THE Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1879.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 24, 24 January 1879, Page 2

THE Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1879.

TnE notice of motion given by Mr Gower for the February meeting of the County Council, regarding the Wellington-Foxton Eailway, seems to have created a certain amount of sensation in some quarters. Why, it is not difficult to see. Charges of wirepulling, manoeuvring, log-rolling, &c, are the invariable sign of a veiy weak case. Attempts are being made to draw attention away from the real issues of the question. Statistics have been furnished, but a fow cori rections in them may not be out of place. From tli3 census we learn that che. population of the Ridings in the County is as follows : —Upper Manawatu— Kivt itea 46 ; Manchester 1,713; Taouuiß24; Borough of Pals merston 880 ; total 3463, not 3597. Lower Manawatu — Awahou 805 ; Oroua 607 ; KawaKiwa 658 ; Horowhenua 197 ; total, 2267, not 2279. From this it will be seen that the difference is not 1200. But a far more important question is involved. It is this. Hhall those 3463 Upper District people be permitted to say to the 2267 in the Lower Districl, " We claim the right to shut you out from communication by rail mih Wellington." That is the reaj point, for if the terminus is not at Foxton, the whole range of country from the 2Srd mile peg to Greatford, and all the population that country can carry, are debarred from rail communication with the capital. To reach the line produce would require to be carted tor many miles from the Sandon ond, and from Foxton both passengers and goods would have to perform the journey to Palmerston along the present railway, and back to a point about six miles from Foxton, after a journey of nearly 50 miles ! Numerous branch roads must be formed and kept in repair, and thous&nds of pounds annually wasted, because a large and flourishing district has been shut out from the line. Now take the other side of the question. If the terminus comes to Foxton, who suffers ? Does Feilding? No; for it has a through line via Foxton to Wellington ? So also has Palmerston and Halcombe. Who then would suffer ? Those imaginary settlers at Fitzherbert, and probably those speculators who have bought large blocks of land in Fitzherbert; but no settled part of the district would

ill tiny sense bedßpriVeil ofcoinnniuicjit'.O!i. i\'o\v what v t ho number c.'i tlit'Kc lii7.!iP!-!.M'if, aeliu'i'. I*,1 *, nho are tho \vliii.e t'ii'pli.ui: ? Tile tola! pollution of FitiihiJil.-ort at Ihs'C Oi-uisiui was niiiistiu'n squk,'nu'3 of them five wovu femuS'.'s. So fur as wo can learn, almost t\V<i wliul;; if l lio HislnnjiiU'c l.uul is sol;! j and is i'.-jSkinl up in tlia hands of -i few !k-?vs;jiis, who are doub lets wa'clun;.' tho railway terminus question Witli hung-y eyes. We beiieve that not a thousand acres remain unsold. And we ask, are the whole population of i he Lower District to be debarred from communication with Wellington, simply for the benefit of, we will nay a Tew hundred who iiWj Settle upon that land? The claims of the upper district rest entirely upon the expediency and desirability of joining at Palmerstom On behalf of the whole Lower Manawatn, we claim it for Foxtou, on the ground of justice to one part of the district, and because it -will not in any sense deprive any other settled portion of the County of that boon we ask for ourselves viz., direct communication with Wellington* The only thing Feilding is afraid of is, that the Sandon-Foxton line would become tho Main line. If it were not for that fear, we believe Feildinowould be passive upon the question. As the tide of progress advances, the shoitest railway must become the main line. Sooner or later, the main line will cut across the country to Greatford, instead of traversing tho present course. So far as those directly interes ed in the question aro | concerned, Bulk may be joined on to Sanson, and all the lower Manawatu, and if the claims of all these are not greater than those of the Borough of Palmerston and nineteen souls at Pitzherbert,then good-bye to fairness and justice. The line to Foxton deprives no one, not even Palmerston, of communication ; that to Palmerston shuts out thousands of present settlers, and the product of a vast tract of country from the advantages of railway communication with TVolington.