The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1889. A Policy of Reasons

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 27, 17 August 1889, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1889. A Policy of Reasons

It may be said of the present Ministry that if they have not a public works policy they hay« reasons. As a case in point we quote the following from a speech made by the Premier out ng ha financial debate as reported in the Post : —

" Mr Buchanan — What about Eketa-huna-Woodville ? The Premier (Sir Harry Atkinson) — WeU, if he hon. gentleman wanted to know, he thought that line could very well rest where ifc was for a while. As soon as it was completed it would take the traffic away from the Wel-lington-Manawatu line, which was deserving of a better fate, seeing that the people of Wellington had undertaken with their own capital what was an important colonial work."

This may be a very good " reason" for not completing the EketahunaWoodville link, but it is very poor policy to emanate from a statesman. We do not believe the passenger or goods traffic on the Company's line would be injuriously affected, on the contrary it would be found that aii surplusage of the Government line be tween Hawkes Bay and Wellington would have io be carried by the Company over the shorter route. If the Commissioners made any attempt to control traffic in favor of the Govern ment line by equalising the noniual mileage, and making freight charges for the longer distance via Rimutaka equal to those of the Company, such a piece of folly would carry its own punishment. If the Premier kept himself an fait with the progress of settlement both here and on the Woodville side of the range, he would know that in a very short time the single line which now connects with Wellington will be miserably insufficient to overtake the work to be done Apart from these small and selfish " reasons" it appears to us that the Government should study the interests of the colony at large instead of those of a private company, especially where, as in the present instance, there can not be the slightest doubt as to thp work being profitable, directly by opening communication between Wellington aud Hawkes Bay, and iudi rectiy by opening up new country and thus extending settlement.

A return has recently been published by tlie Victorian Government Statist, giving au estimate of the population of the Australasian colonies for 1888. Iv Victoria the estimated population on December 31st last was 1,090,8-Ji) : New South Wales, 1,085,356; Queen land, 357,463; South Australia, 313, 065; Western Australia, 42,137; Tas mania, 146,149; New Zealand, 607,---380 ; making a total of 3,672,419.

That Germany believes in tmigra tion there can be no doubt, judging from the return published in a Berlin journal of the synoptical abstracts since 1871, the total number for this period being 1,769,297 persons Of these emigrants their destinations were as follows : — " United States, 1,618,816; Brazil, 33,443; South

America, 15,599 ; Australia, 16,341; British North America, 4780 ; Africa, 4047; and Asia, 1086. There remains wnaccounted for 74,685 emigrants sailing from French ports, though it is believed these eventually found their way to the United States." The largest number iv any given year was in 1881, when 220,402 Germans left their fatherland. The lowest number of emigrants during auy year of this period was in 1877, viz. : 22,898.