TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5307, 29 March 1878, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

It will be a matter of congratulation among the settlers of the Waugauui-Manawatu districts tliat the rails have now been linked in along. the whole of the railway line between Pox ton and Wanganui. The first through train was run on March Cth, conveying a party of excursionists from Feilding to Wanganui. We may therefore confidently expect that this line willbeopenedforregulartrafficnot later than the . middle of April. The importance of this connection of the Manawatu District with Ranf'itikei and Wanganui can hardly be overestimated. The immediate result will he that both the Kangitikei, Wanganui, and Waitotara districts will draw their supplies of timber of all kinds, both sawn and split, from the forest lands of Feilding, Halcombe, and Palmerston. From the two first-mentioned stations, a brisk trade in firewood with Mavton, Turakina, and even with Wanganui, will be established during the coming winter, and will employ a large number of hands both in Halcombe and Feilding, which places will in return receive their supplies of flour and other produce from the well-established farms along the route to Wanganui. The opening of this new line will, indeed, be the commencement of a new era to these districts, and we confidently anticipate a far larger traffic on the FoxtouWanganui railway than on any line of equal length in the North Island. This branch is, however, but the commencement of an' improved communication between the West Coast country and the capital. Neither the inhabitants of Wellington nor the settlers of the great agricultural and pastoral districts south of Taranaki should cease to agitate, by every constitutional means in their power, for the completion of direct communication by railway between Palmerston and the capital. Whatever may be done with regard to the formation of a railway through the gorge of the Manawatu to connect with Masterton, it is manifest to anyone acquainted with the country, and with the productive power of the West Coast districts that the enormous traffic which is daily developing in that direction, would not long consent to be taken more than fifty miles out of the way, and by so difficult a route as the Rirnutaka Range. The projected line via the Upper Hutt and Waikauae is short and easy, and it .is daily becoming more obvious that the formation of a West Coast railway line by this route must be undertaken without any further delay. There must be a lamentable ignorance on matters political in this colony, or else the people take pleasure in listening to that which they know to be untrue. Sir George Grey, in his stumping tour throughout the colony, has everywhere alluded to large grants of land being given to favored individuals by the Governor-in-CounciL However, Sir George solemnly promised to put an end to all this alienation of the public estate. All dealings in land would henceforth be transacted in the light of day. The sale of the Piako Swamp was constantly dragged up as a frightful result of the secret machinations of the Governor and Ministers of the Crown. But the Premier has never on any single occasion alluded to the fact that such power to deal with the confiscated lands was conferred upon the Governor-in-Council whilst he himself was Governor of the colony, and he has also kept back the information that such power was abolished over two years ago by an Act introduced by the very men he had accused of secretly giving away large blocks of the public estate to favored individuals. Major Atkinson called the Premier’s reticence want of candour. That is a very mild way of putting it. It . would require a stronger term than the member for Egmont has chosen to' apply to appropriately describe Sir George Grey’s efforts to slander his opponents by misrepresenting facts. Major Atkinson, in addressing the electors of Fgmont at Patea, a short time ago, said —“You were told the other evening with regard to the land laws that we must have one fair land law for the whole colony. We are all no doubt glad to hear the Premier make such a statement as that, and I am quite sure we shall be glad to see such a law. If he is able to make it, it will certainly have my support,. and I am quite sure it will be supported by the rest of the House. But when you are told in the same breath that the power of the Governor to go into his own council room, with three or four other gentlemen, meaning responsible Ministers, and make laws, is to be put a stop to, I feel the Premier was not treating you with that candor which you have a right to expect, because the power to deal with confiscated lands by regulations or Orders-in-Counoil was repealed by an Act which I introduced more than two years ago. Therefore, when we are told such a power must not be permitted, you ought to be told at the same time that such a power does not exist; and you might further have been told that when that power was originally given Sir George Grey was Governor, and acted upon it, and never said a word against it. I should not like to be misunderstood upon the point, because I believe the power to make regulations to deal with the confiscated land, at the time it was given was absolutely necessary. I believe there may be still occasions where it is desirable that great power should be given to the Governor-in-Council, but not in connection with land. I am only speaking of the Premier’s want of candour in leaving it to be supposed that such a power existed, and that he is going to repeal it, when it has been repealed for more than two years.” There cannot be the least doubt that the city of Wellington is gradually continuing to progress, and will eventually attain that position which she is entitled to expect. We notice in glancing over a printed return furnished to the City Council at the meeting on March 7th, at the instance of Councillor Hunter, who moved for it, that. the statistics for the city in the shape of revenue and expenditure show a very healthy state of things indeed, and that no matter how much temporary dullness may affect the community at times, we have established ourselves on a sound and healthy basis. The return referred to shows the total yearly income of the city during the past seven years ending September 30,1877 ; the expenditure during the same period; the amounts raised for waterworks and already expended ; the amount for drainage, raised and actually expended, together with the amount authorised to be raised for extending and improving the Queen’s wharf; the amount expended, and the amounts required to make good payment to the contractor, and likewise be available from all sources for further improvements after the work now in hand has been completed. The return which, as can be easily imagined, is a most important one, likewise shows the yearly amount paid for law costs during the past seven years, together with an estimate of the cost of erecting and; furnishing the new offices in course of construction for the City Council. With such a comprehensive document, comprising information important in the highest degree, we cannot pretend at present to do more than refer to a few of the figures which bear witness to the position in which we are now placed by that undoubted progress we have continued to achieve. In reference to the yearly income of the city it is shown that for the year 1870-1 the total result - was £4562 10s. 4d.; for 1871-2, £5058 ss. Id.; for 1872-3, £6337 12s. Id.; for 1873-4, £9603 ss. 2d,; for 1874-5, £10,388 Is. 5d.; for 1875-6, £13,865 17s. Id.; and for 1876-7, £23,921 7s. lOd. This page in tbereturn shows for itself the enormous strides the city has taken in the way of progress, the increase for the last financial year of over £IO,OOO being sufficient to show that something tangible has really taken place to bring about such a very substantial result. With the steadily increasing revenue, and which has now attained

