The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1883. The Rakaia and Ashburton Forks Railway.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 982, 29 June 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1883. The Rakaia and Ashburton Forks Railway.

The report of the Directors of the Rakaia and Ashburton Forks Railway Company, which was presented to the yearly meeting of shareholders held on Wednesday last, and the remarks of the Chairman of the Company thereon, contain some strange criticisms upon the action of the Ashburton County Council in refusing to levy rates for the Company’s benefit. A tone of injured innocence pervades the report and the Chairman’s speech which might lead persons unversed in the facts of the case to believe that the Council had been evading its just obligations, and that it was from pure magnanimity that the Directors of the Company had refrained from adopting measures to compel the Couucil to perform its duty. Now, we demur altogether to the assumption that there is any moral or legal duty cast on the Council to levy rates on behalf of the Company. It must be admitted that the railway has been of material assistance to that part of the county through which it passes. It would have been of still more service had the line, instead of stopping at Methven, been carried on further to what was originally intended to be its destination; but even as it is, the railway has been a great help to the Rakaia farmers, while at its terminus, the flourishing township of Methven has sprung into being from amidst a waste of tussocks. We fail, however, to see how these facts involve a moral obligation on the part of the Council to assist the Company in raising funds to pay a dividend to its shareholders. Every large mercantile undertaking which is established in the county must benefit the county more or less, and the Rakaia and Ashburton Forks railway is simply a mercantile undertaking, having for its prime object, the putting of money into its shareholders’ pockets and not the public weal. Hence, the only obligation by which the Council can be bound is a legal one; and the question of the liability or non-liability of the Council in this respect must be remitted to the lawyers for discussion. This, however, is perfectly clear, that while under the District Railways’ Act of 1877, the Borough and County Councils were, for some reason we cannot understand, required to perform the disagreeable task of levying rates for the support of private railways, in the very next year, the General Assembly, seeing that the Borough and County Councils kicked against the imposition, passed an Amendment ,Act which left , the Councils a loophole of escape, and virtually turned the work over to the railway companies themselves". We understand, moreover, that when the subject of levying back rales for the Rakaia and Ashburton Forks Railway Company came up for the_ consideration of the County Council some time ago, a host of legal difficulties presented themselves in the way of bompli&nce with the request of the 1 company]; indeed, the of the Company have just admitted in their report that there are “ no legal means of collecting the amount due for the financial period 1880-1 ” : why, then, should the Company blame the Council for not doing what it had no power tb do ? The'fact is, the legislation bn the subject was, until last year very imperfect, and it became necessary in 1882 to legislate afresh, when the course was adopted which should have been adopted in the first instance, namely, it was made the duty of the rail way companies to levy their own rates, and full rating powers were conferred upon them for the purpose. Even if the legal difficulties in question had not existed, we think the Council would have acted wrongly in attempting to levy these rates. The Company possessed rating powers coordinate with those ot the Council, and it was well-known that any attempt to levy the rates would meet with strenuous opposition from a large body of ratepayers, who thought the Company had not acted fairly towards them. Litigation was openly threatened, and surely it would have been the heigh th of folly tor the Council to have voluntarily plunged into an unpleasant conflict with an influential body of its constituents for the purpose of raising a rate whose proceeds would go not into its own exchequer, but into that of a private railway company. Its true policy was to stand aloof and let the Company fight its own battles, and this is just what the Council has done. The Company has no reason to complain of the Council; it should blame itself for not having asked the General Assembly sooner to give it sufficient rating powers.

An Impudent Scandal. The editor of the Stat, a Christchurch evening reprint of a morning journal, has forwarded tons a copy of his paper, with a request that we will publish the following article, which appeared in his yestetday’s issue, a request we gladly comply with :• — A n Impudent Robbery. The Ashburton Guardian, a little evening paper belonging to' a Company which includes several Christchurch gentlemen of good commercial repute, has lately been guilty of a most impudent journalistic felony. Our Special Correspondent in Wellington usually telegraphs us the most stirring ifems of political news every .afternoon. As soon as our first edition appears, some Christchurch agent in this robbery telegraphs our “ Special’s _ letter to the Guardian, which straightway inserts it verbatim, with the'heading *-'Erom our Parliamentary Correspondent." We trust the publicity now given to this nefarious transaction wilTlead to its prompt repression. i > rWe know nothing of the person who penned the above paragraph, but from bur experience df jbil'rittal-

ism, we are glad to think that he who promulgated such a gross, contemptible and false statement as this is probably unique in the colony. Asa matter of fact, we were entirely ignorant that the Parliamentary telegrams appearing in our columns were identical with those in the Star, as the latter paper never finds its way to our office. We had, however, noticed that recently the Lyttelton Times has been publishing our Wellington messages the morning after they appeared in the Guardian, but it certainly never occurred to us to bring a charge of pilfering against our contemporary, as this silly ignoramus has brought against us. The whole thing, to any journalist who knewhis work, is susceptible of an en-y explanation. The similarity between the messages — a similarity, be it remarked, that up to the present has been absolutely unknown to us—arises from the fact that the Wellington correspondents of the two papers are identical. The man who would bring an accusation of journalistic pilfering without instituting any enquiry as to whether there were grounds for it, is not the kind of person whose good breeding would impel him to make the amende honorable when his mistake was fully proved. We shall, however, furnish him with evidence of the good faith of our Parliamentary correspondence, and if his sense of,coramon decency is not sufficient to ’ cause him to make an abject apology for his outrageous conduct, we shall probably take .other means to compel him.

