THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 4, 5 September 1879, Page 2

THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

"Why does South Maimwatu sn]^ port Mr Johnston ? The answer has been giv r en, " Oh, because he pledges himself to support their railway." This is a deliblßite lie. Mr Johnston h*as given no pledge, nor has he been asked to giv^ one. He has stated repeatedly that he will abide by the decision of the engineers. He has not varied his statement, by saying one thing at Palmerston, and another at Foxton. He will seek justice for both places. This fact we place before the electors. South Manawatu recognisqs that at presnt the constitxiency is divided. It therefore selects an outsider, who is unbiassed, and will therefore arbitrate fairly jietween the two. Probably beforje next general election the vexed question will be settled for ever, and therefore we hope the Nortnern electors will bury their differences by returning Mr Johnston.

Decayed —Owing to a heavy fresh in the Otaki River, the up-coa^h was delayed yesterday," and will.not reach Foxton until early this morning.*' J DisacALiriED — The statement of Mr Halcombc's disqualification has caused considerable excitement in the district. It is generally asserted that the sleeper contract entered into by him is signed by him personally) and that no mention is made in the agreement of tho Corporation. From the clauses of the Actjwhich we quote in another column, his disqualification appears absolutely oortain. That the Government recognise him alono as responsible to them, is evident from tho schedule of contractors' names. With reference to the telegram referring to the disqualification of Mr Hal— combo wo may point out that the Hon Henry Russell's ease occurred tinder the Act of 1876, which was repealed in TB7S, and a new Act passed, specially designed to meet cases as that of Mr Halcombe. where Contractors were tfjjjtlidatcs. This view is borne out by the Bwmons we have quoted. VLocat, Boabi) Electiox.— The following' is the result of the Poll for the Local Board election : — Whyte, 24 : l Loudon, 22 ,' Coley. 21 ; Easton, 20 ; Gray, 10 ; Bartlett, 14 ; Perreau, 4. The first five were elected. Morns Room Wahted.— lt is high time something was done to provide more room timber, sleegej-'Sj 'fife".," sen b to Foxlon for shipment."" At present, every available inch of ground is required, and will bo for some -fcrrti?, as there nro about 12,flflf) sleepers stacked near the wharf ; som? 15,000 more are to come ; also, about 12,000 posts (for fencing railway liuca), aro to bo stacked ready for shipment; and 6,000 telegraph poles, the first instalment of which arrived yesterday. In addition, iron rails are arriving every trip of the Hnia, ant) room is required for the timber sent to the port for shipment. To provide additional room, we notice that the authorities have utilised the public road which runs from the wharf parallel with Main-street, thereby preventing cart traffic to the wharf down this street, and causing great inconvenience to traders. An instance has come undor pur notice". The Osprey brought a load of timber down for Mr Louden, nrd instead of the curia tatting the timber from the end of the wharf at the junction of the road, the timber had to be taken to the Main-street on trolleys, and carted from thence. Under these circumstances, and considering the heavy demand ljkely to be made on the " stacking " fpnimodation at the wharf, we hope that medjtte steps will be taken to provide any meW room that it is possible to allow. We might also point out another reason for more room. Timber waiting "shipment has nJK to be stacked between the two sets of trails leading to the .wharf, and tho whole passenger traffic to the wharf must puss alongside itjio the imminent danger of paolers-by." 'Only a year rigo, a boy was almost killed in Wellington through a stack of timber falling on him. fGHOBA^i Society.— A meeting of the above society was to havo been held last 1 WednpsdaV; for, the purpose of transacting gese>ftiJ2Jjjsj%4e?j but owing to various causes

