GREYTOWN AND THE RAILWAY ROUTE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES,
Sir, — A letter appeared in your issue of the 19th inst., signed “ Scribendum,” which I feel constraiued to reply to ; not because such a contemptible, cowardly production should need any refutation, but because the outside public are not so well-informed on the affairs of Greytown and the Wairarapa generally as to be able to see the letter in question in the light that all Greytown settlers view it, viz., as the emanation of a brain so narrow and puerile as to use every opportunity to gratify a petty spite against certain individuals who happen to live in Greytown. He commences his letter by saying that he will bring a few facts before the public, whereas he has told them the greatest untruths that a weak, flighty mind could imagine. The first untruth he has told is, “ that the agitation has been got up by two or three interested persons who live at the South end of Greytown.” Now, on reference to the files of the Wairarapa newspapers, it will be seen that the railway meeting was attended by seventy or eighty people, many of whom came from long distances to attend it, and a large number of them there and then subscribed liberally towards the expense of paying an engineer to go over a Greytown route, accompanied by a, committee composed
©f men who know the country well; and ih; - Ja what “ Scribendnm ” calls an agitation got up by two or three people at the south end of Greytown. Next lie asks “Is Greytown worth making any deviation to come near and ho answers “emphatically no”; I answer emphatically, yes, as it is not only Greytown which would suffer, but the vast extent of country lying to the south-east of Greytown and all the Wairarapa generally. Ihen ho goes on to show why it is not worth while considering Greytown. “ First,” he says, “because it has no trade of its own. Lius on looking at the local paper is immediately iihown to bo false, as it will be seen Grovtown has two of the largest coacdi factories in the province, one of the largest coaching stations, one of the largest steam sash and factories, two large" breweries, two orthreesawmills, two lemonade factories, two or throe brickfields, and a number of other industries which need not be mentioned, and which exist in every township. I'Tnw, what has Carterton in the way of trade that makes this “ miserable sinner*' think 50 little of Greytown; Absolutely and emphatically nothing but its shops and one brickfield. Its neighbor, Taratald, has two sawmills, both places beirg supported by the traffic along the road, and a few sheepfanners. iu the vicinity. And what has jNCastertou? A sawmill or two and a flourmill. And whatgoe
a long way towards supporting Mastertoii ? Why, tho money it; receives from Greytown in exchange for a great part of its agricultural produce. And yet Greytown has no trade ? And I conclude this part of his letter by asking what either of the townships in the Wairarapa have got that Greytown has not ? Next he says ;—“ There is no laud at all in tho vicinity suitable for agriculture.” Anyone who knows Greytown is aware that it is all agricultural land, having been once bush ; and in its vicinity there are thousands of acres of agricultural land, but the proprietors of it, not •wanting a g’reat amount of agricultural produce for themselves, do not caro to grow that which, in the absence of cheap carriage, would not pay to take to market. “ Scribendum ” says that where the land is not covered with stones it is under water, which is quite false, tTfor-Greytown, as I have just said, is all agricultural land, the only Ipart stony or under water being the river bed, except in the time of flood, and then the water does not flow over any part of Greytown, as formerly. Ho then mentions floods, and says he finds the greater part of the north end of tho town is completely destroyed, and where there used to be handsome edifices and beautiful gardens, there is now a scene of wreck and desolation, the water having carried away fences and flooded some of the houses to a depth of Cft.; and then he has the audacity to add that all Greytown is liable to the same fate. As regards the destruction of that end of the town, the lauds, instead of being washed away, have been silted up with soil washed down from the hills, and made in some instances 4ft. to 6ft. higher, which of course has the effect of sending the water still further from the town, as the = only land flooded was on the extreme outskirts, except on one or two occasions. The highest the water ever flooded the lowest lying house at the north end of Greytown was 18iu. or 2ft., and all the “ handsome ” edifices are there still, with the exception of Dr. Smith’s, who had his removed to a more central position.
Nest the puissant perverter of truth says that the works of the Board of Conservators are liable to he washed away, when it is well-known that they have stood some of the heaviest floods we have had, and that when the new channel is completed, and all the work as planned by Mr. Blackett is finished, the river will, of necessity, keep its course. It cannot overflow as it used, as the Board has cleared all obstructions out of its bed above the new bridge, so that it cannot back up and take a new course.
“ Scribendum’s” last argument is the most absurd of the lot. He says that because immense quantities of soil and gravel are being continually washed down and accumulating about the road, it is certain a railway, if constructed over tlie small portion of land which the river floods, and which there is every reason for believing will not be flooded when the new channel is completed, would be in danger of being totally destroyed by the first large flood! Now it will strike everyone at a glance that if the river when it floods leaves a great quantity of silt behind when it retires it must be continually making higher banks for itself, and therefore making it more impossible for it to overflow; provided, of course, its own channel be kept free, which I have no doubt our energetic Board of Conservators will see is the caee. At any rate, it is certain the more sand and soil collect about the aide of the road the less liable will that road be to suffer injury from floods. The last sting the reptile under discussion makes is a statement that only one person out of the immediate neighborhood of Greytown subscribed to the railway fund. Now, there are at least three or four out of the neighborhood who have already subscribed pretty freely, although without doubt it is a Greytown agitation, but one iu which all the Wairarapa should have joined. I have called “Scribcndum” hard names, which I think lie richly deserves, as it was a cowardly, snake-in-the-grass trick to aim such a blow at the prosperity of the three or four hundred people who gain their livelihood in Greytown, to say of all the inhabitants to the southeast of’that town. Apologising for the length of this letter, I am, &c., J USTICE,
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5017, 23 April 1877, Page 2
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1,246GREYTOWN AND THE RAILWAY ROUTE. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5017, 23 April 1877, Page 2
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