A Lively Time in Store.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 269, 18 May 1907, Page 2

A Lively Time in Store.

Me Peddle, who has got into trouble for assaulting a Sheriff in Hawke's Bay, is a remarkable character, and those who know him and the circumstances surrounding the transaction at issue cannot help feeling considerable sympathy for the man, however much they may condemn his methods. He took up some land in the "dark ages" at Pohui, about 40 miles inland from Napier, known as "The Rocks," and he has lived on it ever since, and made a valuable property there. In a weak moment he is said to have agreed to sell the property for some £20,000, about halt its value, but when called upon would not give up possession. A case was taken in the Supreme Court against him, and he is a man of such uncontrollable temper that counsel was afraid to put him in the box for fear of a general outbreak in court. For want of that evideno* the case was lost, and the proceedings, which have culminated in the assault, were taken. Mr Peddle doesn't want to sell, he doesn't want the purchasemoney—he merely wants to be let alone on his holding, carrying dut his farming operations in his own lonely, uncouth way. But it seems that that is not to be, and we are afraid — knowing the man — that he will exact heavy toll before he is dispossessed of what is dearer to him than life itself.