The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1884. THE GERALDINE TOWN BOARD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1189, 10 June 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1884. THE GERALDINE TOWN BOARD.

Thi meeting held in Geraldine to discuss theqttstion of the proposed Town Board shows indisputably that the people are almoit unanimously in lavor of it. This being se it is folly to throw' further impediments in the way, and tho*e who do so will only bring odium upon themselves, without being able to j gain their «nds, for it must be apparent to any ene thnt the majority must bare their way. Tut great majority of the peopls of Geraldine, judging from what took plscs at the public meeting, ar# in faror of the Town Board, and they must get it, no matter who opposes them, for the Goternor cannot refuse to obey th* law. It is the law of the land that at tae request of two-thirds of any 50 householders liring within an area of two square miles, the Governor may proclaim tha town a Town District,, and turely to pass snch an enactment were useless if compliance with it is not compulsory, it is evident, therefore, that Geraldine must hare a Town Board, and that to offer further opposition can only result in creating illfeeling and dislikes. We point this out with the hope that the force of our words will be seen, and that things will be allowed to take their natural course. Mr Maslin credited the proprietor of this paper with having been the originator of the Town Board for Geraldine. In his desire to secure revenue for the Town Board of Temuka be asked Mr Maslin to take his license out for Temuka so that ths £4O might fall to the Town Board—and then Mr Maslin felt that it would be a good thing for Geraldine to have a Town Board of its own, and hence the way it came about. Temuka people may not gire us credit for taking so much interest in tha matter, but still it is a fact that Mr Maslin stated nothing but what was true. However, although we have, probably, very iu recently originated the matter, wo have not lent much assistance in promoting it. Wa did not feel confident that it was desirable, because of the scattered condition of tha town, the richness of tha Road Board, and the very fair way in which the town was looked after. Our motto always is " let well alone." Still wa do not think that Geraldine has mada i\ny mistake in tha conclusion i it ha» com* to as regards obtaining the management of its owa affairs. If it did nothing more than, as TV Foster said, educate the people in is. is it could not fail to have a banefieia! effect. It cannot fail to awnken a greater amount of interest in local matters, and perhaps it may lead to much greater results than ev*n the promoters dream of, It is good for the people of any place to meet and discuss mattera frequently, for it is often that the interchange of ideas lead to the production of good results. It is well also for a a town to have a constituted authority to look up to and to give expression to its wants. As for the question whether the Board will get a share of Road Board lunds, we do not think that there can be any doubt about it. "We have hare already quoted the clause bearing upon the subject, and it says that it must. Now where was the use of insertinf that clause in the Act if it was not intendsd that it should be carried out? The law mast be obeyed, so it 19 us<?lfr*?> to go against it. The opponents of the Town Board will, if they take our rdvice, necspt the inevitable now and withdraw further opposition, for the raaaon that though they may delay thar cannot preyent it. Uaclar these circumstances wa hope they will do so, and that both parties will settle down to work harmoniously together in forwarding the interests of their town.

TEMUKA TOWN BOARD ELECTION.

Ciroumstahcbs oror which we had no control preveated us from making' a few remarks in our hit issue on the election of the Temuka Town Commissioner*. In the previous issue wo pointed out that the Town Board was entirely new, that it would require men who had experience of public matters to work it successfully for the first year, and suggested that the three most experienced should at any rata be elected. We never said one word against any of thf other candidates —what wa did was to congratulate the electors on Laving such an excellent selection to choose from. Our reaaon far naming thesa three candidates waa that we felt it would be tor tha good of the town that they Bhould ba on the Board, not because thay possessed virtues they others did not, but because they had experience of public matters and they were likely to work the new Board well. Besides, the throe candidates w« re set down by everyone a? the most likely to get in, and we were afraid that many would think them so safe that they would not think it necessary to vote for them, and that in that way they might not get elect**-!. This happeued to Mr B. I>. Barker in 1883. Every one thought his elecion to the Licensing Committee go safe thai

