"MAGERE MOINTAIN."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7644, 22 May 1886, Page 3

"MAGERE MOINTAIN."

I [ADYERTISKMENT.]

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln / our , Issue of th 18th fnst.. a latter appears und-r the above heading, signed " witness, which is written in a style so inconeruoM and inexplicit, and so full of insinuations that any reader can only guess at the purport of its meaninp .i, is no ' difficult, however, to discover that the author of the letter has a grievance against " the ting it'— ' aDd th " " his Wa * of Tentl '»- His first question is, " Why the revenue raised on Government lands for depasturing cattle Is not ex wholedistrict?" d,rectlon cklcuUted to benefit th," My answer is that the revenue derived from the above mountain has been .pent for the benefit of the whole district, and in such a manner as to merit the stronc approval of the settlers at the recent annual rata® payers meeting. va »^ er ..°E iulo Ji. mu,t ., be of at least «inaf value to that of Eye-witness, unsupported as it is by anr argument to the contrary, " Eye-witness'' jumps from this subject at one bound right on to the poor farmer, who owns but one aero of land, and who grazes 20 cows upon the Mangere Mountain, for which he only pays a gr.xine rate. I should like to know what " witness" would have him to pay for? According to his own statement, the farmer pays for what he gets, and that in these days, is surely very creditable ; and I have no doubt, from my ;own knowledge of these poorer farmers as a class, that he does so only by downrhht hard work, early and late, and all day long. He onlr enjoys a privilege that is common in many parts of this colony, and also throughout England. The next statement is too good to be believed vis "That for this very privilege i.e., the grazing of upwards of 20 head of milch cows upon th » Maneero Mountain, £100 a year is now availaole from a certain gentleman " " Kye-witness" must surely mean a very lons wav upwards. But why take the privilege away from so many who really stand in need of it, and the taking of which would be equivalent to depriving them of their dally bred ? And why give the privilege to one gentleman only, who does net stand in need Perhaps he is one of those larger landholders in the district who desire that the right to grass cattle on the mountain should bo limited in proportion to the value of the farms occupied by the various ratepayers, and who desire that the smaller settlers should go te them and bargain for their privileges If so, the said gentleman would no doubt be able to make a good thing out of his privilege by extorting the uttermost farthing out of his poorer neighbours had he the sole right tcv let the depasturing of the mountain. " Kye wltnes' writes in such a tray as to lead one to think that he was a farmer living in another district, and for lack of the privilege of grazing Ills cows on the Mangere Mountain, he cannot compote with the man with the 20 cows who pays for his grazing, and asks " How it is to be expected," I venture to say that if each farmer In Mangere gave his own opinion as to who was the writer of the letter sigued " Kye-witness"(or, perhaps 1 had better say), instigator of it), nine-tenths of them would mention the same person, a certain farmer in Mangere And they would also say that ho had an equal right to depasture his cattle on the Mangere Mountain and at a smaller charge, than some of the poorer settlers pay. So that his statement that this is a privilege for "certain individuals" is entirely without foundation The gentleman I suppose to be "Eye-witness" does not avail himself of the privileges of the Mangere Mountain, but if I am right in my supposition as to who he is, he lias very often impounded his poorer neighbours' cattle if they have happened to wander from the mountain on to his badly-fenced lands, or through his Insecure gates. I would strongly recommend him to make a new start under tho motto of " Live and let live." and he will rise immensely in the esteem of his neighbours, and should feel much better himself. If I am mistaken in my supposition that " Eye-witness " is a Mangere Farmer. I apologise to him beforehand. I would take this opportunity to state that Mangere has earned an unenviable notoriety, as being a place remarkable for its squabbles. I also wish to state that with the exception i f two or three, this character is entirely undeserved, and that it does not require more than this number of unreasonable m m, in any place, however good, to make disturb tnce all round. —I am, &c., A Mangers Farmer. Mangere, May 26, 1886.