The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 28, 1908. THOSE GRAZING RUNS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2307, 28 September 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 28, 1908. THOSE GRAZING RUNS.

It is satisfactory to note that the members of tlio Opposition do not intend to allow the tenants of Crown grazing runs to bo subjected to unfairness without making somo protest. In tho llouso on Friday, Mr. Kerries made the debate on Imprest Supply tlie occasion to draw attention to the wrong that is being done in refusing tho" renewal* of leases granted to tenants under the 1885 Act. As wo have pointed out on many former occasions these lessees were fully entitled by the special conditions of the lands they were taking up to n longer term than the 21 years constituting the original period and also tliab—whatever the legal position—the wording of the Act and also of tho,Land Guides left tho natural impression in the minds of thoso mostly concerned Hint the right of renewal was present. The legal aspect of the position, as Mr. Herrios points out, is still open to question, hut there is not a shadow of doubt as to the moral claims of the tenants to another term.

Mr. Massey, it appears, took up another pluiso of tho question, and directed attention to tho peculiar condition of affairs which enables supporters of tho Government to secure renewals whilst Oppositionists cannot, specifically mentioning the cases of Messrs Frederick Hall and H. G. Black. On the last occasion upon winch wo referred to this matter wo ventured to class Mr. Hall as a supporter of the Government, a distinction which apparently failed to please our esteemed townsman, who showed his resentment by withdrawing his plumbing advertisement and also ono relating to his timber anil,l on the morning tho nrticlo appeared. However, Mr. Massey, apparently like ourselves quito . ignorant of Mr. Hall’s delicate susceptibilities on this point, went further and referred lo the gentleman whoso grazing run had been restored as “tho most prominent supporter of tho Government in the electorate.” IVo do not blame Mr Hall in Lliis connection. IVo maintain, mu! have done throughout, that he, in common with other lessees, was entitled to renewal, but it is simply iniquitous that he should have been given a preference over such gentlemen ns Messrs Black and Caesar. Moreover, a fact which did not come cut in tho Parliamentary discussion on Friday is that the Crown Lands Rai ger reported that Mr. Hall’s run was suitable for subdivision, and tjiat the Lind Board adopted his recommendation. Tho Minister now says that lie received a different recommendation. What the public has a right to know is how this mistake occurred and why. Thero are several matters in this connection which need explaining away before the Depart meat can be cleared from tho suspicion of political jobbery. When the matter comes to be sifted—if the Government does not with customary adroitness succeed in smothering up the facts —we shall be quite prepared to find that the Minister of Native Affairs—whom wo trust Mr. Hall will forgive us for describing as a personal friend of his own —had ‘a finger in the pie. In short, there is a good deal that is unsatisfactory about the whole business, and unless something much more definite comes forth than has been vouchsafed up to the present, the public will have no difficulty in drawing its own conclusions, and these will be very unfavorable to the Government.

The usual monthly meeting of tho No-license Loague will be held in St. Andrew’s Schoolroom this evening, at 8.30.

The annual general aneeting of the Wanderers Cricket Club will he held in the British Empire Hotel this evening.

At- tlic conclusion of the school sports at Whangara on October 3rd, it is intended to hold a concert and danco in tho Maori hall, tit 7.30 p.m.

It is understood that an application will shortly come beforo tho Licensing Committee for a transfer of the license of the Record Reign Hotel from Joseph Burke to Adolphus Zaehariah.

Owing to the shortness of tho interval between the two performances, it has been decided to postpone indefinitely the school concert which was to have taken place in His Majesty’s Tlieatro to-night.

The following revenue was received at tho Custom House last week : Customs duties £265 9s Id, boor duty £32 6s, light dues £9 7s lid, shipping fees 6s, Harbor Board revenue £65 4s, other receipts £2 12s 8d ;total £375 5s B<l.

A number of blacksmiths met in Town,ley’s Hall on Saturday evening to discuss tho advisability of forming a union. After some discussion it was decided to call a meeting at a future date to again consider the proposal.

