THE MINISTRY AND THE WEST COAST LINE.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 20, 11 January 1879, Page 2

THE MINISTRY AND THE WEST COAST LINE.

}t may be rcnVembered that at a lafrge dud infjue'ijtia].; njeejting . held m ( tliis town wiith regard to they West QdiUt Line, a. deputation twas appoitneft^to proceed; tp Wellington to interview the Government upon tile matter; Its members were not clunked with seeking to commit the MJinistry to any partit'ular liqe of "action ; all ttVnT" was required wa-s that competent and inipa.rtial- men-should he-aamiuissioned. „to.. <.»3-aniine,th,e rival routes pf Palmm'ston and FojfWn" and report ;i accordingly.--■lJij fortunately, at that tjme Mr. .MaCv 4xr)i{EVV% the MiiiiSleVof: Public Works,_ wa.s.away upoiivoue of those tours, for. "which tlie jireserit fefofernnient are 'reUjarjtu^fi*, and .consequently the intervie^ of the. __c|oputMipri . . did Trot taliu place. Wu'eri the* Minister' returned to .Uys-sea^ ol Govern uje-nt,- it became runioivd, t'uVi't it waV his intention to pay a visit to tl^is.' district, m company with the Kngit\oer of l^aihvnys, Mr. Bi^c-^ iys,rT, and.; so -all further action, .wan.' postponetl 'until both those geiifleihen sh.ou.ld be m PiiLinerston. vts time \ passed away- the ohftinn-tn- of the meeting, the Major of Pttimeriton, comjhuuicaied with Mr.' N'^vcA^laittEVY, ask, ing wbeiv it was likely he jvould be m the * district; .'mv.l, u^h'it was proposed being done with/regard to the £jlo, >>0 = voted* far the West Coast isailwo.y lcvst Session. To the former he received a telegraphic reply intimating that the Minister co.uld fix no definite tim.e, hut that his arrival would .be' announced a week beforehand. \V*itli" regard to the ebiitt.Mnpln.ted action, tlie ioUQW-ing letter W4.SS forwarded : — Public Works' Ofijce, Wellington, Jan. 2nd, 1878. Sib, T am directed hy the Hom^the Minister for Public Works to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th September (? December) relative •to the exploration for railway purposes of a line between Waikanae and P'<\\merston, and' iri reply to point out that Parliament having h\%e.d tl\a route from Waikanae to Foxton, the Government have no option as to tho direction m which the line'is to be taken. ■ X have the honor to be, Sir, ■•■< v: Your ohedient servant, JOHN JkNOWI-BS, XJndeivSecretary of Public Worlds, JJia Wo.rr.hip the Mayor of Palmerston North. i The letter was courteously placed at our- disposal by Mr. Sxe&son, and wo ! mush co.nfe.-is we were not a little taken aback, upon, its 'perusal — not that the Government should break its pledges arid totally ignore its promises, Uut that the i).epartrn,ent should with the- most. | unblushing effrontery seek to shelter its tergiversation under the a.uth,ori.ty oi" Parliain.ont. Th^t there is not a [' particle of trqth .m tho .statement not I only can b,e proven by- the pages, of Hariauni, but is'- quite clear to the minds of avery reader of the Parlia-. [ in,en.tary p,rQeeiiding.s of last Session. Uut setting aside this absurd and unfounded assertion^ i\{r. Macandiirw most distinctly p.ro,misedi a deputation fiv>m .Pa lasers ton. at a date subsequent to the receptio;) of; the i'e port of Messrs. SrEWiRT 'a,m\ l^xonpi', tfi,at the people of thi* district in,ight rest perfectly satisfied tlis^t no action would be tajcen ui^til Che two routes had been fully re,, ! ported upo,u by thoroughly iuiparlial and com pet ahj men, engaged, for the purpose; T\\e. letter received fron\ Mi*. Al.vo-i.vDSEW does no.t <;ive. i\s th^ slightest concern ; a,rid yt of n> other value titan to, show how, ein,pty,_ fajse, an,..l uiiiyliabie.. are h.is promises,- andwha,t a puppet he is m the hands or the, wire-puller-.^. We h.^ve before now anestioned the. bpn.