The Northern Advocate SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1910. OUR MEAT SUPPLY.

Northern Advocate, 25 June 1910, Page 4

The Northern Advocate SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1910. OUR MEAT SUPPLY.

The public of Whangarei are having a most joyful entertainment provided for them free of charge and the chief buffoon in the amusing comedy is the irresponsible Cr. Kernohan. The first act in the farce foreshadowed complex situations and absurd subterfuges, but as the play proceeded fresh hum or was introduced until in the third act the clown had run

amok and a tragedy, in which the comedian will take a leading, if ignoble, part is promised for the grand finale. Sir W. S. Gilbert wrote a delightful skit entitled "Trial by Jury," and some humorous pen might some day write up a farce entitled "Trial by a Bush Lawyer" with Cr. Kernohan in the name Part and Mr M inch in as the understudy. But farcical as the whole proceedings of tho blocking of

the Meat Company's license seem, a great deal of seriousness is behind all the apparent humor and it is the

County ratepayers who should be serious. Owing to the unwarranted agitation of Mr Minchin, Mr Kernohan, and a lew of their friends, the County Council without a full knowledge of the facts, decided not to renew the license for the slaughterhouse at Kioreroa. They had heard the arguments put forward by certain persons, and it is a well known axiom that if a story is told often en-

ough some one is sure to believe it: But the Councillors were men of business, all excepting two, and after they had visited the site of the supposed nuisance Mr Minchin's objection fell 100 per cent, and six members out of eight, to their credit, decided to right a wrong. Then Cr. Kernohan became reckless. What is the ratepayers' money io him ? What does he care about conserving thjC funds of the Council to build roads and 'bridges ? Apparently his only concern is to shift the slaughterhouse from the Otaika road; from his residential locality. If Cr. Kernohan had any interest in the welfare of the County as a whole he would have allowed the license to have been renewed at t_e last general meeting; for oi a certain Cr. Morey would follow where his

shepherd led. But no ! Cr. Kernohan made it necessary to have a special meeting and to. spend something in the vicinity of £10 to Pay the Councillors' expenses. The meeting took place, the money was

spent, but Cr. Kernohan was not satisfied. The motion to refuse the license was rescinded and Mr Attor-ney-General Kernohan gave the Council some legal advice. The Clerk to the Council had only put -one proposition on the notice paper and Cr. Kernohan applied for a non-suit with costs against the Council. He stormed and he threatened. "If the Council 'dealt with any further business HE would have it erased from the minute book." A threat of a legal action. What 'does the ratepayers' money matter to him ? He is prepared to involve the County in legal action and shift the slaughterhouse to some other person's back door. The Chair-man decided that another meeting was necessary and the Council will meet again, to ob-

lige Mr

Kernohan, and again spend

the ratepayers' money to paytravelling expenses, and the ratepayers can itbJa'nk Mr Kernohan/and Mr Minohin tor the whole business, and she apparently readied-up job is not

to their credit

It was a noticeable

fact that Mr Minchin was conspicuous by his absence from the meeting last Wednesday and the fact signifies much to those who can understand. The Council, however, are not yet ruled by two persons from Otaika and it will be a sorry day for Whangarei when that comes to pass.

The little game that is going on is, however, being slowly, but surely, exposed, and it is only necessary to give the abattoir' objectors enough rope and they will hang themselves. Not one of their objections to the slaughterhouse site is strong en-

ough to hold, water and they know it, and to gain their ends tfiey resort to any subterfuge to deceive the public. One of the party, and you may be sure that one is a strong follower of the Government in power is, apparently, receiving duplicate'

copies of all the correspondence on the question sent by the Cabinet Ministers t 0 the Mayor of Whangarei. By some means the contents of certain telegrams were made known to a certain Henry C'heesemah audi an

attempt was made to use the columns of the "Advocate" to fire a shot that the party had not the pluck to fire in-the open. We have known the tactics of certain persons for some time past, we have given raeders our opinion of the agitation backed by Mr Minchin, but later on another interesting, story will be told. We will tell the people how it was managed that whenever an officer of the Agricultural Department came to the district to inspect the suggested abattoir sites two residents on thii Otaika road were always on hand, but the Borough Councillors or any persons concerned in the town's meat supply were carefully ignored or kept in the dark. Even so, after inspecting the various sites each officer proclaimed the Kioreroa site an ideal one, and it is fairly certain Mr

Minchin had made his objections known. But both Mr Gilruth and Mr Reakes, two of the most highly fiualifiea veterinarians that have ever been in New Zealand stated that the site was an ideal one ; and Mr Mm

chin still asks the people to have sympathy with his crippled-'' tale. If any reader doubts the justice of the renewal of the slaughterhouse license let him go out to Kioreroa and see for himself. He will be satisfied that no better site could be chosen. Mr Minchin got 100' signatures to a petition against the renewal of the license, over 300 persons including four medical , men every chemist and the leading business men of the town signed a petition in favor of the license being re-

newed because they knew it was just to renew the license and that no better place c a n be found for a slaughterhouse. The Attorney-Gen-eral for Otaika and his lieu-tenants could not find 300 objectors if they worked for a gencra-on. They have agitated for a year, but the 'bubble has burst at last.