The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Saturday, March 9, 1889.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 271, 9 March 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Saturday, March 9, 1889.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God's, and truth’s.

Hard cash has a wonderful effect at times, and the fivepenny call that has been made in connection with the South Pacific Petroleum Company seems to have made them determined that something must be done, and we cordially agree that they have set about doing that something in a very proper way. It does not, in one sense, matter in the least what the result may be, for things cannot possibly be worse than they are at present. The shareholders seem all along to have been afraid to speak out boldly, for tear that it might only delay matters, but the experience of the last few months, after all that has gone before, was too much for them, and they have now come out in a very strong light, and freely admitting that they have been too easy-going in the past. One shareholder, however, suggested that a little further delay would be satisfactory, as they must surely now only have to wait a fortnight at the outside before the test would be made ; he was promptly “ smiled ” into submission—indeed he only seemed to be intent on a joke. If the thing were not so serious, one would be inclined to regard the management as the groundwork of a very good joke, but those who have to pay for it so dearly cannot be expected to be so light hearted as their less interested friends. It is very satisfactory to note that many of the Sydney shareholders, as well as those in Christchurch have got tired of this wearywaiting for year after year, and as Mr Maude says combined action is certain to work some good. The whole thing would make an admirable play. Still our own faith in the oil is unabated; nothing as regards the oil itself has yet been shown to lessen the confidence which many people hold. The management has certainly not been reassuring, but the fact of the matter is they have not even done sufficient to give grounds for supposing that the oil belief is a myth. Mr Maude says his confidence remains unshaken, and he is only one of many others; but we have previously spoken out very plainly on the matter, and the more we see as weeks and months go by, the more firm is our opinion that things are very far from being as they should be. Still not much further need be said than what has already been said by the shareholders themselves ; we cordially endorse the resolutions that have been passed—they are, considering the circumstances, of a temperate nature, and appear to have been very carefully framed. All that now remains to be done is to calmly watch the course of events ; so far as things have gone, we must acknowledge that the shareholders in the South Pacific Petroleum Company are the most patient body of men that can be found in New Zealand.