% files of the report sub.initted by Mr. S.rRVY^aT, ai\d v^e go further and sj\y that had, he. b,fen possessed of..an,e particle of delicacy, he would hare, u^ade knp,wn. l\is position to. the Government,' and asked ta be relieved of the invidious ta,sk, of deriding upo.ni two routes, m- or^a of wlup-h, he was so seriously interested^ We make use. (i,f the word '>' deciding " advisedly, a,nd; ftfiav inati^e deliberation, for if there be truth m. Mr. M^cavd/jkw's letter., the matter. hyas been d,ecided. upon the report furn,v*hed by th,e District Kn.gineer. The. Civil Service regulation^ preclude a, Governm,eJ)(i olii.cer. fron^ writing to the public papers m defence, and wera it not for that fact wit should certain^ express ou,r opinion of A^r. Scbwart's, <ionduet m, \e.ry pronounced terms •, bju,t we ask ojy ueadors to can aider the arrant ab^urdjity- of restriciingan clfi-'ial from defending himseft\and still allo,\v him to furnish reports upon mattery upon which, he is personally vitally interested. • Si.>me i.lea may be entertained of the amount of reliance to. bejii^ced upon, the impartuility' of Mr. Sxrwakp's report, when, we state'. f thafc tlxat gentleman infoi*u\ed a Tpsident m tho district that he had adviae v l tho G">v;enmvent to the Pox;ti>n route "from .the. first, an; l tha,t I he had been favoraTale to that line all i a,lon;s;, even before called upon, to ojfi.uui.lly report, In judicial cases it is not customary to select persons as, jurors who nviy have already formed and expres.s.ed opinions n,])on tlty) case ahevut to be tried ; but here we. have tho. glaring mistake — to use the mjldest teum — of appointing a juror who. had not only pronounced very strongly m. Pavor of one ro.u,te, but was actually interested m the verdict given by hi n,- --' self. Wo consider m selecting Mr. Stewart — a gentleman whose interests are so iridissolivbjy bound np m Po.xton — \ tlve GovernmeJit were gu,iUy of a grave j iiu,st;vke; aJid m accepting the very m I vulious position, the District Engineer placed himself m, a false position, and absolutely placect the vabie o.f the repnrt at nil: Bad the Minster oi Public Works been a gentleman who n.as by any mea,u.s[- conversant with the topograpliy of the country, or the. jvl.it ive bearings of the two routes, the dagger arising fro^-tv garbled) report would b;r oo»wid*:rj»l>ly;iesa..: JJu.t what are. reallj : thd factrt -of the. cmc. j Alt hough a colo■njsfc of consiJewbJy over quarter of a oerstury's standing, and m a great meAr i st^v one of the. fo,nndoM of dago's piv.suut greatneas^ A^r. Macandh.bw. knows. perluii)s less af tl\e. colony— be-vou-1 that es|)ijrial p-)rtio.n alluilcd to — t!»an . ti'ie youngest politician m, -the Ifouse. Wo heartily endorse the words of. t,lio Hon. ilv, tfoxj. Wh«a; speaking

upon the question duriugcthe adjourned debate : — " ■'■: ' .'%> What does the I^jni3ter for Public Works knovr A of. ;'the North Isl»nd ? Jt was v riicliinclt'oly jttoment jfor mtf.^vjliieh I heard thut \\h wus intriiated i W'ithi jti^ Public; Works r Bo part miinfv, Mnicti a*'^ admire hl3 ability, his colon^ziiisj frtcultiesj and his g.reat p^perience m New Z^'(il:i'ikC* "l- confess tlmt n 9ii"ndt}p N we»t through ' vns- when I thought tlmt for year 9 to confffHife inteivsts of the Nyrtli Island m reference to the-oanstTuctioTr-'tifrpttbh'cr-sroT'lw-aniitkfrdbe intrusted to his stolirl ignorance of thecir(.•ymstajicjes, geography, ami clinnicteristics "o ft h e "No rtiV-fsla nd ;"' Tfiißion 6riinie~s«nTte- "■ iqjin ncefn opens Iris rruuUh >n reference to public works without bet raving his entire ihiiioueiice 6K .all feiiowlettjje i-onnected with this iinForti}ii''vte ; Island.? When lie rises to debate itfiy poiriil of .poliry or to discuss any muUiip connected with t!\e North Jifond Ije.di'uws nil his_ ijhf tratinn* fro n some railway m the district with which he is peculiarly ncquuintcd — Qtagu. His whole soul seem3tu he wmpped up m that prosperous am| floqrisiin^ province, which, no dotj'it, owes n greut deal of its prosperity ..to the honorable geutlenian, its lute Superin■Jeudent.. Bey^n'd"*Hriit J h.i* mind nee ins to •hfl'a.bjiink sheet, of rtriper, J am sure that h^.\y|ll not.aglJvjj.e^me of exiigsjeration when I say th:it,"as re^ai-'ls the Xort.li Islaiul, the hanoivible gpnlleman ahsojutely knows noMiing, Yet, he comes before u<, during the last hours Qf the session, wilhu proposal to make railways through pnrts of the "(.