Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WDNSDAY, MARCH 12, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 648, 12 March 1879, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WDNSDAY, MARCH 12, 1879.

Throughout the length and breadth of both Islands, the paper popularity of Sir George Grey and his coMinisters is being torn to shreds and patches. All the fine promises made — made only to be broken — when a purpose was served, has been so exposed and laid bare by one representative of the Assembly after another, that it is now a subject for speculation m what sort of way Ministers propose to face Parliament at its next opening. It is generally considered that when the next session meets there will be a re-adjustment of the electorates. That there will then be a direct vote of want of confidence m the present Ministry, carried by a large majority, which will be followed by a dissolution. This is the opinion expressed m various ways, and m language more or less strong, by the leading journals of the South Island. On Friday last, another of our Parliamentary representatives m the person of Mr. F. Whitaker addressed his constituents. He referred at length • to Sir George Grey's long list of broken pledges. Among the Premier's first promises, was the reduction of Ministerial expenditure. Government steamers and Ministerial residences were condemned, and great improvements m the franchise were promised, but how far had the promises been given effect to ? Ministers' salaries were not reduced, and their travelling allowances amounted to four times those of any previous Ministry. Ministers' residences were still maintained at Wellington, and the Hinemoa was constantly used conveying Ministers about the country, and he believed carrying freight to the Kawau. The Government had thus failed to perform the promises they made when they took office. Mr. Whitaker condemned 'the present land tax scheme as unjust, and mainr tamed that it had proved a failure. Who felt the benefit of the removal of duty on timber and» grain 1 And did the poor man feel any benefit by the I'emoval of a portion of the duty on tea and sugar ? The Government threw away £ 150,000 of revenue, and did no good, and the scheme they proposed would end m failure instead of a statesmanlike re-adjustment of taxation. If things were not carried on better than they were, he would vote against Sir George Grey. He condemned the land tax aa at present levied as unjust. He condemned the Government plan of issuing land tax schedules. They had overstepped their functions m doing so. He had not filled up his, and would not ; and he had files of those from his clients, none of which would be filled up, and he was ready to test the legality of the matter m the Supreme Court if the Government chose. The mode of introducing the land tax was exceedingly costly. Mr. Ballance had estimated a revenue from it of £100,000, and the cost of collection at £10,000. He thought the cost would be £30,000, and revenue only £50,000. He condemned land being taxed while other property was exempt. The tax should be collected on one system half yearly, and not have so many collectors as at present. The Government land purchase scheme had proved a failure, and he advocated the right of private purchase from the Maoris. He had exhibited a map on which the Maori land was colored brown, and the European lands green, and the Government purchases white, and which showed how insignificant was the portion owned by Europeans and the Government m Auckland as compared with the quantity held by Maoris. Mr. Whitaker expressed a strong opinion that the .present Ministry was doomed and, that Sir George Grey had parted with the inheritance, acquired by his early fame, by having, m hi 3 old age, been guilty of so many grave political ofi'ences. The historian of the future . would, he hoped, m mercy to a man who had once done good for his country, blot out his name from the records of the times through which the last years of his public life were spent.

In our issue of Monday, a letter appeared m the columns of this journal, from a writer, asking our advocacy for the formation of a Debating or Mutual Improvement Society. The writer goes on to say •• We have the winter months now close upon us, and there is but little choice of spending our evenings m a public-house or billiard room. The dingy-looking place that is designated a reading-room m our midst is quite a disgrace to the town, and offers anything but comfort or attractions to those of a reading turn of mind. " This is quite true. Gisborne possesses a poor library and a still poorer reading-room. Neither one nor the other deserves the name attached to them, and we trust that some efforts will shortly be made towards the enlargement of the library and attaining a better reading-room ; but we think something more than these are required to keep men from hotel parlors and billiard-rooms. Men who love reading prefer reading m their own homes ; and books now-a-day are bo in.'

expensive that a year's pleasant reading may be purchased almost at the cost of an annual subscription to a public library. Men m the Colonies have a liking for Society. They prefer to be where they can talk, and smoke, and amuse themselves either with billiards or a hand of cards or a game of chess or chequers, just as it may be. Such amusements for the young may be denounced ; but all such denunciations will go for nothing. What, we think, is required, is a Club which shall be open to all classes of members who may choose to join it. Not a " Working Man's Club ;" for the name is detestable. Nor a select Club, open only to the few who are admitted by ballot, but a Club which shall be open to the well-conducted working man, the tradesman, and the clerk alike, without any distinction of persons, so long as the proprieties and com'entionalities of proper observance are obeyed. We have many young men, and many middle-aged, and some old men m our midst who, being unmarried, know nothing of home enjoyment — nothing of what is understood by the word " fireside. " These are they who should combine to establish a Club, where all can enjoy themselves, each m his own particular fancy. Men so placed want much of the freedom of an hotel, with the quiet and comforts of a home combined. The attainment of this ought not to be an impossibility. Gisborne, when the sun has sunk below the horizon, is as if a curtain was drawn about it. Nothing happens : there are no arrivals or departures of trains and steam-boats. There are no outlets for pleasant walks ; no well-lit streets, and rows of handsome, well-stocked shops, to give life to a scene. All is dullness. And this is why men congregate so much m hotels and billiard rooms. There is nothing else for them. If there was a good reading-room and well-fitted- shelves of books it is only to a few these would be positive enjoyments. Men as a rule do not like the silence of a reading-room, and when they get a book which demands attention it is not m a chair away from their own rooms they care to study its contents. There are many clubs m New Zealand which men frequent at a small coßt, each club being the joint property of every member who has joined. It is not for us to say what the modus operandi shall be, nor how the machinery is to be set m motion ; but we are confident that a club which shall unite amusement with intellectual enjoyment, where there is warmth m winter, cool m summer, light at all times, with suitable refreshments from coffee to malt liquor, and from wine to whisky — we say that such a club is just what is greatly needed m Gisborne.

A batch of Parliamentary papers, which are facetiously stated " to be laid on the table of the House by Sir George Grey," have just been issued. Among them is one containing a proposal of Mr. Thomas Murray, of Otago, brother of the member for Bruce, advocating the passage of a Drainage Act m the colony. From what we can gather from the correspondence Mr. Murray apparently proposes that the Government shall borrow a large sum of money — say £I,ooo,ooo— and let it out to the farmers of the colony to drain their land. The capital with interest, would be repaid m twenty or twenty-five years by equal annual payments. The loan would be secured by a first lien over the land, and Mr. Murray points out that m England, when Sir Robert Peel's administration passed a similar measure, mortgagees did not object to the land being brought under the Act, as the enhanced value more than covered the additional liability. Mr. Murray says : — "From what I can learn of the mind of the farmers, £1,000,000 would be taken up at once ; and. although m this country the first cost would be greater, yet, from the superior soil and climate, and from our great resources m manure, I have no hesitation m saying that it would be repaid m four or five years by a yearly recurring saving m labour ; while, from the improved condition of the soil, a superior method of fanning would be rendered practicable, and a consequent increase from the land, and at the same time the traffic upon the railways and shipping would be greatly agumented, and the wealth and tax-paying powers of the people greatly increased.