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Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 25, 25 January 1879, Page 2

ACCORDIN'O to 11 Wellington conteiiiporar.v, "• the fu'dic Works Department e-pcriencid j»reat diifit-uli.v m ouaining ihe nece-ssii r.\ 'len'pers forthe railwuv works n.»w m iiand, m -i'<jn**eq<ience off Imvinjj for some time discontinued the pnii-iiee of obtaining hardwood sleepers from Tnsiimnin. L m eten now feared that, owing lo the diffi.-ulty o' procuring sleepers m New Zesduid, ihe utovernineiit will be obliged to send lur^e onlers ou of the Cxloriv. Offors for supplying a million sleeper-* from Tusiiuiiiii liave been receired, and, as n'teitiporai'v mea-'Ui'e, to prerenl tlie absolute stopun^e of oiie or two works now iipproticbinij e-nn-!i.il.tio-, 60,006 have been ordt'rel from Tasmania." The abore is taken- fron 'the Poxt, and is ab.-ut- ihe purest sjieci nen ot nii->repi-esent>m<in one nm well imagine. The real diffiuuhy iv obtaining sleepers is not tluit set down by tho "Tost" inu liecause the Govornment has persist enlly refused to advertise teiulei*.** m pupei*;* p'ti >■ lidhed iii the »cry heart of v tiui'iei* conn try. Sotno time h_o we had occasion to pass some strict ures upon Mr. Bl\ckett. aiid as a puni-lnnenl Un* our presumption .-iiice thai date not one -.ingle lldl•el•ti^^efnen , haVe we receivi-d from his Depart rnent, hotwitliatandiiigthiO they have IreeU uupeurel m both 1 >ur Foxton and .Wun^unuicon'temporaries. Now, although we c-ari I ell _■•*;._ LACKBTT. anil Mr. Blackett's inns ter, tjte Minisler of Pu die VV.n-ks, that we would Inot1 not curb oiir frecdoin of speech for all tlie;;ndvei'ti- i eiiients within his <*i t, \el we sl'r'ort l.v protest a _jn in -t it betM>j m ihe power of aii-v.iiffiiial to sea tier the iiiiifls oi the St»t_ amongst those journals w "licit sin^ peans of praise, li is well known thai the 'jjrent timber e-ountn of the We*t Coisl i-« : t.h-it. pnrtleuliir part lying betwepn Oroi'm Bridge art. J Hal -omhe, "taking m Palmerston and Feilding. In that portion of Hie .Vfaiw\watu there are no less than ten B;iwmilU, |and a supply of thousands of acres of the •very bestlotara and other hard timlier. It may be lihagined that we pen those lines from a spirit of pique, and -although we will uonfess to be so far human as lo have felt our own 'personal wrong and injustice, jet that is of very small moment m comparison with the injury which is being done the district. When the Minister of- Pu'dio Works asserts that a supply of t-leepisrs has to'be imported because of in>i til jty to obtain them m. this Colony, we give Vie stateni'ent a point- flut. denial. Let the Govern-i ihent act m tbe same manner as -'wriild a private firm— make its wants known and seek to nurchas'e m the prope'i market, and. 'we jsledj-e our 'reputation t here wilt be no need to call upi'in tne resources of Tasmania.- As a eas'C m point of the wilful ■f:ulpa"*iilii.v of the Public Works Depurt- • iiieut, we may mention that a dayorlw.. since we were .inoroied by the proprietor s of tha.K'iii'iik.-iu Sawmill th»t although he w.-ia cuohig-d'otvii 90'fhe inagi.iu'.-ent totara, there was ii. " le demand for it. Upon asklnr> lii^ reason for not (joinj; m for some of the'liii-tre teii.lers for sleepers udvertis_d m the Wellington, an I Waii-jtunui papers, he -tl»lit •hc^iv.. _wiv'thi*friik:<i.rilii»

other, and consequently knew nothing about them. And Mr. WVriDs is not singular m his experience. For the enlightenment of Mr. Blackett, the Minister of Public Works, and our contemporary the Pos/, we may state that not. only could the Manawatu supply the million of sleepers, but m the patch of bush bet wten Palmerston and Feilding there is .enough timber to keep t wenty anills .§sq}t>g; -tor the next twenty years, cutting 'ie^j-, thousand feet per day: This is no clap-trap, but the opinion of an expert from the Wairarapa, who has been over the land with the view of erecting a mill. If we were so self-sacrificing as to devote our space to advertising gratis the wants of the Government, we feel qui'e convinced that tbe million sleepers would not only be forthcoming, but ihat there would hea pretty keen compel it ion for the contract. We protest, against the grand resources and illimitable supply of this County heing thus studiously ignored, and the public money sent out of tlie* Colony to procure an article which lies before our very doors ; and why, because the representative journal of the district has not fawned upon and flattered some tetchy official " drest m a little brief authority." We make this matter public for two reasons— first to show a new' phase of the "equality of sacrifice;" and secondly, so that the millowners of Manawatu may refute tlie asseriion of the Post.