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Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1201, 9 March 1880, Page 2

The statements made by Mr Burke, Mr Storey and others at the last meeting of the Camorldge Farmers if they prove anything, prove conclusively that the Government has been guilty of the greatest supineness m regard to the outbreak of pleuro. In allowing the report that the disease had broken out m this district, to pass unheeded so far as the taking of any practical measures are concerned, is an act of the grossest injustice to the settlers, whose anxiety upon so serious a subject it was surely the duty of those m authority to allay. With the appointment of the Cattle Board, we may look for a better state of things, our only hope being that the wretched policy of procrastination pursued by the Government, has not permitted the evil effects of the disease to spread If we are to look upon the utterances of Mr B. Maclean as conveying the sentiments of the Attorney-General, we must confess we unwittingly wronged Mr Jackson m our remarks on his extraordinary letter m Thursday's issue ; for notwithstanding the repeated assurance of Mr Naden and others to the effect that the disease does exist, and the indignation expressed by them regarding the letter above referred to, we find Mr Maclean calmly referring to the disease as something the existence of which remains to be proved. Surely the Government ought by this time to be fully convinced one way or the other. A want of decision is m all persons and at all times barely excusable, but m a Government, and at a time like the present when such important interests are involved, such a line of conduct is deplorable, nay, worse, it is absolutely criminal. We hope the suggestion made by Mr Hicks will be acted upon by the new Board as soon as it has been gazetted, so that tho settlers may know the full extent of the danger, which they have to meet