RANDOM REMARKS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 127, 1 February 1909, Page 5

RANDOM REMARKS.

[Contributions, to this column are always welcome from any part of the district. The Editor does not vouch for the authenticity of the stories, nor is he responsible for the criticisms.]

North Islanders are modest. Possibly the quality is ingrained in their nature; possibly it exudes from the soil, or js a constituent of the atmosphere and is transmitted to the inhabitants. Even the Southerners who reside for any timo in the more genial Northern atmosphere become inoculated and develop symptoms of the disease. In the eternal scramble for Government favours the Southerner bears himself boldly, and claims his rights, and as much of the other fellow's as he can secure, as a matter of course. In eases where disputes might arise over the direction of a road, or a railway, or the placing of a public building, the matter is quickly settled by serenely asking for both. As a natural consequence both are more readily granted than if a misguided populace split into factions and disputed hotly over the one. The Northerner, being possessed of a frugal mind, and desirous of showing the authorities how little he can get along with, begins his request with an apology, and endeavours to prove his loyalty by demonstrating how little he can do with. His brand of modesty inspires him to walk humbly before the powers that be, and he reaps the reward of misguided humility, by being snubbed. He is not even patted on the back to the accompaniment of soothing words of approval for being good, and kind, and solicitous for the feelings of the Government, instead of for his district.

The Southerner is modest. He possesses the brand of the virtue demonstrated by Warren Hastings, who, after owning to getting away with a cool million or so was moved to admiration for his own surpassing moderation. A comparison of the works accomplished on the respective Islands tells eloquently of the results accruing from the exercise of the widely different brands of modesty, and allowing that "comparisons are odious" there is something to be said for the Southern brand. It is manifestly worth a trial. These remarks are prompted in p*rt by the attitude of the Kawhia people with regard to the proposed railway to the King Country seaport. Imagine a sane person actually objecting to a railway coining to the place because the route was not to his liking. Why not let 'em all come? If the Kawhia man's estimate of the importance of his seaport merely soars high enough to imagine one railway leading to his town, he doesn't rate the country, or his seaport, very highly. The very fact that there is sufficient ground to warrant a battle of routes is surely Bufficient to stir the people at the proposed terminus into crying aloud for both lines* Such an example of Northern modeity is deplorable. If Kawhia people are not convinced of the strength of their claims for as many railways as they can get, and of the ultimate glory of their own seaport as compared with any other, they are in a most unsuitable frame of mind to start an agitat'on for anything. Let the railways come. From North, South, East and—well, when one comes to consider, there are difficulties in the way of getting a railway from the West. Still these difficulties do not apply to the other points of the compass, and every additional railway would certainly »add to the glory of Kawhia. Wherefore, and of a truth, why oppose any,route?