a position entitling the city to claim a premier position in the colony, the expenditure has been on a par, those items’ in-the shape of improvements, &c., especially showing up iu the scale. As for instance the wages paid iu 1870 are set down as amounting to £1213, whereas during last year the ; expenditure under this head is set forth as £6227 odd, and the expenditure ou streets and roads at £678 18s. 9d. during the former period, and £6292 odd for last year. Other items similarly show up in proportion,. especially in regard to the amounts authorised to be raised for water works and for drainage, portions of which have already been expended. Regarding the waterworks loan-raised in London (of £80,000) in March, 1877, a balance for further expenditure is shown of £11,051 14s. 10d.; and as to the £50,000 loan for drainage purposes, a balance is struck for further expenditure of £39,714 2s. 4d. ; As to the Queen’s wharf expenditure, an estimated balance is set down to the credit of the Wharf Sinking Fund account, with interest to date, of £2850; the'estimate of the probable cost of erecting and furnishing the new offices in course of construction for the City Council being as follows: —Contract, £5699 ; extras authorised, ami furniture, &?., £SOO, making a total of £6269. As already said, the return appears on the whole a very complete one, The Registrar-General's report on the vital statistics of the principal towns iu the colony for the month of February was published in a Gazette issued on March 14. We are glad to notice that the health of Wellington shows a marked improvement on the previous month, the mortality for February being 1.35 per 1000, as against 2.43 for January. There were 25 deaths registered in Wellington during the mouth of February, and of this number only five deaths were of persons above five of age, and no less than 15 deaths were of infants under twelve mouths. In connection with this it must be noted that more births were registered in Wellington in February than in any other town in the colony. This, of course, has considerable bearing on, the figures given as to the mortality of infants. The population of Wellington is set down by the Registrar-General at 18,538, whereas there is good reason to believe that the pepulation of the city is considerably over twenty thousand. However, taking the lesser number as a basis of calculation, the death-rate, for February cannot be considered as high. The following table will show, the mortality, &0,, in the principal towns of the colony during last month:—

From the above it will be seen that JNeisou heads the black-list. There was only one death in that town of a person over five years of age. Of the deaths in Wellington 3 were from whooping-cough, against 13 for January. The traffic returns for the New Zealand Railways for the four weeks ending on: the 9th February last, and the corresponding returns for the same period of 1877, are published in the Gazette issued on March 21. From these returns it will be seen that our local railway shows well up in the list, which is as follows:

Boroughs. E timated population Feb. 1877. Total Births. Total Deaths. Proportion of Deaths to the 1000 of Population. Auckland 13,209 - 51 19 1-43 Thames 4.466 23 3 *67 Wellington 18.538 77 25 1-35 Nelson .. 5,659 18 12 212 Christchurch .. 13,513 48 14 104 25,512 13 •61 Hokitika . 2,738 6 3 1T0 Total.. - 296 89 —

1S78 1877 Kaipara £305 11 S £230 18 0 Auckland .. 3,323 10 2 1,933 0 5 Napier 2,164 6 0 1,782 2 6 Wellington 1,626 17 7 1,047 4 0 Foxton 644 6 11 500 3 4 Wanganui .. 264 9 11 — ‘NewPlymouth 446 2 10 130 18 10 CJreymouth.. 784 10 8 382 8 1 Westport .. 06 3 11 52 4 9 Nelson 570 16 4 . 499 19 2 Picton * 326 5 1 329 6 8 Christchurch 20,891 14 4 13.035 2 3 Dunedin 9.438 17 1 7,570 7 3 Invercargill 4,673 5 1 3,871 7 3 £45,546 XT 7 £36,406 2 0