scvouvTtrjCjJie ine-mber?. were jin-avoidably absent. It wiisTTTcrd'Tjmj'yicltred advisable to go on with the business unless nil wore pro sent, and the meeting v;ns adjourned to that (lav fortnight. The conductor 'stated tli.it H'J fust pvnc'icß tor Iho next sea'-s'n would 'i'j held on the Wednesday/following. ;■ PnniTßKss. —Wo notice amongst the buildinjfs being 1 erected at Pulmeraton one forihiv proprietor of tho IWanawatu: Tirn^ The building ia a substantial woodous.fr.iuf.iu\} :i.b vii, JO foot lonjx'rtnd is situutod .mar the I'unt Office, and whilst teudiug to, improve (he ivppoßrnnco of that part of (.lie to-wu. will afford Mr Dungan an (vnnmo dious and ccnvc-nient office. We understand .-ito*is also Mr Dungan's intonuon to buiM si largo house for private use. _. __ _ rr.y. — TL« above. arc advertised to appear nt the Public Hail, Poxlon, en Tuesday and Wednesday next. Thk OsiTiET. — Messrs Thynne, Linton & Co. will sell by auction, on Wednesday next, tho steamer Osprey. ; Mao-ri.— .Eoani Tnipua, of Otafci,."ha* been nominated as a candidate for the Western Maori Electoral District. We wish'hiin'. success in his candidature, as lie I* a mo;>t intelligent native, and would worthily represent his constituents. We should be greatly pleased to nee an Otaki native re-), turned, as we are deeply interested in their welfare and desire to sco them prosperous. Ministerial Movements. — We l6arn by private telegram received in Foxton that tho Hon "John Sbeehan luft Grahamstown yesterday, anil (hut ha and Sir Goorge Grey !eore Auckland to diiy for Napier. | ■ TimhEi;. — We understand that so\i\a big lots of timber will shortly be coming to Foxton for shipment, one firm having an order of nearly 70,000 feet to fulfil for Christchurch. In view of thi3 and other largo shipments, the same firm are negotiating for the purchase of a suitable vessel, and ere long we hope tcsee a craft in the Mtmavv.'iln riwr owned by Man.-iijftfihi solders. Palmkiistojj Lnm.uiv.--A member of our staff latelyjiad an oppoJßfcif y of being shown over thj(te.eadirig Ko^mand Library nt;Palmerslr»ii,by the courteous librarian, Mr R. IT. Keeling. The library is situsiterl in the upstairs portion of the Public Hall building, imnudiatelyover the Town Clerk's and Highways Board J offices, facing the. Square, and is admirably adapted ffflfejthe purpose In the room there are five six tables, on whrofi aro placed tho papers, dfiigazines, &c.,''dU nicely arranged. The Joooks which form the library are conveniently placed in three handsome cases, and at present number some 600 volumes. Wo might, mention that recently (when this library was brought under the I libraries Act) it wa? in a very languishing stake, and contained only about 200 books. Mr Duugan,.the proprietor of tho local journal, took the matter up vigorously, and worked up thoqnestiou, and .it was decided to place the library under tho provisions of the Libraries- Act, and solicit contributions of books to the institution from the residents. This was done, and the '* Roll of Honor," as it was called, was published in the paper, giving the name of the book presented apd tho name of the donor. As a result of this no less than 400 books, embracing* a most useful collection, were given to the library. The Palmerston people have much to thank Mr Dungan for in this matter. Amongst tho books we noticed an edition of Shakspeare iv Swedish ; there .vero also some Swedish papers on the table. The papers in tho reading room comprised English and Colonial literature of every kind — illustrated papers, magazines, periodicals, &c, There are compartments placed in the reading room for the convenience of ladies. At tho present time there are about 40 subscribers to the library, nud evidently there is a long and useful career before it. Palmerston has every reason to be proud of its reading room and library, which would not do any discredit to a borough of much greater pretensions. Euuatcm. — A slight eiror occurred in our paragraph regarding the Presbyterian clergymr.n at Feilding. The name should have beon printed Rev. H. JI. Murray, not Morris. Rowing Oj.uk. — A meeting of the Manawatu Bowing Club took plnco at Howe's Hotel on Tuesday evening last, the captain (Mr A. W. Howe) in the chair. No business was done, a conversation merely taking place upon tho financial positional" the Club. Wv-slfßSi A Disappointment. — "Oft expec^^T fails, and most oft thero whero most ifc promises." So says the bard of Avon. An illustration occurred on Wednesday hist, ovor the Awahuri licensing case. Mr Staite had made out a good case, tho Court (at least the Chairman; appeared to be strongly in favour of it, the license was rejected on tho previous occasion only because the application was lute, and the Polico wore in favour of tho application. Hence, everything being in his favour, Mr iStaito prophetically endorsed his brief, " Application granted." But blank surprise sat upon everybody's face, when the Court declared the application refused, whilst Mr Staite hastily closed up tho law book in which he was searching for the question of " costs on frivolous objections," and re endorsed his brief. RANorriKEf. — Major Willis was eloped for Rangitikei by a majority of 107 over Mr Maclean. Don't Phess Me. — Tapa to Whata is a chief of tho Ngatikiuwhata, rosiding at Awahuri, and though ho likes a <l wet, " and even gets "rolling drunk" now and then, ho likes to sco sobriety arrongst his people. Therefore he objected to the grant ing of a license for the hot«l in tho district. But in oroHs-examination, under the clinching queries of Mr Staite, ho admitted thut he himself drinks occasionally, but never until he is pressed. The lawyer then asked him, >r Were you not drinking at Feilding the other day? " "Oh yes," replied Tapa, " That was on the 26th. I always tell my friends I'm a toetotallor, but it: they press me very much I can't help drinking. " Wo shall not be surprised, after this naive admission, to find T&pa amused during the next hearing of the case with a ladle and a bucket of beer. Royal Hotel, Palmebston.— -A few days ago we had an opportunity of inspecting the plan? of the additions which Mr B.itohelar, tho popular " mine host " of the abort* favorite hostelry, is making to his hotel. The additions consist of a substantial twostorey building situutod 1 nt the southern end of tho present hotel, and will give largely increased accommodation. The bur will bo in the new building, at the southern cud. At the end of a corridor leading from the street, is placed the dining room, which will be about 40 feet king. In the upper portion of the additions, there will be 12 large bedrooms, which will give 23 bcdiooms alto gether in tho house. There will also be upstairs a fine commodious sitting room, 14ft x 18ft Gin, whilst.'a bath-room #nd other conveniences aro placed in suitable situations for thejp.lrposo of gjvinjj every comfort to inmates of the hotel. A hand•some balcony-will run all round the*upper o^the new building. A feature w Hue imppoveinents to the premises is the new collar, placed under the floor of tho, additions, 23ft x 14ft, cemented through.

put. The billiard "room, which at present is detached, will, when the alterations are complied, bo under the m'irin buili'lin<j, and of course will bo fitted up" in keeping' with 'the/ rest of the establishment. We hive oniv given a \ r e 1-3' cursory description of the improvements, but it \ri'll be seen that MY ButohuHr. is determined to spiiiv, neither I'tiins nor rxpeijtec in making his hotel one of the best in the district. The lulditions and ip.:fro\'tii:mntd will wsl alioul" £1200. iiiul the worli'is expected to be comp' 0 '- 1 -''' 1 by November. Mr PialclielaV's mttny friends will be glad to notice the|j) iinpiovsmentis have become necessary, and will wish him increased success with the larger accommodation. * .!&.,■;