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Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3974, 10 December 1873, Page 2

The provisional directors of the Wellington Sugar Refining Company have determined to make application to his Honor the Superintendent of the province for a grant of land on which to greet the costly and extensive works that will be necessary for carrying on the company's business In taking thi3 step the directors are but following the practice adopted in the Australian colonies, where grants of land are frequently given by way of encouragement to the promoters of new industries. It will be admitted on all hands that a sugar refinery, employing, as It will do, a large number of hands and increasing the trade of the port, will not only largely benefit Wellington directly, but will advance the prosperity of the major jjart of the whole province. Some people/may feel inclined to dispute this ass&non, but if they reflect they will admit that whatever tends to increase the trade and commerce of any portion of a province or of a colony, if not tj/the actual disadvantage of other portions, must be advantageous to the whole. A sugar refinery at Wellington would more or less benefit the whole of New Zealand, and it must to a greater extent tend to improve the province. Some part of the land to be reclaimed will be asked for, and though the Provincial Government might think it would be injudicious to hand over any such valuable property to a company, yet it should be considered that the establishing of such an industry would to no small extent add to the value of the whole of the remainder of the land by increasing the business of the town and causing an addition to the population. Of course it will be a matter for consideration whether the ends to be gained will warrant a free grant of land, and we ] must say we think they will. In considering this matter it will be well to bear '

in mind that the company, although it i.^ sure under proper management to be highly profitable and to give good dividends to the shareholders, has not been originated solely with that view, but on the wider ground of being a benefit to the whole of New Zealand. The share list will not be composed of merely local names, but will comprise residents in nearly every part of New Zealand. This might be urged as a reason against the proposed grant, inasmuch as it goes to prove that the undertaking is a colonial one, but it must not be forgotten that the profits to be derived from the expenditure in carrying on the business will be gained by Wellington. In Dunedin the promoters of the projected sugar company have asked the Superintendent for a money bonus, and he appears to have entertained their request favorably. Surely if Otago can make out a claim for cash assistance Wellington can present a good case for a land grant.

A piece of negligence, for which the Tawa Flat local school committee are deserving of some reprehension, transpired after the hearing of the case against Carrick, the schoolmaster, charged yesterday, at the Resident Magistrate's Court, with beating one of the children attending the school. Although it was well known throughout the district that legal proceedings had been taken in this case, no intimation of the fact was given to any member of the Education Board, or to the secretary, who consequently were in entire ignorance of the particulars until after the case had concluded. School committees and parents should understand that it is as much to the interest of the Board as to themselves that schoolmasters guilty of ill - treating children should be publicly prosecuted, and it woidd be much better in all such cases that a failure of justice should be guarded against by the matter first being brought within the cognizance of the Board, so that no precaution to secure a full and impartial investigation may be omitted. The people of Porirua have become strangely seized with the notion that the Education Board is possessed of an inclination to shield the peccadilloes of the masters in its employ, but a little reflection must prove that idea to bo the merest fantasy, for the success of the operations of the Board depends not only upon the scholastic efficiency, but also upon the moderation of the masters. Intellectual attainments do not comprise the whole of the requisites for the position. A man may be of such violent temperament as to render him wholly unfit to have the care of children of tender years, and neither the 'popularity of the Board nor the advancement of the cause of education is likely to be secured by placing such a person in charge of any of our public schools. The local committees will, therefore, perceive why the Board should itself be anxious to consult the wishes of the inhabitants of the country districts in this, as well as other matters, and why it is advisable that they should communicate with head-quarters before legal proceedings are instituted in any similar case in the future.