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Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 89, 17 August 1878, Page 2

We must certainly sympathise with the Terrace "End residents m the disgraceful and contemptuous manner m which : they have been treated by the Public Works Department m Wellington. Notwithstanding the mass of \ evidence produced to show the absurdity of placing the passenger platform outside the town boundary, the following letter has been received by his Worship the Mayor during the week from Mr John Knowles', Tinder Secretary for. Public Works :— " Sir, I am instructed: by the Hon. the Minister for Public Wo'fcks to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th July, relative to. the position of the proposed platform at Palmerston, and m reply: to inform you that the decision communicated to you m my letter of the sth of the same month, was arrived at after much consideration, and the Minister is unable to see sufficient reason for its revision." This, we presume, is to be finals as orders nave been received to proceed with the work. Now this decision, which we are informed was not arrived afc without much consideration, we suppose was based upon a report furnished by some official conversant awith. the case, and we would like to «,sk the Under ; Secretary from whom the informa-, iiibni was' derived, -Which- guided 1 the decision.: As far as we" "know there are but "two- servants of the Government within whose province the matter ; would come,, and. those are Mr % H?? Rotheram, the General i Manageri of the line, and Mr J. T. Stewart, the District Engineer. After the dignified rebuke we have received from our Wanganui contemporary for casting blame upon guiltless heads, we ; are somewhat chary m leaving ourselves again open to censure by,. hazarding a speculation as to the guilty party, but as that journal would seem to be the accredited mouthpiece of the Department, perhaps it would kindly supply us ' with the information, ao that we may know to whom we are indebted. In referring to the just claim which the residents had made out to hafe -the concession granted, we need only reiterate the remarks made m a -former issue, and certainly after carefully weighing the reason given against-' the. er.eetion m ; npw, • tiidmed, on& fi eain ; cpate' r to 7 na athjr eioncVusjon :'thtin ; it"; : ;Haa^]^j6^"' l d6ne vtSrolugha^ spirit df obstinacy, if not worse.;. As we havejsaidbefore,- ? tho Iprqppsed , site is .m the . bosom' of a deep decline, and so close to , a high cutting and sharp curve that ; it ' would bo impossible for the driver of a train from Bunnythorpe to see the , platform until close upon it.; But it is.qiiite unnecessary f or-us to recapitulate the m^ny reasons In favor of tl|e site' petitioned for, and we now pnblicly charge the officer upon . whobe representation the decision was gijen with giving a garbled report to the Departmeht; We feel convinced ' that if the real- facts of case were placed before the Minister o£ Public Works, he would not for fc moment give his consent to the erection of a passenger platform m a place where there is not the slightest chance of 'a. -traveller being picked up.i In our ! last issue we charged the management with using all possible exertion to make this end of the i line r a failure; and whoever can claim credit for being the Ministeral adviser m the question at issue, hasrbeen certainly actuated by a desite to make the boundary station an inconyeniehce ttf-lfhe public, and a loss to the pepar^inent. It is an insult to common jprise to imagine that persdns would be idiotic enough to^walk haK a .mile and pay for two mUes when by -walking they could reach their destination m half the distance. Jf the erection of the platform be continued, as stated by M^Knowles, then the Terrace En^ipepple' can safely; Bay tliat they are still "Virithout a station, aud Uu the vvhole ■.} matter they -have ; been treated -wi th ridi cxsj§ i and ; con tern pt. Wei challenge BB^artment to show one^ Vvalid reason .for the step

thus taken, and on the contary wo are prepared to show, as we hate done before, that they aro.at leasthalf a dozen most cogent reason* why the platform Bhould be m t^e centre of the. population. *We;dis-' tinctly«#ay the Departmeut has been shamefully hoodwinked by its officials, the people and justice; have been outraged, and the present liction; the result of some secret wire pulling: We counsel those interested to sift the matter to the bottom, and take such steps as will cause the Minister for Public Works to test the hona Jides of the information upon which ! he has acted, and which led him to perpetrate such a flagrant injustice.