’s meat is another’s poison. It is rumored that he, I being a big bug, does not condescend to ' notice ehe swarms of little ones, and hence I his testimony. From this it will be seen that in the latter part of his statement the “correspondent ” was also right. With regard to the food, potatoes which bad been saturated with kerosene, were stewed up for four days in succession, and a mixture known as “dry hash ” is served up regularly until consumed. The soup made from “ Paddy’s leather breeches ” would be a fool to what the proprietor calls “ Irish stew, ” and as to puddings. well what is “ College pudding ” one day is “ plum pudding” the next, and so on. Ido not say all the hotels are like this one, neither did the “ correspondent,” as far as I can remember, he said “ at some of the cheaper ones,” &c. I think this little stir up will have the effect of making visitors enquire before taking permanent quarters in Gisborne, for which those who make fair charges, and attend to the comfort of their customers, should duly thank the author, — I am &c., Gisborne, 12th April, 1883. A SUGGESTION. TO THE EDITOR. Sir,' —With your permission I would respect fully suggest to the ratepayers of the Poverty Bay Highway District, the desirability of dividing the district into Wards. This could be easily done as the district is so intersected with roads, the boundary of each Ward could be easily defined. At present the members of the Board all reside at one end of the district, and this has been the case for several years, the consequence is that one of the districts gets well cared for, whilst the other end takes care of itself. Not that I impute anything unfair to the present Board, but when there are so many eyes to see when anything goes wrong, of course it is attended to. If tins district was divided into Wards and each Ward had a member residing in it, all portions of the district would get an equal share of supervision, aud in case of storms the member would be handy to see where culverts ’ were defective, or drains got choked, But t it is not likely that a member will go from ; one end of the district to the other in stormy weather, to see how things are getting on, although he might learn a good deal of practical engineering by doing so, But there is no use trespassing upon valuable space to enumerate the advantages of the system. Ratepayers can judge for themselves. I would have mentioned this subject before this, but I was in hopes that some one of our influential settlers would come forward and broach the subject,-—! am &c,, L. Dunrk. Matawhero, 13th April, 1883.