A WORD IN SEASON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8424, 24 January 1899, Page 2

A WORD IN SEASON.

The New Zealand Herald has been taking up the cudgels on behalf of tins neglected district, and we are sure the people of Poverty Bay vill be thankful for its generous assistance. If a few other of our leading New Zealand contemporaries were to follow suit, the people of the colony would soon understand the injustice that is being done to this fertile, corner of the colony, and would realise that it is equally important from a national point of vow, .is well as from a local standpoint, that the East Coast should be pushed ahead. "The settlers of Poverty Bay," says the Herald, " have lately been associating themselves together to remove the isolation of the district, and as their requests are reasonable we think every AucUlander is bound to support them. The situation of Poverty Bay is somewhat remarkable. For productiveness it yields to no district of equal extent in the colony ; indeed, we should be inclined to place it it the very top. It produces and exports more wool and frozen meat than any locality of equal area. But it labors under great disadvantages." The difficulties and disadvantages of an open roadstead for shipping, our contemporary points out, is our great drawback, and in rough weather, it says Gisborne might almost as well be a small island in the midst of the ocean. The Herald then refers to the depressing manner in which the Premier pooh-poohed and threw cold water on the project of a railway to Rotcrua, and referring to Mr Carroll's attempt to allay the feeling of irritation caused by Mr Seddon's remarks :■— " If the railway construction policy had been rpaulated by the Piemier's standard as applied to Gisborne, many places, especially in the South Island, that now have railways, would be without them. The country at the back of Gisborne through which the line would have to pass is hilly and broken, but much of it is good. At present wool is carted to Gisborne from a considerable distance in the interior, and certainly the railway communication would greatly facilitate the conveyance. Indeed, the railway is absolutely necessary if the country is to be opened up to a greater extent than at present Part of the produce on the line would come to Gisborne, and part would go to Rotorua. The Gisborne people have decidedly astron" claim for a connection by land. The latest railway returns show that the North Island system stands much above that of the South Island as respects the ratio of profit, and that the goods and passenger traffic in the North Island is increasing in a much greater ratio. Gisborno would feel a great advantage in the line even in respect to visitors. At present a visitor goes to Gisborne with a knowledge that he can only leave again at a certain time when the steamers calls. And he has always the dread that, if bad weather come on he may be pinned there for eight or ten days. In consequence, Gisborne is quite out of it so far as tourists are concerned, and few persons go there except they are compelled by business or other necessity. The people of Gisborne, therefore, are entitled to insist upon having their railway. Another matter in which they are stirring is that of having the lands settled which are now lying unoccupied. A large proportion of that country is of the very best quality for pastoral purposes. It is not a waste whose value is doubtful. But between the Government, the Native Lands Court, the East Coast Lands Company, and the Assets Realisation Board, it has become tangled up in such confusion that a great part of it ouunot be utilised. The East Coast is practically a second Kini; Country. The Government are not wholly to blame, but certainly the settlers of Gisborne are entitled to call upon Ministers to take the steps necessary to relieve the district from the many entanglements that have grown up. We are glad to observe the proceedings taken by the Mayor of Gisborne, Mr Townley, and the leading men of the district" They are asking for nothing that is unreasonable, for nothing that they ought not to have. This is not a matter of party or of faction. Poverty Bay should be connected by land with the rest of the colony, and that is the more imperative owing to the imperfection of the sea communication."