The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1874
EvfißY day fresh instances crop up illustrating the necessity for thorough investigation into the tenure of land. If a railway has to be constructed, one half the difficulty is to avoid heavy compensation for resumption of private property for the public good. If a town requires a supply of water, one or more of its inhabitants claim an interest in a stream that flows , through their lands; and the cost of that free gift of Heaven, water, is rendered a perpetual tax, because it happens that the fee simple of the ground over which it flows or under which pipes have to be laid has been handed over from the Crown to a subject or subjects. Could the history of our Fort Chalmers Railway be disclosed’ to a being thoroughly freed; from the traditional notions of property in which we have been educated, what disgust he would feel at the grasping greed exhibited by men who held land costing them twenty shillings an acre, but for which they sought to be paid at the rate of one or two hundred times that rate for a slip that did not in the slightest degree deteriorate the value of the rest. Where improvements are interfered with, they have an undoubted right to be reimbursed their cost. Those are a man’s property, for they are so much labor
put into or upon the soil. But where it is merely the natural surface that is required, and especially when, as in the case of the construction of railways or of water supply to a town, a value is given to the property of the. whole neighborhood, including that made use of, that it would never otherwise be worth, the idea of heavy compensation is monstrous. We have no wish whatever to raise a feeling against those who ask hundreds or thousands for allowing the Port Chalmers people the use of the water now running to waste through their properties. They are only acting upon the principles acknowledged and created by law. The law in this case acts as a schoolmaster, and teaches men how to turn the freest gifts of. Providence to their own profit. When they purchased the land many years back for a mere trifle such a godsend as selling the water rights for a dozen times as much as the whole purchase cost them never entered their heads. They were quite content to watch the silvery current making its why into the harbor, without the slightest idea that the time would come when every hogshead of it would bear an appreciable value to them. Like many other old colonists, they bought with the idea of becoming rich through hard work upon the soil; and to their own surprise have found they accidentally obtained what is worth more to them than a gdld mine. We have no doubt there are many in Port Chalmers who are loud in their condemnation of the grasping spirit of these lucky landowners. But they condemn in others what they themselves would have done had they had the chande; and their eyes are clear only because the beam of self-interest does not obstruct the light. It may not yet have dawned upon them that in sanctioning the laws of property as they stand they have no right to complain, because they are parties to their own wrong. But not the less is tbe publie loss. Port Chalmers requires water—must have ft —or sooner 61* later the people will suffer through disease, or the town will be destroyed by fire. The conviction that one or both of these evils will result from delay, should lead to united action, for the inhabitants are threatened with a common danger. We are not acquainted with the comparative merits of the various sources of supply suggested by the different orators who are at present fiercely contesting the question. It seems to us to be in some respects a battle between public and private interests—between those who have water to sell, and those who wish to obtain it at the price stipulated by Heaven—free. None but a competent engineer can decide upon which is the cheaper plan. It is like all drainage, sewerage, railway, or harbor works—a matter on which no public meeting nor non-scientific. council is competent to decide, and should be remitted to the decision of the highest l
scientific authority that can be obtained. Where there is so much room for choice as presents itself in the mode of supplying Port Chalmers with water, different engineers will give opinions in support of those who employ them ; for they are only engaged to say whether certain sources of supply can be made available. It is hardly fair, either, to throw the choice of the scheme to be adopted upon the acting engineer of the municipality, because he should be kept clear of the strife of parties ; and in a case where party spirit runs so high, he cannot act independently without incurring the hostility of one side. Even competitive plans would have to be fought over with all the virulence that now characterises the zeal of the controversialists.! We think the better plan to be that the Provincial or General
Government should be asked to appoint an engineer to make a thorough plan and survey, the cost of which should form part of the cost of the works; and that both parties should agree to abide by his recommendation. This would settle the unseemly contest going on, which reminds one of a quarrel of the crew and passengers of a wrecked vessel on a raft. The Port Chalmers people are in peril of ing any moment by disease engendered by impure water or by fire, and yet they are bitterly contending as to the best means of saving themselves, and thus increasing the danger by delay. In both cases it is best to abide by the decision of one able man.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18740321.2.10
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Evening Star, Issue 3457, 21 March 1874, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
997The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1874 Evening Star, Issue 3457, 21 March 1874, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.