The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Thursday, September 25, 1390.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 501, 25 September 1890, Page 2

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

Thursday, September 25, 1390.

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

Two items of news we publish this morning will be noted with very different feelings. The sheepfarmers will rejoice to learn —and so will everyone else—that the wool market is firm, with an upward tendency. An increase per pound of a fraction of a penny in the price of wool means an enormous gain to the district. With wool at a good figure, and the harbor trouble set at rest so far as the financial difficulty is concerned, a tide of prosperity would set in, to the benefit of everyone. The other information is the reverse of pleasing, the dairy farmers and the factory proprietors being mainly concerned. The dairy farming industry has been a great help to the place, and has been the means of constantly circulating hundreds of pounds in ready cash. Mr Townley has kindly supplied us with the report on the shipments of cheese and butter by the Matatua, Duke- of Buckingham, and Arawa. The butter by the Arawa was only saleable at grease prices. The following prices were realised for cheese : — Ex Matatua— Mstawhero Factory. 20 erates, at 4oi Ormond Factory, 50 urates, at 40s ~ ~ 34 crate., at 39s „ „ 14 orates, at 38s Ex Duke of Buckingham— Ma'awhero Factory, 59 orates, at 45s Ex Arawa— Matawhero Factory, 119 orates, at 45s As it was expected that the cheese would realise from 50s to 565, it can easily be calculated what the effect must be. The factory owners, even to make things yield mere expenses, will probably be compelled to reduce the price given for milk.

The new gold rush in Australia threatens to cause another serious depletion of the flower of the New Zealand population. The terrible lesson of Kimberley is not likely to deter men from rushing off directly the craze has set in. But the conditions are so different that the worst failure would not be so bad as a faint success at Kimberley. It is believed the value of the Peak Hill will soon be tested, and if it turns out well no one can blame experienced men going thither to try their luck. Those who are first in the field of course always have the best chance of securing the “ plums, ” but when it is considered that there are at present over 4000 men at Peak Hill, men who take passage from New Zealand can hardly hope to have any special chance, and they would do well to act very cautiously in the matter. The unfortunate part of these rushes is that it is nearly always the hardworking, energetic men who compose the greater portion of those who leave the country, while the loafer element is not lessened. Concerning the Peak Hill field the following report from a Sydney paper is interesting, but if recent telegrams are correct the estimate is a misleading one ;— “ A good deal of attention has been paid to the Peak lately, and we have taken some pains to find out what lhe real prospects of the field are. We gather from the reports of several good experts—men who have had a great deal of exper ience in mining—that it is not likely ever to go very rich, but that it may be considered to have a fairly good prospect before it, provided too much is not expected. The veins canying gold are small, are broken up, and are almost like conglomerate, although they really are quartz in situ. A good deal of capital must be spent, arid the machineiy, to be effective, must be expensive. It'will be useless- to attempt to treat the stone except in a large and comprehensive way, and it will be a waste of money to put up amall heads of stamps, or to have inadequate power. We thiukjthat, if judicious

counsels prevail, shareholders will get .moderate dividends, but only after some considerable . time. The stone is not likely to go on the average more than from a half to three-quarters of an ounce of gold to the ton, but it is easily got.”

The London police are at last taking a firm hand concerning the brutal prize fights that have long been tolerated under the protecting wing of the riffraff of the aristocracy. Slavin and McAuliffe have been arrested to prevent their fighting for a stake of There is in consequence great consternation among the fashionable blacklegs who infest the Ormonde Club. The intelligent public can cheerfully bear to learn of any such confusion, so long as the police are successful in preventing these lazy scoundrels carrying out their purposes. If two ordinary men have a grievance and attempt to settle it in British fashion they would be at once arrested, but when a couple of blackguards are successful in getting the patronage of the brainless fops who by hereditary right live on the industrious British taxpayer, the proceedings are cunningly winked at, or the law is evaded by some artifice. A departure from the old order of things will be approved of by all but the interested hangers on.

The Governor of New South Wales has shown that he has more wisdom than was credited to him by some of the toadies by whom he is surrounded. He refused to sanction the employment of Imperial officers holding appointments in the colony, as instructors in connection with the disturbances arising from the strikes. To attempt such a thing would be to cast an insult on Australasia—an insult that would soon be resented in every democratic community. When the Socialist agitation occurred in London a few years ago the metropolitan police proved themselves to be powerless to prevent the looting of shops. The police were swarming by the hundred in some places, while the . rascality inseparable from a mob had surgqiLalong other streets and.had high frolics at the expense of the property owners. The epithet of “ Dodo ” was thereafter applied to the head official. We can do things better than that in Australia, without interference from Downing-street nominees. The moment an Imperial hireling was specially introduced there would be such an outburst of indignation as would quickly demonstrate that a gross blunder had been made.