•ountTy-^wtrDsw latitude or- longitude he "could* not I tell i it^, and wlietheror not they nro_oaverpd with mountains^ forests, orvjra'tjetv ]" •'" "j ' * i With regard to the statement made m Mr. Macaxdrew's letter, '•■ ihat Parlia-. ment had fixed the route f roni Waikanae to Foston, "'we would like to say a few words, We imagine we h,ave pretty closely watched the proceedings of the late Session, but more especially anything having the slightest reference to so important a matter as the final route of the -Wetiinst<ufc-ri<&il-w.ay. A.dded to that, since the receipt of the above letter we have most carefully re-perused the columns of Hansard, a.nd confess that we can unearth not the slightest particle of evidence to hear out the assertion made hy the Minister of Publio Works. True, £ls, ( '(J()\vere appropriated for exploration purposes ; but we ask if the route wa.s definitely settled m Parliament, how was it that Mr. Macandke\y could premise a deputation that nothing would be done until the Government was m possession of materia.l data with regard to the two lines. This was what was said by a member of the Government out of the House. Now let us see what another- Minister stated fro >n his seat while the nidtte.r was m debate. In the Legislative Council, on the 29th o,f October, or' a vary short time before Parliament was prorogued, the Hon. Ooloi\el WhitMo.iiE, Ooj,on.ij]kl Se<-retary, expressed, himself v a,s follows, m spwiking of the various lines of .railways oon,templa.ted througho.n'; bath Islands, And here we woul<l ask- especial notice of two facts: First, that up to. that time no re-port had been submitted to Pavliam&n,f, save the very superficial one furnished by the District Engineer and Mr. Kxorpp ; and consequently, if the ■ Government -were m poss.e.ssion. of plans and estimates — without which thework^ according to Colonel WniTMORH,could not b,e done— then such plans, &c, were n,ofc laict before the. House. The following are the remarks of the Cu\on.i,dl, ! Secretary :— '•■■ -V \ I woulit rejiiind" lianovuhfe gentlemen. that sonxe yen rat have efctpsea since we adopted ; 1-li.B o«).u,iye 3.iis?^eit edj m the. early \w\<t of this, flispustion. Wo insisted on. the lieces- : Hity of having pjans and estimates \t\u\ befoi'43 PsivJi'iuiejit, beirauso we ha.d been, a,? we tho.usrht, j-ic^eyed m 18.70, when »\e i were cl»'li,bej-ati'lvr l ojb l tlmt. sur.ve.vs. had, bet!i\ miirin' oF 'Vmes with, n. prism-itic. cotn- ; pass, and h;icl ta.ken a general surrey of the couiUiy j; but. wa, know t hat no act unfcsurveys were til exist ence, ami that, the Qi^y way t a, insure that surveys sliotild be nyide, was to. insist lyio.n the proclu.ti >n, of the plans m Parliament. Th;it. necessity, no. lorijjoj;. exists. W> hrtve had great, praelictf. , m innkmq railways, nn»l we. know now thai no Miiiist-ei' woul I i>nve tke>audacity to .say. ;tha& a.*urney ka.fl l een, ca>wleted of a, liiy?..of* which he had only a, sketch map. Wo wonder- v.:ha,t the gallant colonel; will think ot the. temerity, haxdihpnd, and an.lacity- of- hrs colleagae of the Pti,l)lic Works ? We defy Mr. MacAndrew ta point out when, or Rovrlie received authority from the Legislature, for- filing, the fi,nal route. We do, not i'say tha,t it is- not within the province of the G,avernmen,t to deternajne where fehe function, is to, be ; ba,t when it seeks to foist the nnas of- its tergiversation. , du.pl vcity, and) trickery u,|xo4i the As-, s'pnxbly,' we feel called u,]X>n to expnsa tl\e chea,t and cojjjtradiet the statement. 1«P sucli au^tluvMty- had been given,, we ask how is it that it has bjt»en k.«'pt such a, profound secret, wlipse.d^v,u,lg<?nne no\« takes everyone by surprise. We call upon, the people, of the Upper Mjajia-wa.t»-whetlver they belong to Feiljling, or Haleomjv, or Paljfnpriton, or Fitz : herbprt— to ba,nd toguthjer, and prevent this monstrous, piece, of jobbery ; we calfe upon, tke people, of. Wvllington to [ aid them. in. t\e effort, a,nd we warn the I G ; ov i rrjimen,t ag;iinst thus either bl.iufMy !or wilfully committing the cwmtry | to. a vast expenditure m what willprove itself ta be a useless waste of money, while a. magmfipenjt tra.ct of country, oontajnijig tHoji,sands and thousands of- a^res, whiek would; far-, nish homea for thousa,ads. of settlers^ replenish the coffers of the State, awl contribj«.t,e to the wealth of the Provincial District, is allowed to, remain uninhtvbltod' and unexplored.