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Manawatu Herald, 4 February 1879, Page 2

It is hardly necessary for us to remind the settlers of the south portion of the Manawatu County that me9t% ings will be held regarding the Wei-lington-Foxton railway, this evening,

sit, Sanson schoullitiuse, arid on Thursday evening' at the Foxton Public Hull. The object of the meetings is ; to give vent to the i opinions of the | settlers in the Southern portions of the County Upon the impdr ant (jue.-i---tidn of the point of contact for the Wellington mil* Ay. TlWt tile whole ! souchet-u district from Otr.ki to Ureut- j ford, represtuiting a population of ! about 3,000 (including Hulls), are in j favor of the railway coming to Fox- j ton, thole cd nbe no doubt- The j Voice ot so large a body of" people Should carry weight with the Govern* raent; The people in this portion of the district are in no fear of another survey altering the decision of Parliament. Every day shed3 new light upon the claims of the two townships, and as the result, those of Palmei'stou are beeoriting totally eclipsed. The brilliant imaginations which invented " hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land " upon the Palmerston line, must seek another realni for tlleir giddy nights, as a scale drawn across i a map cf the country soon tells a dif- [ ferent story, and the hundreds of tho'us sands melt away to a few tens of thousands.;' 'Pacts and figures speedily demolish the gorgeous generalisms of j those who trust to their fervid imagi- 1 nations for the data upon which their j arguments are built. A few brief j comparisons may be instituted be* j tween the two lines. We assei'b dis- 1 tinctly that neither Palmerston nor ; i Feilding would be difectly benefitted : ! by the railway going to' the former" i place in preference to Foxton, for the \ simple reason, that bringing it to the j latter does not in any sense deprive j them of the railway. The only dw- 1 trict benefitted would be Fittfherbert. ; Against that single advantage we pit ; the following— Otaki and the whole j of the magnificent country between ' it and the Alanawatu River would be ' connected with the port of Foxton. ! Sanson, Sandon, Carnarvon, Hulls, i and Foxton, all would immediately j receive the advantages of rail commit- [ nication. We do nob wish to under* j value Fitzherberb. It is known to be j good country ; but that is no reason ; why other land, equally as good, i should be neglected. Throughout j this discussion, prospective advan- j tages have counted for too much, and j real wants for too little. We hope to j see large and enthusiastic meetings j this week. Every settler iu the district should make it a point to be present, chat a strong pressure may be brought to bear to havs the railway begun at oncri. We have clearly shown that Parliament voted the money for the line to Foxton, and £15,000 is new lying idle in the Treasury, ready for expenditure directly the surveys are completed. Self-interest should secure united, energetic action at the present juncture.