they did not think it necessary to vote for him, with the result that he was not elected and that everyone was sorry. It was the fear that this would happen in the case of the three candidates referred to that we suggested to the ratepayers the desirability of electing them, but other motives have been attributed to us, and that is the reason we now 1 raftr to the matter again. Some people i hold we had no right to back up any didate, and that no other paper ever did such a thing. Will these people try to recollect the recant Timaru High School elections, when the Herald indulged not only in gross personalities, but tried to stir up national prejudices—when the cry of English v. Scotch was got up,! ; The fact is, public-spirited newspapers always interfere in any election that arouses more than ordinary interest, | because it is their duty as guardians of the public interest to do so, "We only followed this example, and we are not sorry for having done so, and if the occasion arises we shall do it again. Whea we did this we had not th« slightest idea that anyone would feel offended at it, because w» only named three men as most eligible, while we left the ratepayers to choose the other two from what we called an excellent selection of candidates. There were amongst these the bitterest and most unrelenting enemies we have in Iwmaka, men who would crush us out of the district in 24 hours if they could, but though the opportunity of having u a dig " at these offered, we did not embrace it. Yet we are accused of apitefulneis, We published a letter, containing a lawyer's opinion, for Mr J. T. M. Hayhurst. This ought to have gone in aB an advertisement. Anyone who knows anything about newspapers, knows that. Let them look at the Ashburton papers now, and they will see the addresses of candidates published in the shape of advertisements, Yet we published that letter free of cost to Mr Hayhurat, although, whenever that gentleman has any advertisements to give, he carefully gives them to the Hrrald and never gives this paper aar. We did this so that Mr Hayhurat could not complain, although experience tenches us that he would not do as ranch for us. We merely mention this to show that we had not a thought but what was dictated by a desire to act fairly and honeßtly. As regards Mr Qui™, if xeo were to consult our own imprests, wa should try to keep him out of every public position. H« is a determined enemy of advertising, and it ia not such a man that would at all suit ns personally. It is not long since he and the proprietor of this paper wore not on speaking terms on account of advertising. Amonyst the first things b* did on takiag bis seat on the Temuka Road Board was to suggest that the Board's advertising should be given to this paper and the He-aid quarter about, and tbos* who attended the first meeting of the Debating Society can attest to the attitude he assumed when it was suggested that the meetings should be advertised. Is this the man we would back up it we thought, of ourselves first ? Certainly not, but we saw that he was an excellent public man, who would have everything straight and above Board, and whise experience fitted him for the position he aspired to. Besides, he championed the cause of the town on the Road Boerd most manfully, and we felt he had thus far earned the confidence of the people. Hence our reason for backing him up, against our own interests, for experience teaches us that as a member of the Town Board he will be just as careful uf advertising as usual. Thoso who wish to harm us could not do it more effectually than by putting Mr Qninuin positions where he would have the giving of advertisements. On the other hand ihere was Mr D, Henry; whose firm given us nn>r« support for the last fix months than Mr Quinn would ia six vears. There were also Messrs E. Brown and G. 'J. Mason, each advertisers and capital supporters of ours. We do not kne>w that Mr Quinn's intellectual powers are anything superior to those of any of these three candidate*, or that he was in any way mo;e eligib'*, except as regards experience, anr! «s we felt that indispensable in working up a new thing like the Town Board, it was on that ground we recoramsnded him. If wa had consulted our own interests ne should have backed up any of these three in preference to Mr Quinn, because they are much better wipporters, and in fact better friends of ours, than Mr Quinn has been or ever will bp, i unless b alters greatly. We are glad that two of these have got in, for hotter could not have been selected, an i the only thing w« regmt is that the numbar of Commissioners was not seven in steal of five, so that Mr Hency might have been in also. There wss abo a party wo:k : ng with the view of including Arowbenua. [f we had consulted our own interests we should have backed up this parf?, because if that were done there wr-u'd have been a good deal mora adver-ising j connected with it, and we should of course benefit by it. All these are facts which no one can gainsay, and what do they show but that we acted solely and purely for the public good, and without to our own interest f This, we know, i* an extrrmely personal article, but a saint could not help feeding annoyed at finding 1 sordid and selfish motives attributed tp him when his actions had been dictated solely and entirely by a desire to see the beat thing for th. 1 public done. We have worked tor this district well, ai.d success has crowned our efforts. This Town Board wouli not have been in existence now only for us, and the thanks we get for it are slight. It is obvious, however, that; it i? useless, to work for many of the ,

Temuka people, and consequently it appears to us that to watch our own interests in future is about the beet Mn% w« can do, and we shall do it. It ii useless to act in a purely dieintemrted way when we get no credit for it. However, there art things we shall not do. We shall not toady to the rich. We shall never be at the beck or cill of a cliqie or party, and no one shall dictate to at how wt shall eondaet our own business.