The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY MORNING. Tuesday, March 18, 1890. THE MINISTERIAL VISIT.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 430, 18 March 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY MORNING.

Tuesday, March 18, 1890. THE MINISTERIAL VISIT.

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

The visit to Gisborne by two Ministers of the Crown is an event of such rare occurrence that great weight is naturally attached to it. The very rareness of the thing indeed leads many people to believe that by some means which they cannot explain all our wants will be gratified and the grievances of the past be enquired into and remedied. Those who hold such a belief are certain of disappointment, because they expect more than can possibly be given.

But it is to the future that we look with some confidence. Any intelligent visitor to Gisborne, being in a position to tap those sources of information which he knows to be thoroughly reliable, must be fully convinced that a vast district, noted for the fertility of its soil, has for the greater part been allowed to remain in a shameful state of unproductiveness through unfair treatment iu the distribution of enormous sums for which it has had to con-

tribute interest and sinking fund, and on the other hand because of the mischievous land legislation which has not only resulted in much of the soil being kept in its virgin state, but has crippled many an industrious settler who felt that his tenure was secure. The question of native land legislation was ably referred to by His Worship ths Mayor, whose remarks seemed to malke a weighty impression on the mind o f the Native Minister.

To hava the Ministers come personally to the district is a great point gained, and the attitude assume)! by those Ministers is one which we must ad mire. They were very frank thr<j ughout, and members of deputations were soon ini'ide aware that they werp not going to catch drops of a gulden showijr of which the Ministers were diaper )sers. They were in no way- led to ipd ulge in day-dreams by the t>ii\iulatior. of specious promises which the re was ’nn hope of being realised. They plaii ily indicated that it was hppele«i I for the district to expect anything like I wly it was asked, but they gave an I ein phatic promise, the sincerity af which ctv aid not be doubted, that each matter bf ought forward would receive careful aV .ention, and such support - would begl ven as the straitened condition of tl .8 Treasury would admit. That,

I were told in tones which could lead to no misapprehension, would not be much, and for our part we repeat that we admire Ministers for this frankness. If, just to please us for the moment as a. child is often humored with fairy tales, promises were made which there was no probability of being kept, we should have regarded with keen suspicion every word uttered by the Ministers, and at once have pronounced them guilty of sophistry and the repetition of conduct from which the district has suffered in the past. We have been promised so little that a sort of mental microscope would be required to discover it, but the slowness to make promises convinces us that we can judge the Ministers from much higher grounds, that we can rely on their honestly making full enquiry into the district’s treatment in the past and its requirements in the present. There are signs that New Zealand has safely ridden through a commercial crisis of which the real severity was known only to those who judged that it were discreet to remain silent. The outward symptoms were indeed so grave that even the unthinking could not help but be alarmed, because they judged only by the present and if they considered the future at all it was only from a narrow point of view unduly colored by the present. Now a great change for the better-is being gradually worked. There are signs of a revival of that alacrity which is the effect of hope, and the severe trial has induced a more rational political administration and a sobered people. The political intoxication caused by the squandering of borrowed millions has been cured by adversity, and an era of solid progress appears to have set in—progress founded upon substantial basis and which, though slow, does not harass us with the thought of a dreaded reckoning. In such circumstances we may well hope that by attracting towards a district like our own the earnest attention of those in power, those persons cannot but discern the great importance of having its productiveness developed, and of using for that purpose funds from a gradually replenishing public Treasury. Those persons cannot but see how much more it will aid the progress of the colony as a whole to have opened up a district like the East Coast, in preference to the bolstering up of almost useless works whose sole recommendation to public attention is the pressure which can be brought in support of their construction. We believe the Hon. Mr Mitchelson and the Hon. Mr Richardson are sincerely desirous of dealing fairly with us, and feel convinced that their own keenness of perception will enable them to form a sound judgment as to the unfortunate position in which the district has been placed. At the same time we urge upon them the necessity of making the best of the short - time at their disposal and not allow themselves to fall into a very common mistake by imagining that the superficial observation which is all that can be obtained by a very brief visit will give them a complete knowledge of the resources of such a vast area of country as that of the East Coast. The residents are sufficiently enlightened on political matters to be aware of the difficulties under which the Administration labors, but we respectfully commend to the attention of the Ministers the great work which, without assistance from enormous funds, has already been done by the settlers of this district, harassed though they have been by bad land laws badly administered, and further to point out that steady progress is still being made in spite of drawbacks which would completely dishearten settlers in a district less gifted by Nature. Even a flying visit must convince I the Ministers that it would be rank folly to suppose that a body with the limited means possessed by the Cook County Council can attempt to do more than by very economical management keep in repair roads already opened up. It is no doubt fully qualified to undertake the opening up of even so great an area as the County includes-, but at present its impotency, through want of funds, is a pitiable .spectacle to anyone who knows how great a gainer the colony as a whole would be if the Council had the means of doing what it is fully capable of. We trust that this aspect of the question will be fully considered by the Ministers, and that they will discern what a 'short-sighted colonial policy it is to suffer aay body to be in the helpless position in which the County Council is in regarding the opening up of the country. If the position were not so serious and of such grave interest to the public it would be laughably ridiculous.