UNFAIR TREATMENT.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 30, 3 January 1884, Page 2

UNFAIR TREATMENT.

Undeb the above heading, that old and much-respected colonist the Hon. Sir G. S. Whitmore, called attention in our issue of the 25th ult. to many grievances the residents along the East Coast have to complain of, and we really think that some effort ought to be made—not only by the Cook County Council, but by the merchants of this town, to open up suitable communication with the northern part of this county. It appears that settlement in the Northern part of the county is being pushed ahead under great difficulties—“rents and prices are three times what they used to he, and rates and taxes are absurdly inflated;” while the settlers there “ cannot communicate with Gisborne by land, and are dependent on two Auckland trading schooners, with an occasional call from the Southern Cross,” for their supplies. The questions arise, Is it just of the Cook County Council to receive the rates from the Northern part of this county and give it nothing in return? Is it wise on the part of the merchants of this town to neglect fostering the trade between the East Coast and this port ? Surely, some effort might be made to to open up communication between this place and the North-East part of the county; and when a man of such large colonial experience as the Hon. Sir G. S. Whitmobe possesses calls attention to a matter of this sort it must be deemed worthy of consideration. It appears to us that it must be to the interest of the County Council to open

up the country for settlement by means of a road, and that the merchants of this town would do well to form a company for the purchase of a suitable steamer—not only to hold communication with the coastal settlements referred to, but to run regularly to all the places on this side of the island north of Napier that would warrant the necessary outlay in fostering the trade of Gisborne. We commend this subject to the early favorable consideration of the Cook County Council, as well as to that of the merchants and tradesmen of this port, in the hope that strenuous efforts will be made to effect the adoption of the measures now advocated.