Stewart Island. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2004, 21 July 1892, Page 26

Stewart Island. TO THE EDITOR.

Sin,— Aletter signed byMrGeorgeSwainappears in last week's Witness, written, I presume, simply to try and make me look small, although it professes to criticise an article I wrote which appeared in your paper of the 23rd June last. When I wrote the article I did not think it was possible for a man in Stewart Island or New Zealand to criticise it unfavourably. But the writer has actually put on my words a construction quite wide of the mark. In my article I say :— " As to the mineral resources of Stewart Island they may be of importance some day. Almost every metal or the ore of every metal in use has been found there ; but individually I have no faith in anything in that shape," &c. Mr Swain has it— " Your correspondent states thera is no chance of any big finds of minerals on the island. Now where and when did I write this?— not in my article ; it is only to be found in tho mind of one who has been egged on to try and make evil where none was intended. Then he goes on to say—" Poor Stewart Island— no tin, no silver, no fish company, <fee. ; but, thank God I no lunatics. My article does not allude to anything of the kind. There are worse people there than lunatics (who can only be pitied) ; but, thank God! they do not represent the real population of the island, nor does Mr Swain represent the real sentiments of the island. No lish company— just so, no fish company till the good men of the island come to the front and ask the public for it. When birds of passage and those who wish to gain some personal advantage ask for it, the people say no— emphatically no. Then there is an allusion to the population. I have it down as 50, and on looking up a directory I find there are many names of people who have left years ago, my own among them. There are not 50 in my sense, but it would not matter for the purpose of my article if there were 50 or 500. The article was for the purpose of letting all your readers know how people became attached to a place if they had a piece of ground from a quarter of an acre upwards freehold. I have all the names of the original Halfmoon Bay settlers supplied by one of themselves, and the conditions of settlement also. Mr Swain's letter winds up with some good advice unsolicited and unappreciated by me — to leave Halfmoon Bay to take care of itself. I certainly did not think I had offered to take care of it. I am -certainly interested in it as I am in the whole of New Zealand, which has been my country for 35 years, but not specially so. What I wrote would apply to almost any piece of the coast of New Zealand not occupied by settlers. I will not go into more details, as Mr Swain cannot understand what I write, or will not do so. One thing I can say, that while on Stewart Island I did my best for those around me, and wrote once to all the members of both Houses whom I know, and to some I knew would know me, for a grant for the island, and I hand you a letter herewith, which is in reply to one of mine, dated July 28, 1888 (just four years ago), from a Minister of the Crown, which says— "l have put L 250 down for this year, and a similar amount for roads for next— or LSOO for roads and tracks. With this you must try and be satisfied." Has anyone there done as much before or since I left for them ? Now, what would any outsider think of the Halfmoon Bay settlers if Mr Swain and the rest of those scribblers who attacked me personally and maliciously represented them or their sentiments ? The real grit of Halfmoon Bay and Stewart Island does not loaf about and slander those who bear them no ill feeling. I have done and will do my best for them and my fellow colonists. The best of the settlers are to be found in the oyster cutters. They can sail a vessel, and don't require to stay ashore waiting for someone to fleece. Now, what have I said wrong that 1 should be advised to stick to the moa and Maori ? My conscience is as clear as the midday sun, while my accusers have theirs like badly-trimmed slush lights. Now let someone who is not a friend of Mr Freezer in his latest robe write in a friendly way, and I will be happy to be corrected, but I do not want to stir him up any more. I have made him boil, and all the scum has come to the surface : let someone else finish him. — I am, &c, Aparata Rexata. Dunedin, July 19. [We have in common fairness afforded "Aparata Rcnata " space for reply, and the correspondence is now closed. — Ed.] It°would appear from our cablegrams that the polling for the general election at Home is now all but completed, 667 out of a total of 670 members having been elected. The results so far give the total number of Conservatives elected as 269, as against 316 at the general election of 1886 ; the Liberal Unionists number 45 as against 77, the Gladstonian Liberals 273 as against 215, and the Nationalists and Parnellites 80 as against 86. Assuming that the Nationalists and Parnellites support Mr Gladstone, there is at present a majority of 38 in favour of granting Home Rule to Ireland. In this week's obituary column is recorded he death of Mrs Shand, one of the oldest of old identities, arriving as she did with her husband and family ,by the ship Phcebij Dunbar. The family settled in the Green Island district, in which Mrs Shand has continuously resided. Her husband died shortly after their arrival which left the mother with eight of a family, mostly young, among whom was the late Mr James Shand. Many women would have given up the struggle but not so the subject of this notice, as with every new trial to be faced fresh energy was evinced until all her difficulties were ultimately conquered. It was no unusual sight to see her chipping flax and clearing land for the plough after having done her household duties in early morning. As is well known to her friends 3 o'clock was her hour of rising. As years passed on, with perseverance and economy she was able to purchase section after section until she increased her holding to several hundred acres. In those days of no roads no traveller entered her house and went away without being supplied with a good meal, and no appeal for aid was ever made to her without her purse being freely opened in response. She leaves to mourn their loss two sons and three daughters. If you have a cold, cough, bronchitis, or any form of throat or lung disease, do not neglect it. Ayer's Cherry Pectoral, if promptly taken, wil speedily relieve and cure all ailments of this character.

The Harbour Board had again under consideration at a special meeting on Tuesday the various proposals which have been made for relieving the ports from the burden of the export dues at present charged, and eventually the resolutions framed by Mr Barr were in the main adopted. The effect of the decision arrived at by the board was that it was agreed to request the Government to devote a percentage of the customs revenue collected at each port to the purposes of the harbour board at such port, and to suggest the imposition, if additional revenue should be required, of a primage duty of not exceeding 1 per cent., with the view of enabling the board to abolish the dues on exports in the first place, and thereafter those on transhipments. No decision was arrived at on the proposal, included in Mr Barr's scheme, for a new issue of debentures at 4- per cent, to replace present debt to an. amount corresponding with the amount of the issue, the discussion on that question being; adjourned.