PATEA MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1880. CLAIMS TO THE CRICKET GROUND.

Patea Mail, Volume VI, Issue 524, 25 May 1880, Page 2

PATEA MAIL PUBLISHED Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1880. CLAIMS TO THE CRICKET GROUND.

Unfortunate differences have arisen concerning the rights of certain athletic clubs to the use of the public reserve known as the Carlyle Cricket Ground. Conflicting claims have been advanced, ■ and some undesirable heat has been engendered, through the eagerness of contending parties to affirm a principle. The facts of the case do not lie on the ■' surface,' and over-hasty conclusions have in consequence been drawn ; but having sifted the facts in an unprejudiced spirit, we do not . find that they afford just ground for dispute. There is material for making out a prima facie case either way; but viewing the whole circumstances judicially, as every person of candid mind would desire to do, only one conclusion can equitably be drawn. The Cricket Club was, so to say, the first in the field. It obtained privileges, and those privileges have by length of usage and other conditions been confirmed into equitable rights. To dispute that would be to contend that rights in equity have no existence, and that the • accidental accuracy of a legal title, technically complete, is the only right known 1 to the law. Equity is the essence of justice, and law is but an instrument for attaining just ends. To strain a right in law becomes a wrong in equity; and where equity is not, there can bo no justice. What are the facts of the present . case ?! Before the Town Board came into ’ existence ias 'a governing; body, the Carlyle Cricket Club had spent £l3O in fencing the ground, clearing the flaxbushes,, and preparing the “pitch ” for play. They s did this upon a grant of the land made oyer to the Club by the

Government as early ns the 9th June, 1875, and of this £l3O provided by the Club, only a moiety of £ls came from any other source, namely, public subscription obtained by and for the Club. The Town Board came in at a subsequent date; and the whole Ilecrcation Reserve being handed over, to the Board, including the Cricket Ground, the right which the Club had acquired by vested interest remained intact, was not questioned, and has not been disputed until lately. The new claimant is an athletic club of another kind; and there is even a third claim'a'n't, more recent, whose right is as good as the second. These two Football Clubs claim equal right to the Cricket Ground as members, of the public, the ground being a public reserve. Right must not be confused with license. It is a general practice in the colony and at home for town reserves, to be so administered that a portion can bo put in proper condition, and kept so, for cricket-playing. Regulations are invariably made in such cases for excluding the public from any use of a public cricket ground that would cause damage by rough play. The Carlyle Cricket Club, and the trustees of that ground appointed jointly by the Club and the Town Board, contend only for the use and wont that obtain olsewhex’e. The Club has the additional right of being first in possession, of having obtained, the ground as a cricket reserve in the first instance, of having spent a very liberal sum and much personal labor in improving the “pitch” under that security. Other clubs, coming later, should not selfishly seize what they have done nothing to obtain. If there be no football reserve, let the players set to work like men of honorable independence, and get a reserve prepared suitably for their game. Let them go through the same process of self-sacrificing labor and subscription of funds. If the task be beyond their reasonable means, let them apply to the Town Board to do the fencing, while the Football Clubs undertake the clearing and levelling. They will feel all the manlier by trying the spirit,of self-help. We believe it is likely that the Committee recently appointed by the Town Board to report on this; vexed question of the Cricket Ground will recommend such an enlargement of the enclosure as shall give ample room for a football range, without trenching on and “roughing,” the smooth pitch reserved for cricket. That looks like a happy solution of a difficulty which ought never to have assumed the form of a difficulty.

