GREAT GISBORNE!

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3717, 31 December 1912, Page 5

GREAT GISBORNE!

A TILT AT THE “TIMES”

SPECIAL “BOOST” EDITION

SOME HOME-TRUTHS AND MANY GROSS LIBELS.

(By Wireless Telegraph.) ■ ’ MID OCEAN, Dec. 30. Sir, —The splendid illustrated edition of the “Gisborne Times” puts quite a different complexion on the place to' the impression left on the mind of myself and many other casual visitors; There are, of course, quite a few people in other districts of New Zealand who are aware that in the far southeastern corner of the vast Auckland province there lies a small village named Gisborne. Alost of the Gisborneos, however, are unaware of the fact that they live in the Auckland Province, probably owing to the fact that Gisborne is just an -odd corner of New Zealand, which is sometimes in Auckland for administrative purposes, at others in Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, or Taranaki. Local enthusiasts have always seemed to consider Poverty Bay shabbily treated in not being a province unto itself.

Alany travellers have merely gazed upon the scattered roofs of Gisborne from the deck of a liner lying in the roadstead, and that is really "the best view one can get of the village, unless, unhappily, returning to it from civilisation. A few venturesome ones, imbued with the Colonial instinct of

“chancing it,” have speculated a shilling and taken a trip ashore on those rare and happy occasions when transhipment is possible with comfort and decorum.' Now and then you meet, people in other parts who know every nook and corner of the township, and most of its inhabitants, through having enjoyed vour famous hospitality for a day or two. This hospitality, now fortunately dying out, is really a survival of former times, upon which you have recently given us some graphic enlightenment. In those days the stray traveller who ventured ashore found the whole population waiting for him on the beach, for was he not the one link with the outside world? Consequently he was feted like a duke or a Minister of Public Works, and departed somewhat shakily, with a vague recollection of Gisborne as a place flowing with good fellows and memorable whisky. Of course, things have changed a bit since then, although a big crowd still wanders, sub-consciously, to the wharf to see the launch arrive and depart. Still, strangers are now comparatively plentiful, as many as six having been counted on the main street in one day. Some of these speak cf the village and the Bay in even more slighting terms than Captain Cook did. But one of your glories, which can never fade, is the fact it was here that the intrepid, mariner first sighted our glorious Dominion and. set foot on its soil. Why he did so is one of the unexplained events of our early history, but he was sufficiently punished bv tbe reception he got; and putting tlie names of all the eon--tingenters on his memorial, in addition to its economical phase, was a sufficient reminder to indicate how Gisborne estimated his value. No doubt economics like that are your long suit. AYitness your alleged harbor, where, instead of squanderingmoney like other ports to accommodate ocean-going ships, you have conserved ycur funds, and only spent half a million', practically all on matchlining the creek which links the township to the Bay. Next Arbour Day you should plant willows and mangroves along the banks of the-entrance to beautify it. Those who have landed here will easily remember that a tiny steam launch tenders the large steamers, and, though not always appreciated by the fastidious or uninitiated, the flying 1 gangway (or. better still, the coal basket) which spasmodically connects the tender and liner, is really most instructive in conveying an idea of what aviation is, and when it is too rough to play basket-ball or see-saw with the passengers, they are generously conveyed to Auckland or Napier free of charge.

Still. you are improving slowly, and the new dredge is doing great work in the creek. It is a pity she is so wide that nothing can squeeze past when she is working there, and it is a good idea to make her .spend most of her time in journeying to sea to empty her spoil—and so leave the creek free of congestion. The only handicap to her work seems to be the report that

the brook has the habit of bringing down eighteen inches of silt to take the place of every foot of mud the Maui moves. The range at the mouth is also a discomfort at times, but by continually experimenting in alternately lengthening the groyne and the breakwater a remedy mav be found.

Leaving your “harbor” and strolling through the township, a visitor is immediately struck by the methodical and economical manner in which the village has been laid out. It he lands on a Sunday or Thursday afternoon he will find his view unimpeded by any sign of life or activity. Two minutes’ walk from the hub of this embryonic city brings the visitor to beach, green paddocks, or river bank, according to the direction.

En passant, he should note that the main pack-tracks which intersect the village are covered with a sedimentary deposit which has apparently long puzzled geologists, mineralogists, borough councillors, local correspondents, and other experts. In the quarry face, it is reported, it looks like metal, it requires the same treatment as metal to break out, crush, and work into a road surface. At election time it feels like metal, it breaks glass, in fact answers all the;tests for metal. Yet with the first shower of rain it thaws and resolves itself into its original globergerina ooze, and the roads become strips of porridge-like substance, possessed of great splashibflity and stickiness .drying in fine weather into a fine white powder, characterised by a great mobility and penetration which is the envy of the local police. And Gisborne dees get a shower of rain occasionally. ... One lasted four and a half days, and the local meteorologist abandoned his rain-gauge for a tank and fishing-line, and measured the fall by fathoms. That was the time when the one fragile wire which taps civilisation went bung, and Gisborne was cut off from the outside world for a week. Yet people wonder that sub-editors are found in mental

hospitals and foremen printers outside hotels. . Turning to the right from the main track one finds himself on the bank of one of the tributaries to the aforementioned creek, while the said bank is composed of city debris, empty tins, broken bottles, and other bric-a-brac ornaments, the whole being combined by a fine slimy mud. A doctor hi the Health Department once condemned it strongly; in fact, his condemnation' v/ent so far as to advise that it be, dammed. The local body 'has, however, taken no action beyond calling the Minister’s attention to the doctor’s language. If time and space permitted, there are many other sights and smells in this progressive little “borough” which might he pointed out. Should anyone doubt that it is progressive, the fact that Sir Jas. Carroll has represented it for more than a generation is surely sufficient evidence. Of course, a mere visitor has no time to become thoroughly acquainted with your parish-pump politics. Still, one cannot help noting that they are characterised by a bitter and bloodthirsty earnestness which is refreshing to an outsider, and a constant source of deadly confiict to local citizens. In fact, it is said to be considered, and rightly so, a piece of impertinence for any stranger to offer an opinion on local affairs until he has resided in the Tillage for a full score of years. The Borough Council is reputed to sit, 'usually, from 7.30 p.m. to 2.55 a.m. (with, of course, a brief but invariable interval at 9.50 p.m.). The strangers’ gallery has recently been enlarged, and the' attraction of the free show hi the Council Chambers- must play havoc with the receipts of the local picture shows. i.

It Js now on the tapis that the approaching municipal elections are anticipated with great joy by the sporting fraternity and serious alarm by the ratepayers. The present genial Mayor is apparently disclosing his cautious nationality by retiring early and leaving a free course to the more warlike candidates. 'The Chamber of Commerce has wisely applied for an increased staff for the local police force. With the present uncertain waterpressure the fire brigade is unreliable, and the only other means left of dispersing an angry crowd that I could suggest might therefore be the village band.—-I am, etc., AN OCCASIONAL VICTIM.