THE MANAWATU COUNTY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5095, 23 July 1877, Page 3

THE MANAWATU COUNTY.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —In your issue of the 9th inat. I see a letter signed by A. W. F. Halcombe in which are statements quite at variance from fact. The writer, too, appears to me to be trying to bolster up his separation movement at any price, and he condescends to innuendo rather than his efforts in this matter should prove abortive. I shall, with your permission, refer to a few of his statements, and show how utterly unfounded they are. In the first place, Mr. Halcombe states that the separation movement is one on which the residents in the separation district are agreed to a man. Now, sir, I can inform Mr. Halcombe that some of his next door neighbors not only refused to sign the separation petition, but will do all in their power to maintain the unity of the Manawatu County as at present constituted. Also that I have been requested by landowners in the Kiwitea Hiding to take part in getting up a petition against the proposed separation, and that I have consented to do so. Mr. Halcombe then states that “ the settlers in this subdivision have only come into occupation during the last three years ; that the subdivision on the southern side of the railway line includes all the older settlements of Manawatu.” And further, that “ the moneys which they, a young and roadless settlement, contribute to the county revenue, are being very largely taken to keep in repair the roads which an older and more fortunate community has enjoyed for some years past, and which roads the separationists will never seek to use, either to import their supplies, or to export their produce.” How, sir, let me call the attention of your readers to a few facts : —Xu the first place, that my house was the first erected in the Sandon and Carnarvon Districts, and that I have only been here five years, and that for nearly two years there was neither road nor fence in the neighborhood, except at the homesteads of a few squatters. Secondly, that the Manchester block of land was handed over to the company before much of the land in Saudon and Carnarvon was surveyed. And everybody knows that the land at Bunnythorpe has only been sold about two years. At Palmerston the settlers four years ago had to ride through mud up to the horses’ girths ; and even now the road between Sandon and Foxton is almost impassable. With regard _ to the separationists never using the roads in the southern subdivision of the county, I can only state that the Corporation waggons, with heavy loads drawn by four horses each, pass through Sandon almost daily. While I am writing this letter two or three teams are passing by with railway sleepers ; and at Mr. Halcombe’s request, the Council placed a man on the road from Bennett’s corner to Feilding to keep it in repair, for the special benefit of the Corporation.

Now for Mr. Halcombe’s figures. I have here to state that it was found necessary at the last meeting of the County Council to vote £350, to be expended in connection with the Lower Gorge, ferry, which is included in the proposed new county. This, added to £llO4 os. 4d. previously voted, makes a total of £1454 os. 4d. out of the sum of £1655 13s. 9d., which they intend to contribute to the county revenue (tor at present the Council has not struck a rate). Hitherto we have only had the Government subsidy to spend. I have no doubt that before the Couuty Council has been in existence twelve months the ratepayers in the proposed new county will have received more than the sum claimed by their leader. To show how badly the Manchester people have been treated by the Government, I will briefly state what they have expended on roads, and also what the two ridings complained of most have received during the same period, I. <'■, four years. In the Manchester settlement about twenty miles of very expensive railway, at say £6OOO per mile, £120,000 ; special grants towards metalled roads and other public works, say £IO,OOO ; making a total of £130,000. Sandon and Carnarvon Ridings have had constructed fifteen miles of metalled road at £6OO per mile—r £9OOO ; thirteen miles formation, £3OOO ; half the cost of the Rangitikei Bridge, £3OO0 — total, £15,000. Balance expenditure in the Manchester Riding above the expenditure of Sandon and Carnarvon, £115,000. I intend with your permission to contribute a few more thoughts on this subject at some future time.—l am, &c., H. Sanson. Sandon, July 19.