RANGER FOR GERALDINE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1500, 1 May 1886, Page 2

RANGER FOR GERALDINE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —1 have been asked this morn* ing why 1 don’t write to your paper in answer to letters re the'ranger for Geraldine, I really did not think it necessary, but I am not afraid, sir, to give you my opinion. Each member ef the Road Board has spoken in favor of having a ranger, and I don’t think that anyone who studies the welfare of the country, and is perfectly free from personal interest, can oppose a ranger. My opinion is that if every man wou’d be satisfied with the property: that belongs to him, and not covet 'the grass’ growing on the roads—which is not his properly —there would be an end to all disputes among the farmers in the district, and be the means of peace and an end to all selfish feelings and quarrels. Instance a case in the Magistrate’s Court, Geraldine, the other day— McDonald v. Mulvihill—quarrelling about the grazing on Government land that belonged to neither of them. Now, that all the; law expenses are paid, is either of them a gainer ? The arguments brought forward by “ Fairplay ” in your piper of the 22nd ult, are the best I have read in favor of having a ranger for Geraldine, viz, : “That the big trespasser—as be calls him—would then he punished by having his stock impounded, thereby giving the poor man a chance of grazing his milk cow .on the roads as a means of supporting his family.” I may be accused of being one of the chief promoters in having a ranger appointed. This I deny, but the question having been so frequently brought before the Road Board by petitioners, the more I consider the matter the morel am convinced that keeping the roads clear of horses, cattle, and pigs, will increase the value of our land. No one entertains a kindlier feeling towards a poor man than 1 do, and as the land increases in value so his comforts will increase accordingly. I have lived in as 1 many counties in England as most men, and know what a poor man is. But it is not really the poor man reaps the benefit of the grass growing on the roads. It is the middle man; the small farmer who monopolises the roads, who turns out his promiscuously, perfectly regardless *of any damage which they may cause to others. The appointment of a ranger at the present time would not only add to the tone, honesty and morality of the district, but would materially increase the value of the laud. As to making the question of a ranger an election cry, it would be simply childish, as so many questions of greater importance are to be studied and dealt with by our Road Board.—l am, etc,, ,Wm. Upton Suck. Woodside, April 28th.