The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCT. 27, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1916, 27 October 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCT. 27, 1906.

How would it do for the Mayor and the Chairmen of the County Council and other local bodies to organise a monster public meeting for the purpose of discussing the question of setting apart a special holiday as a day of thanksgiving to the Liberal Government for the liberal vote of £20,000 allocated for the extension of

the Gisborno~Motu railway ? Advantage could be taken of the game opportunity to present our member with a diploma for the characteristic energy that hs_has displayed in getting .such a large sum placed on the Estimates. Why, the amount is actually more than three times as much as was voted to Mrs Seddon to provide her with a few necessary luxuries, and to thick that this whole district is regarded as more than three times the value of that lady’s services to the colony might well elate our hearts. True, she is only one and we number thousands (all taxpayers like herself), but then there is only one Mrs Seddon, and if there were more f

of hoi' it would bo an easy matter to voto onch a fow thousands. What has

this district dono for tho colony that it should rocoivo more favored treatment than tho lady who has looked after tho representation of Kuuiara and Westland for so many yoarti? In that,

favored constituency there is a littio hamlot nostling itself somnolontly among' tho inaccessible hills that act as supports for that omblom of majestic dignity known as Mount

(Jock, and in and around that littio hamlet there aro rather rnoro than a do/jn peoplo (good henost people) who cultivate a fow patches of potatoes, dig h r gold when it isn’t raining, and voto for tioddon ovory time. Those people have novor had tho chance of a train rido to tho annual races at Hokitika until tho namo of Soddou Locarno a prominent one in New Zealand poli-

tics; but now they aro within measurable distance of that luxury, and a voto appears on tho Estimates for an expenditure of £20,000 in addition to about £IOO,OOO already spent. AVhat right have wo to complain about that when wo aro down for an equal sum? Does not tho two votes show tho equal importance of tho two plaoos— ilolcitika-lioss and Uisboruo-Motu—and yet we have never been represented by a JSeddon? Tlioso who entertain a false notion of modern Liboralism may imagine that the larger population of thid district would givo it a stronger claim upou the public purse, or that the advantage in ttio extent of fertile country could induce a Liberal Government to give this district auy preference, should ever remombor that Liberalism always includes equality of opportunity, aud where can be the equality of opportunity if the dozen respectable residents of Rosa aro denied the same opportunity of riding in a railway as that given to the people of Gisborne ? And as for the fertility of the country au an inducement to build a railway, has ic not been laid down as an axiom, of Liberalism by its great expounder that sheep cannot be taken into account because sheep cannot vote ? They can only say “ bah ’’ when railway matters are being discussed, and some people who know the details of tho business of political railway building may feel inclined to re-echo the sentiment. The exclamation is an expressive one although uttered by a sheep, and eloquently describes the true feelings of anyone who studies the distribution of railway construction votes and expects that distribution to accord in some measure with the requirements and best interests of the country. Home more emphatic expression might be fittingly uttered it is true when one finds that the lines that aro likely to pay are tinkered with while those that lead to nowhere and premise no hope of recompense for the outlay receive equal attention and greater expenditure year by year. If there was any reasonable likelihood that the £20,000 voted for the Gis* borne-Motu line would be spent before the vote expires there may be some consolation in the fact that even that amount was voted; but it has been the practice of the Public Works Minister to spend more than the sums voted on some lines aad to leave others to wait for a renewal of a great portion of the votes. Under proper management that would not be possible; but the famous clause wedged with the Public Revenues Act permits the £20,000 voted for the Motu extension to be spent on the Ross lino if the Government sees fit to make the change, and in view of the preference that baa always been shown for that delightfully tranquil place, it would not surprise us one bit if at the end of the year we found that the votes had been so diverted. To save us from that possibility we have only to roly upon the enormous energy of our representative, and his vigilant care of the interests of the district. It is not an infallible safeguard, but it is the only one.