It is stated that the picnic at Patutahi that is to he held by tho pioneers of Poverty Bay on tho King’s Birthday is not to celebrate the To Ivooti mass.icre, hut is intended to take the form of a reunion of' residents of the Bay at that time.

Mr. W. D. S. MacDonald received a telegram from the Government on Friday evening stating that £SOO has been granted towards completing the Waihuka Valley lload. vtnd the County Council instructed the County Engineer to let a contract for the work.

The meeting of Mr. G. E. Dortoil’s political supporters hold on Saturday evening was largely attended. Mr. R. Johnston was appointed chairman of committee, and Messrs A. Pool and V. Garrard secretaries. A sub-coni-mittee was 'appointed to arrange the details of the political campaign, which will bo opened at Patutahi at an early date. At the close of the meeting Mr. Darton gave an interesting address on the political situation. A general meeting of the committee will he held in Townley’s Hall on Saturday next, at 8 p.m.

Dominion Day, with perfect weather, passed quietly, and the usual display of hunting was made on the business premises and Government buildings. The only thing worth recording was tho surprising number of wash-hand basins disposed of, and this week its two fancy patty puns (your own choice (for one penny at Parnell’s Popular Saturday Sales, 3rd inst. only.

A special mooli: g of the Freezers’ Union will bo held in Towidey’s Hall at. 7 o’clock sharp this evening. Tho chief business to bo considered will bo tlio question of assist nig in the Labor Day procession and picnic, and deciding what stops to hike regarding tlio broach of award.

On Saturday aftornoon a man named Alox. Ferguson was knocked down by a horse in Lowe. Street that was being led by a man mimed Thomas Donovan. .The man was injured, but not seriously, and as Sergeant Hutton was close at hand when the accident occurred, lie. ordered the man’s removal to the Hospital, where his injuries were attended to.

The Straker waggon ■ purchased by the Gisborne Borough Council for the purpose of carrying road metal was landed from the s.s. Mokoia, from Wellington, oil Saturday, and stood on the wharf all (lav, where if was closely inspected. Tlio waggon, which cost nearly 6900, can travel 12 miles an hour empty mid 5 miles an hour loaded, and the engine is designed to develop 50 house-power.

At tlio Police Court on Saturday morning, before Mr. W. A. Barton, iS.M., Alfred James Nicholas Weston was fined 10* with 2* costs, or 48 hours’ imprisonment, for drunkenness. <M a further charge of procuring liquor during tlio currency of a prohibition order against him, Weston was convicted and fined £lO with costs, in default of immediate payment two months’- liurd labor in tlio Napier gaol.

“Own Mr Massey tell me,” asked a questioner at the Opposition Leader’s mooting' at Palmerston North last week, “what has gone wrong with this country P (Laughter.) IVo have all the pests imaginable—human, animal, and vegetable—(loud laughter) • —and on top wo have an army of inspectors. If things go on like this much longer we shall have to live in n refrigerating chamber or emigrate to the Arctic regions, and this is what you call ‘God’s Own Country.' ” (Renewed laughter.)

An evidence <,f tho durability of totara is furnished by the present condition of two survey pegs of that timber which were placed in the ground at Ohawe, near Ilawera, in 1866. One peg, which was put in peaty soil, is as sound as the day on which it was driven. The other was more exposed to the weather, and some of it is a little decayed, hut on the whole, it is in an excellent state of preservation. The pegs were taken recently from land belonging to Mr Jamos Livingston, a settlor at Oliawe, who lias sent them to AVollington for presentation to tho Biological Museum.

The Now Plymouth correspondent of tho New Zealand “Times” states that spiritualism in ,an acute form has been prevalent in New Plymouth of late. It is said to have affected the mental balance of several of the townspeople. Over one family, -at least, a pall of sadness has been cast by its influence. Two young men, brothers, who are votaries of the ahgtruso cult, havo been examined in tlio past few days as to their mental condition. Ono has been committed to a mental hospital. The other, who is under remand, is said to bo recovering.

