The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1879.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 179, 29 July 1879, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1879.

There is evidently to be a contest over the seat for the Waimea at the neit election. We stated the other day that Mr Pitt intended to become a candidate, and the Colonist, which should be an authority in this matter, announces this morning with a degree of positiveness that leaves no room for doubt on the subject, that Mr Shepherd will offer himself for election, let who will be brought forward as a candidate. There was a rumor abroad that Mr Shepbard intended to come forward for the Motueka district, but its incorrectness is of course proved by the announcement made this morning. The first entertainment of the Royal Illusionists to be given at the Theatre Royal this evening is looked forward to with a good deal of curiosity, and from what we gather from the press reports of the performance, there is no fear of any who attend to-night being disappointed, the tricks being, all of them, very cleverly done. The monthly inspection of the Town and Port Volunteers will take place to-night at half-past seven. The Georgia Ministrels who have been performing to crowded audiences in other parts ot the colony, will give the first of their performances, which are of a very ainuaing character, at the Masonic Hall this evening. A capital amateur entertainment in aid of the local Fire Brigade is to be given in the Richmond goods shed to-morrow evening, when there is likely to be a large attendance from town, a special train being laid on for the occasion, for the purpose of conveying the members of the Nelson Brigade, on whose arrival at the Richmond station there will be a torchlight procession, and a display of fireworks Ox Thursday evening last one of those gatherings which we are always glad to notice took place, when the employes of Messrs Sclanders and Co. met at the office of the firm, and presented Mr H. Richards with a complimentary address and a handsome gold chain, on the occasion of his leaving Nelson to assume a more responsible position in their Christchurch bouse (Messrs Sclanders, Fletcher, and Co.) The presentation was made by Mr H. Edwards in a few wellchosen words, who at the same time remarked that he had been 25 years with the firm, and another of the signatories to the address had been still longer with them, facts which Bpoke volumes for both employers and employed. We have lately received several telegrams referring to the Thames-Waikato railway, stating that an alteration had been made in the plans authorised by the House last year in order to suit the views of the Premier, and to cement the friendly relations between him and his constituents at Grabamstown. As many of our readers will probably not understand the charges made against the Government in this respect we quote the following from Sir William Fox's speech in opening the no-confidence debate : " Away in the North, at the Thames— what has been done there ? I will tell you what has been done. This House last year passed an appropriation for the construction of part of a railway from Hamilton to Te Aroha on the Thames, to be called the Thames and Waikato Railway. It was specifically for that purpose. Plans were laid on the table of thiß House ; maps were laid before the members, delineating the route of the railway—how it went, and where it went ; —and its distance was to be thirty miles. The sum to be appropriated was, 1 think, £180,000, or something of that sort ; and it was intended tbat the railway shonld be made from Hamilton to Te Aroba, from which point there is an excellent navigable river all the way down to Grabamstown and to Auckland. What did the honorable gentleman at tbe head of the Government and the member for the Thames do ? Wishing to conciliate his constituents, he put the cart before tbe horse — like the brewer's horse, the head was turned where the tail ought to be— and he gave them the railway from the other end— from Grahamstown to Te Aroha ; and he made a great parade of turning the first sod. And with what result ? When those thirty miles are made which have not been authorized by Parliament, we shall have to make the other thirty miies which have been authorized, and the cost of that line will be double what the House has authorized Can anything be more unconstitutional than that ?

Every inch of those thirty miles, the first sod of which my honorable friend turned, will be an unconstitutional inch. He had no more authority for making that railway than I have to make one through his own private island of Kawau. This House authorized a totally different line. I will undertake to eay that no plans of the line which has been commenced Hve ever been been laid before the Governor, in accordance with the provisions of the Railway Act. Where are the plans and surveys ? All that was before the House last session had reference to the thirty miles which lay between Hamilton and Te Aroha, and not an inch of this line between Grahatustown and Te Aroha ; and not one shilling was appropriated for this latter work. And yet, unconstitutionally, the honorable member goes with his wheelbarrow, takes his coat off, turns the sod, appropriates the money, enters into contracts, and scoffs and laughs at the the power of this Hou se over the purse."