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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1337, 2 August 1883, Page 2

| In the Borough Council on Tuesday night, I Councillor Smith called the attention of the Board to an article which appeared in the Herald of Saturday last. Nov/, before entering upon this distasteful subject, wc feel constrained to say a few words in reply to Councillor Smith’s assertion that he hud. no intention of fettering or gagging the Press ; and in making this remark on the said article he should no doubt “ bring down the thunders of the Gisborne Press on his devoted head,” These remarks tend most clearly to show that Cr. Smith entirely fails to realise the-fact this town possesses w/ia journal-— the new Standard—which can lay claim to the title of being honest, upright, truthful, fearless, and thorough going. Our aim is to gain and earn the support of all good and right-minded men, by a fearless exposure of all wrong ; to protect the weak, and to assist and encourage the faint-hearted in his struggle against wrong and oppression—in a word to do all the good, and to pre von t all the evil and wrong wo can. Our exertions in the interests of the public are unremitting and ceaseless. We excuse Councillor Smith, and many others like him, who can scarcely yet realise this fact. They have been so long in the bonds and thraldom of prints, which are a disgrace, not alone to the Press, but to civilisation, that they cannot yet believe other than that all are alike. They cannot yet fully realise the fact that this journal is struggling to obtain success by fair, honest, and upright means, and that its articles are “inspired ” by a love of truth, and not by a lure of pelf There are, we believe, other things worth living for besides this eternal craving after gain. We know that in trying to do what is right we have made enemies of ignorant and unprincipled men, who are now trying to injure us by their “ boycotting.” They arc too contemptible to mention again, and we will leave them to their own devices, in the hope that ere long the light of truth and sense will penetrate their dense intellects and mould them into honest men and good citizens. With respect to the Herald, we would remind Councillor Smith and his friends of the fate of the fool that placed the frozen viper in his bosom. Were they not to cherish the reptile it could do them no harm. Trusting that our readers will pardon thia digression, wc will, now consider this article which the Council characterised as “ false, scandalous and misleading.” In the first place, the j writer in effect accuses the Council of using the rails for the sole purpose of furthering private interests in conveying “so-called metal,” which he attempts to describe by calling it “ congealed clay ” —a new term, we presume, in geology. There can be no doubt but what the “so-called ” metal is far short of what might be desired ; at the same time, being the only available material which our Councillors could obtain, we cannot see how they are to blame in the slightest de- 1 gree. They had no choice in the matter, I and did the very best they could. As to the rails, the use of them was surely taken into account when the contract price was agreed to. If tiie contractor had been compelled to find his own rails, the price of the contract would have been increased in proportion. We suppose the writer, or rather the people who paid him to write the article, would have liked the Councils to have laid the rails by, and have paid the contractor double the amount now required for the metal. Nothing could l,c more conclusive as proving the utter ignorance and want of knowledge on the part of the writer about the subject he

was handling than this statement about the rails, The writer then makes the astounding assertion that both Councils arc pulling against each other, without giving one single reason for such an assertion. Nay, inconsistently with this statement, he taxes the Councils with being unanimous in their refusal to construct a horse tramway from Read’s Quay to Ormond, and all through bestows his abuse on the joint Councils. Now, as a truth the two Councils, have been most cordial in their relations with each other. Is not this assertion amply proved by tho manner in which the County Council met our Borough Council just now in the matter of the Turanganui Bridge ? But it is a sheer waste of time to contradict such palpable falsehoods, which have only been made out of sheer spleen by a paper whose voice is attuned solely to the jingle of pelf—cupidity and ignorance being only two of its many vices. We will content ourselves with saying that last night’s discussion in the Borough Council proved most conclusively that we have good, conscientious and able men in our public bodies who are determined to crush this serpent of I corruption which has so long enfolded them i in its treacherous folds, and which is emblematical of all that is false and foul. The j public cannot but feel proud of the majority of its representatives, who, were it not for the one or two rank weeds which impede ‘ the full developement of their business i abilities, would be all that could be desired. The weeds must be torn up and cast out,