The Daily News SATURDAY, MARCH 14. "STAR CHAMBER" PROCEEDINGS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 72, 14 March 1908, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY, MARCH 14. "STAR CHAMBER" PROCEEDINGS.

We have, more than once, had occasion to refer in terms the contrary oi Ikt- 1 ; tcring to tlifi manner in which busiiwws I |at times, is conducted by the Taranaki « ! School Commissioners. Yesterday'* proj coedings but served to strengthen the opinion w t » had formed that the Omhmi*3ionoi>, or ;i Jtiajoritv oi thorn, liavu , come tn themselves Ufs the administrators of public properly, Imt a*

owners of land placed in trust, with them. Else why their anxiety that as little as possible of the public business transacted at their meetings should be >nade known to the public through the press? When. some time ago, we decided, in the public interest, to report tiny proceedings of the Hoard, the "intrusion'' i of the reporter was, iu some quartcitij) ! at least, covertly resented, and the small | courtesies usually extended tn reporters ;by public bodies were, when at all, ! grudgingly extended.

For some, time the question <>i revising lh(> scale of clnirge.s on leases has neen under consideration, and yesterday the Hoard's solicitor. Air. Quilliain, submitted a modified ale. In doing so, All'. CJuilliani complained that because of the reports which had appeared in the ' Daily News," "an impression had got about that tile Hoard had a complaint against its solicitor on account of over-charg-ing." We were not aware that any inference other than that intended by members of the Hoard who nad spoken <ui this matter, had lieen drawn from the reports published by Us. The reports merely re-produced the opinions given expression to at the Board's table, and the correctness of them has never been called in question. We have no quarrel with Mr. tjuilliam iu this particular matter, and it was his misfortune if he succeeded to a scale of charges that investigation has shown to be the highest in the Dominion. With the Hoard, and not tile solicitors, responsibility lor those charges to lessees must resi. if, however, tile publicity given to this matter Jias contributed in the smallest degree to bringing about the reduced charges submitted by the solicitor yesterday, then we have nothing to answer.

\V« ha\e, equally with the Hoard, bowel cr, a duty to perform to the public, and iu view of the important bearing me cost of obtaining leases has upon tne successful settlement of the lands administered by the Board, we demand that publication shall be given to the new scale. While we doubt not that Air. Quilliam has taken a considerable Jiurdcn oil' future lessees, and is to be commended for so doing, we snould like to know on what ground the Hoard based its refusal to allow our reported access to the document, a perusal of which was desired for the purpose of checking the notes hurriedly taken during the reading. While we might liu\ ■: published the reporter's notes on the new scale, we recognise that the reading of a document couched in legal phraseology could easily have been linsl'eported, and in fairness to Air I hiiliiam and the Board we have withheld that Hortion of the report of the meeting.

We note with satisfaction that the highhanded action of the autocratic ' public'' body was not endorsed by all tlie members present, and the vigorous protect uttered by Air. W. T. Jennings, who aiterwards refused to take any further part iu the deliberations and withdrew from the meeting, will have the support of the public whose representatives, no Juttter how appointed, the Commissioners are misunderstood to be. In conclusion we would again re-iterate the opinion long ago expressed iu this column that the Hoard is an excrescence

in the administration of public land in this province, and that the sooner its functions are merged into those of the Land Board, the sooner will the blot be obliterated, and unnecessary administrative costs lifted oil' the land.

j TAISA.NAKI'S RAILWAY KKijUKKI MKXTS. Ihe member lor this district, Mr. H. J. Okcy, who has taken upon himself the ia-k of pointing out to the Oovernment the nrceviity of pu-hing on with railway work* in thU province. i> in danger «>f defeating his wellmeant intention* l»y lii-> .lUvrjravd of ordinary court e«ic*. In wriinig to th ( . Stratford Koroi.'gh Council MigjiiMing thai it arranue a deputation oi all the iocal bodies interested to pay a visit of inspection to the .Stratford-Ongarue line, with a view to making a united etl'ort to bring before the Oovernment the importance of the line, he, unintentionally no doubl. exceeded the accepted tenets of Parliamentary courtesy and offered a slight to .Mr. \V. Symes and -Mr. W. .1. Jennings the two member* through whose district the line will pass, ;l nd who have never failed to keep its claims proiui- . neutlv before the. government. We think that tlie united front which we all, with Mr. Okey, hope Taranaki will present when demanding the pushing on of this railway in the near future, would be more likely to harmoniously materialise had Mr. Okey had the thougbtfiilne>s to eonvey hi.s ideas to his brother member* in the province, whose support and active assistance he could never have doubted. The best of intentions may easily be misinterpreted, and in thin case Mr. Okey's excess of zeal in the public weal might easily, lo speak metaphorically, have left him '■ploughing a lonely furrow." We trust, however, that the oversight will not interfere iu any way with the enthusiastic response the suggestion deserves. It might not be out of place, perhaps, to mention here that tlie Government has already anticipated the suggested deputation somewhat, and that evidence* are not wanting that it U fully intended to vigorously prosecute the extension of the line as soon as the Main Trunk line is out of the hands of the Public Works Department. For a month past, the Department has lw»en unobtrusively sending railway building maehinery from the Main Trunk line to the Huiroa end of the line, in readiness for use. The Department has also been advertising for iifty men for the work tor some time. The Huiroa section ot the line is completed, and will be opened for passenger traffic in about a fortnight. There is now 21 miles of the line, ojmmi for goods tratlie. If the propo>ed deputation doe.- no move, it will at least realise how great an undertaking i< the construction of this work, the like of which caunot be estimated by those whose journeyings never take them oil' the main line. It might also not be out of place at this stage to point out the position of the Mount Kgniont line, which the Stratford County Council intends asking the deputation to urge the Minister to push on witli all po-sible despatch. Now. th" position is that tlie line is linished a> far a- it i- intended to In> utilised at pre-eiu. and. what i- uu.re important N thai - l»een in progress for '(line time. It. may he that the Huiroa railway and other railway requirements will al>sorh the product of the work> for some time to come, but ' crushing on the line is au fait accompli, and cannot, in this respect, be "urged" any further. Within the next fortnight the whole of the works will be taken over from the Public Works Department by the Railway Department. and anxiety for the Kgmontline need not further disturb the minds of our public men.