LIKE PIECRUST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6710, 31 May 1900, Page 2

LIKE PIECRUST.

The Mangaweka folk are finding out that promises made by a Government m power at election times are very often chimerical and purely political castles in the air. Oyer three years ago tb.6 bridge over the Rangitikei river, hear Mangaweka was washed away, and its j has been definitely promised-*

This is particularly hard not only because" the majority of the residents there are genuine Seddonites, but even the Press there is unanimous in its support of the Ministry. That the bridge is necessary everyone admits, but the exigencies of party warfare—Mangaweka is represented in parliament by a member of the Opposition—demand that the constituency should, well, wait. The I Mangaweka Mail, however, seems to have tired of this game, and takes off the gloves about its beloved Ministry in this fashion :—" The fact of the Government having called for tenders for the erection of the bridge over the Rangi' j tikei at Mangaweka, has turned out as expected a complete fiasco. Anybody ! with an atom of brains who could read between the lines of the advertisement, would at once see that it was a deliberate attempt on the part of the Government to throw dust in the eyes of the public. However, they have not altogether succeeded so far as we are concerned. The non-erection of the bridge is not only a I scandal, but is a disgrace to the present Government. Settlers, who years ago bought land from the State on the other side of the river, on the distinct understanding that the bridge under discussion was to be constructed in the near future, have been gulled. The life of many a settler who took up land under this promise has been sacrificed owing to the broken promises of the GovernI ment. We have no hesitation in saying j Jhat the lives alreadyiost and the lives the door of the I -