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

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 889, 13 September 1879, Page 2

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

Two sets of elections, one Parliamentary and one Municipal, with two nominations, and all within the space of some ten or twelve days, have been the means of keeping the town m a state of general excitement and activity. The elections are now over, and the townspeople are falling back into the old groove. As the summer advances business men are looking for a revival of trade. There appears to be a little sunshine breaking through the monotonous dullness which has prevailed through the long winter months. The Maoris have come into the receipt of a few thousands for theicJands, with, which many of them are paying off old scores due to the storekeepers, but there is an absence of that lavish and l-eckless expenditure which formerly characterised the Natives when they had Goverment moneys at command. Parliament will meet at the close of next week and when the preliminary formalities have been got through, the House, it is to be presumed, will set to work m carrying out its declared policy. The ' feeling which generally prevails, so far as we can ascertain, through our exchanges, is that the Grey Ministry t should be allowed to remain m power, and once more placed on their trial. Their promises have been so* definite, and so clearly noted that it is impossible they can escape from making an immediate effort to fulfil them. Poverty Bay has, during the late election contests, been brought so prominently under notice that we may fairly hope that the town and districts will receive at least a portion of that attention which their urgent needs require. The first m importance is the railway between Gisborne and Ormond, which should be begun, continued, and completed, before another winter comes upon ns. The opening up of a magnificent country, both m the interior and along the coast lines, is all that is required to bring to pass a prosperity for which we have been so long looking and waiting for. Some twenty or thirty thousand pounds will make us a railway, extending three or four miles beyond Ormond. If this be done by Government, the j county funds will then be available for the formation and repairs of the highways, branching laterally from the trunk line. Another boon we need is the adjustment of the Europeans titles to Native lands, for until this is done, we cannot expect that men will invest their money m estates unleßS

J their present and future rights of j occupation are guaranteed to them. Give us good titles \ help us to a railway, and the Bay will become among the most prosperous and i happiest districts m the North | Island. Wit hold either of these, ! and we shall have little left to hope. Capitalists will refrain from buying ; holders of land upon an uncertain tenure, will neither build, fence, or cultivate. They will refrain from imparting first-class stock to improve the breed of their sheep, cattle, and horses, and Poverty Bay will have to retain the name given to it by the great circumnavigator m all its significance. Mr. Shbehan has promised that thei'e will be an immediate sitting of a Native Land ' Court m our midst to settle disputed claims. He has promised the reintroduction of a Bill, which when passed, will make lands equitably acquired inalienable for ever. He has visited us ; has conversed with a body of residents and settlers who were well able to explain to him our most urgent requirements ; he has promised that these shall meet with attention, and he can have no possible motive for departing from his word. We have a member possessing considerable influence with Ministers, who is pledged to go m and advocate local measures for our advancement. We are quite sure he will have no desire to shirk his self-imposed responsibilities. The formation of a harbor will follow m due time after the railway has been completed. Its importance as a harbor of refuge will, we think, be sufficient to ensure its being undertaken at no distant date. The Borough hope to have shortly m its possession £10,000 raised for them m London by the Bank of New Zealand. If the amount is too small for the London Market upou such security as is offered, we have reason to think that its repayment will be guaranteed by the Colonial Government j or possibly it may be advanced out of the five million loan. We have a great hope for the immediate future of the district. Should the Grey Ministry listen to our requests, and accede to them, all we can say is then we are for the Grey Ministry. The Premier has declared m all his speeches that he has been prevented from carrying out his liberal policy. As the House now will be comprised of representatives who have been returned upon a liberal platform, he will no longer be able to say that he is thwarted m his measures by the Opposition, for as far as we can discover, beyond some half-dozen members, there can be no Opposition. There may be opposed to Ministers, but not to their measures. If then their measures are all that can be asked for, it really does not signify one iota who shall be the men m power to carry them through. Let us hope, ere long, that the black cloud which has so long hung over the district will disclose its silver lining.