THE AROWHENUA FENCES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1745, 2 June 1888, Page 2

THE AROWHENUA FENCES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As the respectable portion of \ the community of the Arowhenua township have appointed mo arbiter between you and a certain section of the inhabitants on the one side and the brains, intelligence, and governing class on the other side, I have to ' inform you that, after careful consideration of the question in all its bearings, I have come to the decision that the certain section, which, for distinction sake, I may call the rabble, or mob, and yourself are greatly to blame. In the first place you, as the leader, try to raise a mutiny, or plot, against the constitutional authority and chosen of the people. You and your party have by threat* of violence, viz., threatening to throw the gentleman who has always been at the head •of the poll into the creek, simply because he dares •to do what is right, and because, though small, he has the heart of a lion, and the pluck to pull down these fences and stop all other abuses. I certainly think you are more to blame than your party, for you ought to know that the loss of these creek sections to the settlers is owing to that great Liberal' leader of m yours, the Hon. J. Ballance. Well you know it was he who ordered Mr Baker to cancel the agreement arrived at at the public' sheeting, and I am sorry to see you ignore the action of your Liberal chief, whereas if this action had been done by-a Conservative there would have been such a howl of indignation in all the Libert papers, but now, because it is done by the Liberal chief, it is quietly ignored. I have also to inform you that, though you are out of the reach of the Hon. J. A. Balfour, you are within the reach of one mightier than him, and cue who will not allow you to plot against our constitutional authorities, especially when they are composed of such upright, honorable men as our members of the Arowhenua Town Board. I have also to inform you that during my investigations I discovered that the Arowhenua Town Board balance-sheet had not been published in the local paper, and one man, who evidently does not bear you any good will, seemed to infer that this had a great deal to do with your opposition ; but lam glad-to say that J I can exonerate you from that charge, at all events. I now come to my decision, and, according to my oath, I am allowed to caution an Irishman once. I. do now hereby publicly caution you never more to offend against our constitutional Authority, and never allow your feelings to carry youaway again-—and always remember that, after being once cautioned, you and your actions will always be under the eye of ! The Peacemaker:^

[ln the happy days when the ancient Briton dyed*' his body blue with extract of woad so as to aroid the annoyance of being dunned by his tailor, men went mad and asses wore ears. It is a sad commentory on our boasted civilisation that, notwithstanding our, glorious Education Act, the same thing occurs, to-day—men still go mad and.ass.es iwear ears. Paschal says that, all men are mad on something, and that to be mad on no particular thing, is ia species of madness - in-itself, —With these facts before our mental vision we can come only to one conclusion, and that is that The Peacemaker has reached the “ bhingle-sh.ort ” period of his existence. Nothing else could possibly cause him to descend from the high and pious position ; of a judicial “ pacificator ” to the lowly level of a censor of the Press. We, never thought he would trouble himself with such innocent and insignificant concerns as newspapers; much less did) we think that we, being the humblest/ the meekest, the most virtuous, and the best looking of the “ sect,” would be the first on whom he would cast his eye. But if such is the end for which we were born, it,-is of course useless for us to try to avert our destiny. Still we have no desire to hasten the dread moment, and of course we can only cry jKecavi, and promise not to offend again. We are indebted to the clemency of The Peacemaker in giving us fair warning, but we regret to notice that he is toadying to Mr Edgeler. There must be something in this. We can account for ’ it ~only ~in two ways: Either The ' Peacemaker wants to get in as a member of.'the Arowhenua Town Board, under; .Mr Edgeler’s wings, or else he wahtgi t|d get into partnership with him. They could amalgamate both professions, and The Peacemaker could perform Mr EdgeTer’s duties without .looking any the worse for it, while he would have the benefit of Mr Edgeler’s astuteness and diplomatic capabilities as his reward. Both professions are of an elevating nature, as both must look up to perform their duties. It be a sad day for us , if ■ they combine together. They will prove themselves more terrible : than / the Danitea of Mormouland. As regards the assertion that Mr Ballance was th* cause of the creek sections being taken away, this is'refuted by Mr Edgeler, who in a letter which he has published in this paper, says that his (Mr Edgeler’s) own determination was the real cause of it. It is not right of The Peacemaker to try and rob him of the

honor. We can, of course, understand his sneer at Liberals. Conservatives have always been the best patrons of his art, and it is the feat that Liberalism will work him out of a billet that has disturbed the “ shingles on his cranium.” As for the balancesheet, we never thought of it until he pointed the matter out. The Ennon.]