LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1241, 25 September 1911, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

"HAKATARAWA" RAILWAY. A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR HUTT ELECTORS. Sir,—Allow mo to make a few remarks ro above heading. When the playbills for last Friday's entertainment in the Upper Ilutt Town Hall were posted up vulgar and irreverent persons said that it wns nn election dedgo. Mr. "Wilford's address proved that there was not a word oi' truth in these vulgar remarks. But it was obviois that Mr. Wilford and tho Town Board had had the whole railway sohenie cut and dried, so to speak, and that they had diligently ■ gone through their rehearsals. Tho question wae treated from a stupendous national and patriotic, standpoint—nothing of the parish pump. The Upper Ilutt Town Board wero to appreach a Minister of the Crown, City Council, Chamber of Commerce, and what not. 'It must be remembered that this Town- Board have only recently sprung into existence, and if Friday's entertainment was any criterion, they have not yet even acquired tho habit of speech. But that is a mere matter of detail. Mr. Wilford, being the leading character in the cast, he treated his subject with great verve and eclat; at times he attempted to be witty, ho dwelt at great length on the strategic aspect of the railway, and at this stage of the discourse, tho audience was almost on tho verge of beCJuiing enthusiastic. It was •..viilent that they cordially agreed on tho strategic aspect, for when the enemy should appear in view the Upper Hutt Town BoJSSI and inhabitants would havo greater facilities to "skedaddle" into tho interior. Mr. Wilford inter, alia stated that he had another great public scheme for the Upper Ilutt, but it was to be distinctly understood that it was to bo of a national character (something up his sleeve or in his boots, as it were.), and that it would be enunciated in a , week or so. As Mr. Wilford is. in such a patriotic and generous mood, I should respectfully ask whero does the Lower Hutt come in? It also is in the Ilutt electorate. But' that is a mere detail. I should suggest to Mr. Wilford that lip should organise an earthquake to raise the land 10 or 12 feet above the present level; Petone, with its considerable population, is also in the Hutt electorate, but that is a mere matter of detail. Mr. Wilford, still in a generous and patriotic mood, his promise to Petono must bo something stupendous, say a Dreadnought or a Panama Canal. From a national and patriotic spirit something must he promised to Petoue at once and without, hesitation.

I have the presumption to again eug- ' gest that Mr. Wilford organise and prompt the School Committee (v approach the Hon. R. M'lCpnzie to get Mount Cook shifted to Petone for a recreation ground. Yo inhabitants of Petoue, think of it—the employment of labour, the enormous volume of trade, while the nrllions vvero being spent; town sections, "-inch in a manner of speaking, arc merely gambling counters, would become genuine trust investments. The brain r«?!s at the thought of such a lingo undertaking. It is no use taking two bites at a cherry; go the whole hog or n<no. The Upper tliitt, a railway and IiHM public works; Lower Hutt, nh earthquake f Petone, Mount Cook slrftcd for a recreation ground. And (h<? beauty of the whole transaction is that it does not cost the candidate a cent. I take this opportunity of thanking Mr. IVilfcrd and the Upper Hutt Town Board for their delightful 'entertainment, last Fridav evening. Without (lattery, soft sr>ap."or anv ether chemicals, the entertainment was excellent. It did not provoke that hilarious laughter which is vulgar in (ho exIromo, but rather n 'peasant grimiing seiisihon, which is delightful. The sort of thing one feels at vaudeville or comic op?ra.—l am, etc., AN ELECTOR,