The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Morning. Tuesday, May 7, 1889. SLANDEROUS CHARGES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 295, 7 May 1889, Page 2

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

Tuesday, May 7, 1889. SLANDEROUS CHARGES.

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

Gisborne has long been notorious on account of the disunion of its residents, and the vexatious squabbling that has been kept up. The cause has been mainly attributable to a class of public prints, but during the past twelve months force of circumstances and a healthy reaction of public opinion have altered the tone of the place, and, we had hoped, finally stamped out some of its most objectionable features. But alas, we were too hasty in arriving at such a conclusion, for the slanderous spirit has been revived in what now appears to be an aggravated form. After ths continued renewal of discussions that have at different meetings extended over about three years, after columns of space had been devoted to it by the newspapers, the Harbor Board at last decided on taking a certain course with regard to the Tauwhareparae block, That decision may have been a wise one or it may not—there are very few people competent to pass an opinion on the subject—but we are convinced the decision was arrived at honestly.

But that decision was not in accord with the views of our contemporary, and instead of giving facts to show in what respect the members had wrongly decided, the journal alluded to launches out a tirade of abuse, and makes statements which, if true, go to prove that some of our leading public men are scoundrels. The article is headed, “ The Impending Job,” and the grave charge is made that “ if the settlers do not bestir themselves there will be imminent danger of a great public wrong being perpetrated. There will be no undoing the mischief, and those who have been at the bottom of the ugly business will be in a position to snap their fingers at the ratepayers, whose apparent apathy will have contributed to the spoliation of their property. . . It is our simple duty to tell the settlers of the Bay that they are novo face io face with one of the biggest fobs ever sought to be worked by a public body in New Zealand!'

The italics are ours. We have seen some specimens of low journalism in Gisborne, but was there ever anything to equal this ? The men whom the ratepayersof this district have elected as their representatives are accused of being: a party to one of the worst jobs ever worked in New Zealand ! These outrageous charges are an insult to every ratepayer in the community ; they may be treated with contempt by members of the :Board, but it is a public scandal that it is even possible for the representatives of the ratepayers to be subjected to malicious attacks of this nature.

The proposition is to thoroughly advertise the land and then submit it to public competition with an upset price, wheh the highest tenderers get the land. There may be differences of opinion on the matter, but we cannot see how there is a possibility of swindling, even supposing onr public men were the suspicious characters that there has been an attempt to paint them. It is enough to disgust sensible men to think that Gisborne has not yet been freed from a blemish that has long been its curse. It is not so long ago that one journalist was sentenced to gaol for making imputations against a public officer, but now we have another journal accusing the majority of the Harbor Board with seeking to work the biggest job ever perpetrated in New Zealand, and because Sir G. Whitmore happens to make a straightforward offer to,lease the Board's- endowment he is classed with the others. Things are taking a bad form when if a public man happens to hold independent views, he is to be looked upon as a criminal, and the Courage to express his opinions is Stigmatised as the outcome of selfishness. We know we can rely on the good sense of the community to be assured that these disgraceful tactics will be regarded as all honest men should regard them, but it is a sorrowful contemplation that journalism should take so degraded a position.