A great tribute to the PostmasterGeneral (Sir Joseph IVard) as an employer was paid by Mr H. A. Huggins, of the General Post Office staff, when speaking at tho officers’ dinner at Wellington. "If ever a man in -authority tempered justice with mercy that man is Sir Joseph IVard,” said Mr Huggins. “Among all large bodies of men it is inevitable thatsomo occasionally do things they ought not to do. Only the secretary and Sir Joseph Ward himself could say how often there appeared on the papers in Sir Joseph’s handwriting ‘Give tho man another chance,’ but such is Sir Joseph’* method, and this often resulted in the occasion being tho turning point for the better in a man’s life.”

The first celebration of Labor Day in Gisborne takes place next month. Apart from the trades procession, it it proposed to hold a sports gathering. This proposal emanated from the Cook County Women's Guild,- but this body lias now handed over the project 'to tlio Trades and Labor Council, which society will make all the necessary arrangements for the successful carrying out of the same. It is the intention of the Women’s Guild to canvas tho town for prizes, and as the object is a worthy one, namely, for the establishment of a Maternity Home, the ladies expect to meet- with a hearty response. There are also proposals in the air for comic football and hockey matches, hut nothing definite has been done regarding these projects.

“As an undergraduate at Harvard, President Roosevelt taught in a mission Sunday school,” aiys a writer in the “Quiver,” “and there is a story told of him there that might easily have occurred yesterday, so -little has 'his point of view changed in twenty-eight years. One of the boys in his class came to school with a black eye and, after crossexamination the bov confessed that he had got it in a fight with a boy who had been pinching the girl who sat 'next to him in school. Roosevelt told him that he had done quite right; that his black eye was nothing to be ashamed of, and gave him a dollar. Now this is what anyone with a sense of fairness, would have done, but it did not seem so to the authorities of the Sunday school, who looked into tho matter and suggested that Roosevelt might be more useful elsewhere.”

Matters in connection with the celebration of Labor Hay in Gisborne are now being arranged. A meeting of the Management Committee of the East Coast Trades and Labor Council was held on Saturday evening to arrange details fo the celebration. Reports were received from the various unions as to the arrangements being made regarding a display of their respective trades, the same being eminently satisfactory. The procession is to bo a feature of the day, and with a view to attaining this object aconiic cycle parade is to be held, arrangements for which are being left in the hands of, Mr. IT. .Anderson. It is also likely that tho majority of the Friendly Societies will join in the pro. cession, while the Fire Brigade and the volunteer corps-will be asked to assist. As this procession will be tho first trades display of the Idjul in Gis,borne, it is expected that''much interest will he taken by the public in tho function.

The papers before the Supreme Court in Dunedin tho other ony in connection with a Salv i,vi Arn y appeal re a legacy, lt.-elud :d one which set forth the rehg-uis doctrine professed by the Army, it consists of eleven short paragraphs embodying well-known evau a] propositions, and is just about the irngtli of the Ten Connnanlaieii is. This document also included a copy of the deed poll, or instrument ruder v.ri-b properties arc bold in trust by Central Booth. His tenure of ■ llioo is unassailable; his rights are s- ocmpletolv autocratic as to > vc him the sole right to appoint 1 is successor. In the words of the deed : “The Army is and shall bo always hereafter under the oversight, direction, and absolute control of some one person, who shall be known, called, and styled by the title of General William Booth shall continue, to he for the term of his upturn] life the General, unless lie shall resign William Booth and every General who shall succeed him shall-have,power to appoint his successor.” For a parallel to such absolute despotism (says the Dunedin “Star”) one has to look to far Tibet. It is conclusive proof of the purity nnd the -honor of the Salvation Army that a constitution which seems to belong to tho time of Abraham and Isaac should work so well in the governance of a huge mass of people, who are quite in the forefront in all that relates to up-to-date philanthropy.