The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1833. THE DRAINAGE OF GERALDINE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1160, 13 October 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1833. THE DRAINAGE OF GERALDINE.

$o ''the town of Geraldine is not to be drained after all. At the last ,meeting of the Geraldine Road Board it was decided not to go on with the drainage of the town, and to compel those who create nuisances to remove them. It just serves the people of Geraldine right. The Board at first invited the people to agitate for draining the town, but the people did not take sufficient interest in the place to do even that. The Board met again and resolved that as the townspeople would not call a meeting to discuss the subject they would call one themselves, but at the last meeting they resolved not to do so. We may say that we do not blame th.o Board in the slightest degree. Its members wepe evidently anxious to drain the town, but there was not sufficient energy amongst its residents to give an assurance to the Board, that they would appreciate it, or that such a thing was retired. When the Board found out that the people were so apathetic in the matter, we are not surprised to find them giving it up, and we do not blame them for it. It is a just punishment for the apathy of the people, and jt may do them good in the direction of waking them up to a sense of the necessities of the town. It may help to enable them to realise that they ippst do more than talk big- about their grievances at street corners, and if they want anything dQP®

they must give a helping hand to do it. We pointed out to them some time ago that if they wonted certain improvements made in their town the proper course for them to take was to approach the Road Board by means of a petition. If they had taken our advice there is no doubt but that the Board would have given them every consideration, but they did not and they have themselves to blame. In conclusion we would recommend the Geraldine people to read the story of the lark in the field of corn. If they desire to advance and improve their town they must do it themselves.

THE KING OP SPAIN.

King Alfonso, of Spain, must be a very high-mettled party. Ho took a notion into his royal head tho other day to see Paris, but when he entered that city he found that he was not altogether at home there. The mob hooted him as he passed along the streets, and manifested theh disrespect for him in many ways. The King left immediately after, feelirr ' nite disgusted with Paris; but before doing so he dined with the President, who apologised to him on behalf of the Government for the insult offered to him, This, however, did not satisfy him. He went blubbering home, and instructed his Ministry to demand further reparation for the hooting to which he had been subjected. His Ministry did so, but tho French Government declined to go further than the apology, offered by the President. The King now wants t» go to war with France, and as his Ministry will not let him, he has dismissed them. If he can get a Ministry so vile as to carry out his petulant behests, there will probably be a war declared between; the two countries befoie the month is to an end, and thousands of lives are to be lost because the most ruflianly mob in any city of the world happened to hoot a King. If this war comes on it will be a disastrous day for the King. There is a valcano of public feeling against the Spanish Monarchy ready to burst out at any moment, and if war is declared it will lead to civil strife and probably to the re-establishment of a Spanish Republic. We should not be sorry to see it. The King who would go to war because a mob in a foreign country chanced to hoot him, is not fit to rule over any people, A war between the two nations might do good. They are overrun with the vilest wretches on earth, and if it would decimate these both countries would be the better of it.