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THE WAIPAHI-TAPANUI RAILWAY.

We reprint from the Dunedin Morning Herald the following letter to the editor:— Sir, —The letter signed “ P,” in your issue of Wednesday last wjis written by one who knows very little of the matter he discourses about —by one who desires to have a slap at the Minister of Public Works rather than be the me.»ns of pointing out any public wrong. All that “ P ” writes as to terms of payment and system of advertising adopted in calling for tenders for the Waipahi-Tapanui railway construction is really of small importance. Proudfoot and McKay were not, so far as I can see, specially favored over other probable tenderers. “P ” is also out in his remarks as to either the Government or its contractor having a rite to conwjeuce work upon private land. That did not escape the “ master mmd ” of the Minister'for Public Works—as all the private land required hasalready been conveyed over to the Government. An extraordinary and unusual activity has been displayed in getting everything in a forward state, as there are already ou the ground a number of subcontractors at work. One is inclined to doubt the motives which prompt this wonderfully smart business-like style of d ing Government work, and to wonder at the absence of official delays and the usual amount of red-tape interferences. Well, sir, X fancy that all the haste in pushing on with this railway proceeds from a fear that some Opposition papers or AI.H.IVs may got hold of tho true history of how, and with what object, this railway is now being made to Kelso. On a recent visit to Tapanui/ X took some pains to gather all the information I could possibly get in reference to the route fixed on, and I believe the facts I shall mention to be beyond doubt or dispute. Aty principal authority is a gentleman whoso statements can be relied on, and who, from what I consider a Quixotic regard for the AttorneyGeneral, refuses to make public any statement which might be adverse to the Aliuistry of which the Hon. Robert Stout is a member. First, then, the lino originally proposed was from Waipahi to the town of Tapanui. By tho Provincial Government that route was surveyed, and would, doubtless, have been made. That route was placed before the House, approved of, and land set aside for it. The wretched sophistry that has been advanced to excuse an alteration of route is at once childish and palpable. “The term Waipahi was applied to both districts , . . and the Waipahi-Tapanui line did not mean necessarily to the township,” said the Hon. Air. Stout. Well, thou, what fools must Tapanni residents be ! For the past four years tho Tapanui burgesses have persistently and steadily agitated for a railway to their town, without over dreaming that the words •« Waipahi ” and “ Tapanui ” meant any places other than as recorded on our maps. Last session, through the efforts of their member, Mr Bastings, Tapanuites were satisfied. The line from Waipahi to Tapanui had been sanctioned, and as I have said, land set aside for it. All was well, so they thought, until tenders were called for, and then it was discovered that the Government, in the most arbitrary manner, had altered the route so as to pass Tapanui at about one mile distance, and go ou to Kelso, a place where there does not exist a dozen persona. # And this alteration, mark you, entailed an additional expenditure, I should think, of £20,000 1 How waa it possible to make any mistake as to the route fixed on and approved of by the House, when the tender accepted was by. many thousand pounds in excess of tho original estimated cost of construction ? And why was the alteration made ? Because, some may say, the extension and alteration by Kelso is wise when considering future extension. But that point there is a great difference of opinion. Mr Blair’s report certainly favors the Kelso extension, but I think tho less one says about that repo t tho better. But, says tho Hon. Air. Stout, the line is for tho bm.ofit of small farmers. Is it indeed? Bless his innocence. Kelso is situated at the junction of boundaries of the rims of Alessrs. Mackenzie, Logan, and Herbert. is better there than nowhere of course, but is it not singular that the Government should have dared to alter a lino to take it to such a place ? And more wonderful still, is it not singular that the engineer’s opinion should bo in such happy unison with that of *' the gods.”—l am, &c., Commercial.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18781003.2.16

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5466, 3 October 1878, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
769

THE WAIPAHI-TAPANUI RAILWAY. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5466, 3 October 1878, Page 2

THE WAIPAHI-TAPANUI RAILWAY. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5466, 3 October 1878, Page 2

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