The Telephone. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, OCTOBER 13.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 259, 13 October 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, OCTOBER 13.

As an indication of the thorough public interest taken by the residents in the Gisborne Harbor Bill becoming law the demonstration in Gladstone Road on Saturday evening last, was, in itself, par excellence. Sir George Grey who had charge of the Bill, and piloted it through its various stages, telegraphed that morning to his Worship the Mayor, informing him that it had passed the third reading in the Lower House. The gratifying intelligence was quickly communicated from one to another. The genuine enthusiasm the news created was unmistakeable. The interests of the individuals comprising the community are interwoven and wrapped up with each other to a great degree. Everyone recognises that the general welfare of all depends, inter alia, upon improved harbor accommodation for the port of Gisborne. It was therefore only human to expect that the pleasant news about the Bill having proceeded so far on its way, should, for the nonce, give the inhabitants increased vitality. Almost at a moment's notice Gisborne assumed quite a gala appearance. In the evening the effect produced was much admired. The many flags of various colors and designs, suspended across Gladstone Road waving gently in the breeze; the poplars by the roadside in full leaf; the torchlight procession ; the brass band ; the brilliant effect of the gas-light; the assembled crowd, all combined to form a pleasureable scene not often witnessed. Indeed, it was remarked by many that the}’ had not before seen Gladstone Road to such advantage.’ The whole gathering, appeared as indeed it was, of quite a spontaneous character. The enthusiastic manner in which the several resolutions proposed were assented to, showed clearly that the desire for harbour improvements is of a no half-hearted character, but one earnestly and deeply experienced by every section of the community. And the people mean what they are about, and they felt on Saturday night that so far as the actual representatives of the people in the Lower House were concerned, they had done all in their power. That Chamber had passed the third reading of the Bill with the endowment clause, and had also assented to Sir George Grey’s proposal for the sum of Z'qo.aoo to be placed on the Estimates for harbor and road words ■ in this district.

The House of Representatives is prepared to grant—we will not say absolute justice—but reparation in some degree for past wrongs the T’ast Coast has sustained. While in other parts of the Colony lately, members of Parliament have been getting burnt in effigy, it was befitting that those who fought the battles of the district, whatever be the final outcome, should have their assistance acknowledged. Gratitude has been said to be a lively sense of favors to come. Whatever the correct definition may be, the gathering on Saturday evening disclosed the fact that while Gisborne is keenly alive to past Government neglect, it is equally keen to appreciate the efforts of those who will give the district fair play. The fate of the Bill now hangs on the Upper House. Wc can discern on the political horizon, absolutely no valid reason why the Bill should not become law. To shelve it now, even until next session would throw the district back for years. A want of confidence would be generated, and that, too, just at a period when a better state of things than has of late prevailed in the district, is being evolved. Instead of the Legislative Council—and it is to that body the eyes of the district arc now cast—throwing any obstacle in the way of the Bill gettingon the Statute Books, they should render every assistance in their power. They should admire the self-reliant spirit of the people of the East Coast, who arc brave enough to take upon themselves, almost wholly, notwithstand ing the ill-treatment of the past, the initiation of a great public work, one of Colonial importance. That the Gisborne Harbour Bill becoming law is in reality the first step towards the construction of a harbour of refuge along the East Coast, we do not suppose anyone foolish enough to deny. Nothing but a desire for centralism in its worst form, will endeavor to thwart the inauguration by a local body, of such a great work—a work in which, as we have already pointed out —not alone Gisborne, but the Colony at large is interested in, being immediately undertaken. Except in some favored regions like Taranaki under the Whitaker - Atkinson regime the requirements of the harbors along the New Zealand Coasts were totally ignored. That party seemed to exult in rejecting the various harbor bills that were, time after time, hopelessly introduced. Where anything was done, directly or indirectly, the Government sought supreme control. To the advantage of ibis district, as well as to other parts of the Colony similarly wronged, the old order of things is passing away From the tone prevalent in Sir Julius Vogel’s utterances in the House in reference to harbors, the policy of his predecessors is likely to be reversed. Sir Julius Vogel is fully alive to the fact that it is the duty of the Government to assist, where possible, local bodies in the carrying out of harbor works. While recognising in a great degree that the state must keep its eye on the railways of the Colony, the management of harbor works cannot, he contends, be more effectually administered, than when handed over to the control of local bodies. Experience has proved this in Melbourne, the Clyde, and in many other places. Where harbor works have been under local management the result, invariably, has been most satisfactory. That this district will offer no exception to the rule may be justly assumed. That it will be soon called upon to elect certain members of a Harbor Board may be fairly anticipated. The district has many staunch friends in the Legislative Council, than whom none can excel Sir George Whitmore in his advocacy of the wants of the East Coast as well as the other neglected districts. But apart from all that, a sense of public duty alone will, we are convinced, be sufficient to actuate honorable members of the Legislative Council to pass without a murmur, the Gisborne Harbor Bill, as a modicum of that justice of which the East Coast has been so long deprived.