NAPIER NOTES.

Hastings Standard, Issue 97, 18 August 1896, Page 3

NAPIER NOTES.

iFkOM Ot'E Own CoKEKSPOXKKXT.] Napike, August 18. At last the Napier morning journal has awakened to the fact that something is going on which is calculated to injure the town -and country ratepayers,- and in a very able article this morning scatters the nonsense talked by opponents of the breakwater by the application of a few well applied facts. But I want to let you into a secret. The opposition has been prompted by the owners of lighters at the Spit, by the owners of the Ahnriri who used to make a good thing out of the tendering of steamers in the bay, by the Spit people who have an interest in the value of property at the port, and by the Union Steamship Company who used to get an extra day out of their seamen and engineers by working the bay on Sundays. These are the people who are opposing the breakwater, and I hope that those of the country people who have been induced to sign the petition under false pretences will demand that their names be taken oft. The movement, so far as it ha- _or>f has been sly, surreptitious and sreitt I have tried to let the light of day into it, and I believe I have succeeded. You will be glad to know that a very large amount of sympathy is felt for you here in Napier because of the unfair treatment to which you have' bad to submit, and I was glad to hear a prominent townsman declare last night that if he were a Hastings resident he should know how to reward Mr E. W. Knowles for the part he took in the so-called negotiations entered into with you by the Press Association. The holding of your £3OO by the Association is the most unjust and impudent piece of conduct ever perpetrated bv any company either public or private" and in itself would warrant the Committee set up by the House in recommending that the privileiri at present enjoyed by the Association at the expense of the taxpayers of the colony should be withdrawn. JFhat fact you published about the Napier Telegraph having been admitted fee of charge was a regular eye-opener. But yon were £SO out with regard to tit News. The News people paid as entrance fee, and when that is stated, it shows how shameless the conduct of the Press Association has been m demanding £SOO from the Staxdakd. But take the Hastings Star, which was started by Mr J. H. Clayton in your town. He was only charged £IOO, and when he went to Danevirke he was allowed to transfer his right to the Bush Advocate for a nominal sum. The Hasting? people, like the prominent townsman here of whom I spoke, should know how to deal with Mr E. W. Knowles and bis paper. They have been dealt with as unfairly as you have been, for your interest is theirs. You cannot make that fact too plain. At the Education Board this morning, it was decided to give Mr C. Morton, the Ashley-Clinton schoolmaster, three months'notice. A request from Havelock that Miss Garry be granted six months' leave of absence •was granted. Miss Mable Smith's appointment as pupil teacher was approved. I regret to notice that Mr Kechab Harding had to apply for leave of absence owing to ill-health. I have always looked upon him as one of the most careful members of the Board, and I am sorry to hear that he is not in the enjoyment of good health.