The Telephone. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 274, 31 October 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31.

A question of importance to the district generally, but to Patutahi in particular, and one that should not be lost sight of at the approaching elections for the County Council is—the opening up of the Patutahi Quarry. There are two quarries at Patutahi where limestone of an excellent character for road and other purposes may be obtained. One, situated within a few chains of the Gisborne-Wairoa road, although by no means equal to the quarry on the reserve, could furnish an ample supply of road metal for some time to come. To have access to the reserve, in order to obtain metal, would necessitate the construction of a tramway, and a somewhat expensive bridge. This in itself would perhaps be a temporary drawback altho’ no doubt can exist that the limestone required for the roads of the County, the streets of the Borough of Gisborne, and for our harbour works in future, must eventually be all brought from the quarry reserve. It is indispensably necessary that the incoming County Council should direct their earnest attention to this matter. We wish we could compliment the outgoing members for having dealt with this subject in the manner it deserved. In the face of the facts before us, there is nothing left but to unhesitatingly condemn them. It is true that a small minority in the Council urged, with

persistency tW the works sanctioned under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, should be carried out; and that the amount granted by the -Govern- ■ meat to pay for metalling the Patutahi and other roads in the vicinity should' be expended. ..Bat-all to no purpose.. The result that followed these efforts was that which usually attends^the action of minorities. Now that, the time has come round to send in a new batch of Councillors, ratepayers will be blind to their own interests, unless they return men pledged to do their utmost-Mo use all the .-available means at their disposal— to obtain a supply of proper metal for the roads. It is now over eighteen months ago since under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, was granted by the G ovcr nnient, on the express wish of the ratepayers of the County signified by their votes, that it should be expended twt metal- for the-Patutahi• roads. With the. exception ,-of,the sum of iise'd- in‘clearing oitt Patutahi drains, the-balance-remains untouched. Why the settlers of tliat part of the County have submitted so placidly to the injustice done them, we are at a loss to comprehend. Why the whole County should be satisfied to pay interest upon the /’7,00c, month after month, and pul no effort forward to have the money expended upon the legitimate object for which it was borrowed is, as Lord Dundreary would exclaim, one of those things that “ no fellah can understand.” We have no desire that the present chairman of the County Council should escape “scot free” in this matter. That his intentions were of the best we believe ; that a certain place is “ paved with good intentions ’’ we have heard ; that the Chairman, along with his friends in the Council, committed a huge blunder in opposing the expenditure of the seven thousand pounds on the Patutahi Road, cannot be gainsaid. It is not in a spirit of fault-finding the subject need now be discussed. The past cannot be redeemed. It is to the future we must look. This question of obtaining metal is not to be considered from a purely Patutahi point of view, but in the interests of the whole County as well as the Borough of Gisborne. We therefore trust that the ratepayers will take the opportunity of eliciting the views of the various upon the subject when they seek their suffrages, and that before the approaching summer passes away, special efforts will be made to open either one or the other of the Patutahi quarries.