SILTED UP. . Reports have reached Carlyle of strange doings at the mouth of the Wanganui river. The shipping traffic of the place is practically at a standstill. Vessels of the very lightest draught get “ stuck up” on the banks. The Clyde steamer has not been seen at Patea for many days. It is not true that the steam “ midge” has gone down in the recent gales. She has been making frequent voyages, hut these have been short ones, between the quay and the river flats. She has been seen bringing load after load to the . quay-side at Wanganui during the past week; and innocent people fancied she was making rapid voyages to Patea and back. Else where could her cargoes come from? The mystery, is out. The small coasting ships which had been loaded for Wanganui have not been able to reach the quay-side. They grounded inside the bar, on that new kind of , reclamation which is forming in hundreds of acres about two miles from the Heads. To get over that increasing impediment, a now kind of navigation will be called into requisition. The Wanganui people will have to give it a name, and wc would suggest that their Harbor Board should offer prizes for : “ steeplechase navigation” up the Wanganui river. Make it a condition that any ship “ entering ” for the Wanganui cup shall not only clear the “ bar,” but shall bound over all banks and ditches op to the bridge. The little steamer Clyde has had all the steeplechasing to itself lately. It has even given the other competitors a lift, by way of easing them of their cargo when they; stuck at that critical part of the course known as the Flats. The sailing craft have lost their.old aft of bounding over those flats, even at high tide, and so they have now to haul-to with four and a-half feet of water on the Flats at high tide, and wait there till a steam midge comes to their rescue. So the Clyde has been making extra voyages between the Flats and the quay, and Wanganui seems to have been doing an extra lot of trade with one little steamer. Coasting vessels entering Wanganui have now to do their discharging at second-hand. This is the latest development in shipping business, and is capable of . indefinite extension. We in Patea might do something to help Wanganui over her new difficulty. : As. the Flats are no longer passable for small ships with cargo, cannot those ships be sent on to the; Patea >river, whore they will find easy entrance. And let the merchants

form,-warehouse depots here, until such time as. trade justifies a total transfer of their mercantile interests to the improving port of Patea.

THE DISTRICT SCHOOLS. The attendance at the schools within the County of Patea is mentioned favourably in the Inspector’s Report to the Education Board. An increase is noted all over, the district, and this reflects creditably on the attention of teachers. The Inspector points out mistakes in attempting too high Standards, and these mistakes may be in part accounted for by the very marked advance made in the old Standards in the Regulations. Parents complain that their children have passed the same Standards for two years ; but taking into consideration the difference in the requirements, we think the children have done well. Between the Inspector and the parents, it will bo evident that teachers have some unpleasantness to endure. Reviewing the attendance at the largest schools in this district, and marking the results of the last examination, we find some interesting results. On the books of the Wnverley school there were 148 pupils, with an attendance on the day of examination of 139 ; and 89 passed out of the number. The Hawera school comes next in point of number, with 131 on the books, 121 present at the examination, and with 57 passed. At Carlyle school there were on the roll 124, with 115 present at the examination, and with 68 passed. Looking at the two highest Standards; we find that one scholar passed in the 6th at Hawera, and none in,the sth ; that at Carlyle none passed in the 6th and five in the sth ; while the Waverley school passed none in either of these Standards. In the 4th Standard, the Hawera school passed seven ; the Carlyle school passed four, and the Waverley school throe. In the 3rd Standard, the Hawera school passed three, and the Carlyle and Waverley schools ten each. The other two-Standards''make up tlie difference, giving the Waverley school the lead in so far that, while it has not passed beyond the 4tb Standard, it shews the largest percentage of passes in the three schoolsNow there is a considerable blank between the one. pupil who passed the 6th Standard and the seven pupils who passed the 4th ; and it must be remarked that the: time taken from the other pupils to attend to this one did not compensate for the general loss sustained by other classes in the school. Of course it was the master’s duty to push forward the pupil for the 6th Standard. It seems to hold good that the higher divisions in a school are too often maintained efficient, to the loss of the junior pupils. The ability of a master to pass his pupils in the higher Standards need not be questioned, but it is desirable teachers should aim at a good medium method of working, so as to attain the largest general results. Inspectors and masters should be the best judges in this matter.

A want of cleanliness is here and there complained of, and certainly too great attention cannot be paid to the tidiness of children. School-rooms should be found clean and neat in the morning, with no scrap of old exorcises or copy-books lying in neglected corners ; for habits of order and neatness are the outcome of example, and are even more forcible than precept. The Report, as a whole, shows marks of discriminating care ; and Avbilc wo congratulate the teachers in the district on the results attained, we hope to find that, where defects have been indicated, endeavour will be made to remedy them. All the schools show weak points of one kind or another ; but the general outcome of the year’s work is gratifying. Every teacher should • seek to raise his school competitively, from motives of honest, emulation as well as a sense of duty ; and every parent and. guardian may be expected to assist teachers by moral support as being co-workers for the good of'the young in the district.