At tha Resident Magistrate’s Court today an application was made by S. Salek for a pawnbroker’s license. The application was granted. At a largely-attended meeting of the Christchurch Industrial Association it was resolved to hold an industrial exhibition, open to all New Zealand, in Christchurch on December 18th.

• ■ A trial of Tomlinson and Hayward’s glycerine sheep dip took place this after- 1 noon at the County saleyards, Mr Curtis, of Messrs Matson, Cox and Cox, the local agents, superintending the operation. About 800 sheep, out of a flock belonging to Mr David Wilson, of Wakanui, were put through. The attendance was not large, but those who were present appeared perfectly satisfied with the results, as the sheep were examined immediately they emerged from the dip, and not a single live tick could be found. At the Otago Harbor Board yesterday, Mr Ross, into whose charge the big dredge was recently given, reported upon his first visit to her. He said that after she was half full the stuff went out as fast as it was put in, and over an hour’s work was done by buckets without anything being shown for it. He had taken steps to have the dredge put in proper order, and was confident she would do the work. Messrs Burt and Paterson, the Government representatives, intimated that they had resigned, and the former expressed himself strongly about the want of proper management. The only safe and sure cure for gravel of urinary troubles is Hop Bitters. Prove it. Read.— [Advt.] That invalid wife, mother, sister, or child can be made the picture of health with Hop Bitters. Observe. — [Advt.] Wanted Known —That J. Meech is importing all his own goods, which enables him to sell cheaper than any other furnishing house in Ashburton. He has every class of furniture to suit all parties, from the kitchen to the drawing-room. AIL kinds of cutlery, crockeryware, fenders and fire-irons, iron beadsteads, carpets, table cloths, matting, and druggetting. A variety of tinware and other cooking utensils, etc. A splendid lot of Vienna chairs in walnut and maple. Feathers, flock, horsehair, and wool for furniture and mattrasses—m fact every article for house furnishing. Owing to facilities afforded to him, enables him to sell cheaper than if in East street. Furniture exchanged, and parties selling out will find that he gives the highest price for furniture. All kinds of furniture repaired; practical workmen kept. Agent for,the celebrated Dunedin blind-maker. Spring window rollers kept in stock. Carvings and turnery sold to the trade. —J. Meech. Note the address, neat Bullock’s Arcade.— [Advt.] Holloway’s Pills are strongly recommended to all persons who are much reduced in power and condition, whose stomachs are weak, and whose nerves are shattered. The beneficial Affects of these Pills will be perceptible after a few days’ trial, though a more extended course may be required to re-establish perfect health. Holloway’s medicine acts.on the' organs of digestion, and induces complete: regularity in the stomach, liver, pancreas, and kidneys. This treatment is both safe and certain in result, and is thoroughly consistent with observation, experience, and common sense. ' The purification of the blood, the removal of all noxious matter from the secretions, and the ; excitement of gentle action in the bowels, are the sources of the curative powers of Holloway’s Pills.—Advt. READ IT ALL. IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE.—Hop Bitters are the purest and best medicineevermade. They are compounded from hops, buchu, mandrake, and dandelion. “ The oldest, best, most renowned, and valuable medicine in the world, and in addition contain all the best and most effective curative properties of all other bitters, being the greatest liver 1 regulator, blood purifier, and life and health restoring agent on earth.” They give new life and vigor to the aged and infirm. “To clergymen, laWyers, literary men, laborers, ladies, and all those whose sedentary employments cause irregularities of the blood, stomach, bowels, or kidneys, or who require an appetizer, tonic, and mild stimulant, these Bitter are invaluable, being highly curative, tonic, and stimulating, without intoxicating. ” “No matter what your feelings or symptons are, or what the disease or ailment is, use Hop Bitters. Don’t wait until you are sick, but if you only feel bad or miserable use the Bitters at once. It may save your life. Hundreds have been saved by doing so, at a trifling cost.” Ask your druggist or physician. “Do not suffer yourself or let your friends suffer, but use and u>-ge them to use Hop Bitters.” “Remember, Hop Bitters is no vile, drugged, drunken nostrum, but the purest and best medicine ever made, and no person or family should be without it.” Hop Bitters Manufacturing Co., Melbourne, Australia, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.A., Toronto, London, Antwerp, Paris.— [Advt.]