The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 862, 13 August 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1879.

Captain Porter, m his address to the electors last night, spoke to a wide range of subjects, of more or less importance to the interests of the electorate. The •. candidate had evidently thought over and thoroughly studied .the questions which he brougbfci&forjsJibis bearers, and he certainly succeeded m making himself clearly understood. His deliveries were warmly received, and the candidate had the ears of the hall from first to last.. We have yet to listen to the addresses of the other candidates before it can be pronounced who, from among them, the electors will make their choice. There was one most important subject Captain: Porter referred to last night, which* appears to have been overlooked even by Sir George Grey, who is presumed to be such a sincere friend and advocate of the poor man's and the ■working man's interests. This is the granting of Commonages to all the centres of urban, suburban and rural settlements. Reserves are given, sparingly it is true, for educational, .^hospital and recreation purposes ; but not an acre of ground is set apart' by ■ -which a cottager, or the small section-holder can feed his cow, or tether his horse. In Victoria, whsre,Commons are granted to every small settlement^ the working farmer can live and thrive content with such a quantity of land as he can till with the spade or the plough. There are the three hundred and -twenty, the six hundred and forty, and, m th 6 districts, the thousand acres of land reserved as Commonages. Of course, .these reserves are under such restrictions as to prevent big men feeding the^grass off by placing a l^rg^numberof stock on them. They ars under the charge of road boards, district, boards,, and municipalities, who provide herdsmen, and make a small fixed charge upon every head of cattle /making use of the Commons. Here, m Poverty Bay, with its tens of thousands of acres of unoccupied land, there: is not a rood of grass upon which a man may turn his cow or his horse. It is the grand secret m Vjptoria of the success of small farmings. But m Poverty Bay, and indeed throughout both islands of the Colony, if a man wishes to grow a small field of potatoes, or a patch of garden esculents for the market, or to cultivate a few cereals, he must still buy or lease as much land as will keep him a cow and a horse or two, to supplement his earnings and to work his land. It is the absence ' of such reserves that is the cause of the high price of all kinds of dairy 'produce m Gisborne — such as milk, butter, cheese and bacon. If Captain Porter should be returned for Parliament, and effects no other good than that of obtaining liberal reserves of pastures to be used as Commons, he will not have been sent m vain. A check must be placed upon the Waste Lands Boards to prevent them making a grab at every foot of land to turn it into

money. The large estate owners m thousands of instances have been allowed to obtain their holdings at little more than a nominal sum. Why, then, should not the struggling farmer and garden producer have some small favor shown him 1 If ever there was a place where dairy produce should be cheap, good, and abundant, and from where it should be weekly exported m liberal quantities, it is Poverty Bay. Here we have land unemployed of the most magnificent quality, and a beautiful climate highly favorable to vegetable and animal growth ; but we can only produce butter, bacon, eggs, poultry, and other, rural produce at gold-fields' prices. Unless men are encouraged to go upon the soil and produce more than they consume, Poverty Bay will rank among the poorest places m all New Zealand, instead, as should be the case, of ranking among the most prosperous. We must refer our readers to the report of last night's meeting, which will be found at length elsewhere m our columns. The Hall was densely crowded, and the most lively interest appeared to be felt m the candidate's address.