The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1879.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5565, 29 January 1879, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1879.

Lately, in noticing the orations delivered by the honorable member for the Thames on tho auspicious occasion of the turning of tho first sod of tho Thames-Waikato railway on the mud flat at Grahamstown, we pointed out that this railway, in its lower portions from Grahamstown, was about to bo made along tho banks of a river navigable for, and now navigated by, steamers; that it passed for some 25 miles through a country in which there were practically no Crown Lands available for settlement, and in which there were few settlers; and that it was commenced, as wo see, and intended to be carried through native territory before it had been ascertained that tho land could be acquired peacefully from the native owners, some of whom, like Tukukino, are well known to be violently opposed to, and have up to this hour successfully resisted the making of even an ordinary dray road or the carrying of a telegraph wire through the lands over which they exercise the rights of ownership. We showed that, thanks to the enterprise of private individuals, —the large land-holders and capitalists whom the people are being taught by the Premier to regard astheirenemios, —the navigation of the Thames River, in its upper reaches, had been so much improved, by the removal of snags and other obstructions at very great expense, that steamers of considerable draught can now get up for a long distance beyond the Aroha block. But there were certain other points in connection with this enterprise to which we did not allude, because we were not at the moment in possession of sufficient information regarding them. Firstly we did not then know that Mr. Firth of Auckland, a gentleman whose energy and enterprise has done more to develop the resources and promote the progress of Auckland and the Thames than any other man in that provincial district, had caused to be built a steamer suitable for the river traffic, by means of which produce and supplies could be carried between the head of the navigation of the Thames river at .Waiharakeke and Auckland at the cost of a very few shillings per ton for freight, and that the enterprise of that gentleman is likely to be blocked by the railway bridge proposed to be constructed across the River Thames below the head of the navigation. And, secondly, we did not know, what now appears, that it was at least doubtful whether this promising railway undertaking commenced with such oratorical flourish on the mud at Grahamstown,' had the sanction of law, and really formed part of that line from ‘ ‘ Waikato to “ the Thames,” the construction of which was authorised under certain -stringent conditions—none of which have yet been complied with—by the Railways Construction Act, 1878.

The visual Public Works Statement was made by Mr. Macandrew in August last, and therein we read that amongst the proposals for the fuuire is the lino “Waikato to tho Thames —3O “miles.” “Except,” says Mr. Macandrew, “as regards the line from Waikato “to the Thames, there arc no actual “ survey results upon which to estimate “ the cost of these works; and the figures ‘ l l am about to quote are based upon the “ ascertained mileage cost of the railways “ that have been constructed iu different “ parts of the colony. Upon this basis, “ the following estimates of cost are “arrived at”;—Amongst the items is— Waikato to the Thames, £168,000, that is at the rate of £5600 per mile for the thirty miles. In the schedule to the Railways Construction Act, as it was first introduced, the cost of the “ Waikato to the “ Thames line” was sot down at the figure above quoted, and it is on account of this line of thirty miles, apparently that the sura of £30,000 was appropriated for the expenditure of the current year in the Public Works Appropriation Act. Attached to the Public Works, Statement is a map of the North Island, upon which is shown a lino of railway from Hamilton in Waikato to the RiverTharaes at the head of the navigation near Waiharakeke. It is marked as being a line of which a ‘ ‘ preliminary survey has “ been made.” The extreme points are distant from each other in a direct line more than twenty miles, and the deviations rendered necessary by the character of the intervening country would, we presume, make the length of the railway about thirty miles. This, then, appears to be the line from “ Waikato to the Thames,” the construction of which has been authorised by Parliament, and upon which only the £30,000 appropriated can be expended.

From Waiharakeke to Grahamstown, where the “first sod” was recently turned by Sir Geokge Grey, the distance, as the crow flies, appears to be about twenty-five miles, and the length of the line of railway between these points might also be about thirty miles. If we are right, the Waikato to Thames railway line, as now proposed to be made by the Government, with a terminus at Hamilton, and a terminus at Grahamstown, would be some sixty miles in length, instead of thirty, and would cost according to Mr. Macanurew’s estimate not £168,000, but £336,000. There is, therefore, a mistake somewhere to which it is our duty to call attention, and in doing so we venture to deprecate the wrath of Ministers. At his banquet at the Thames the other day, it is reported that the Honorable Mr. Sheehan was good enough to say that “ a paper published in live “ Empire City said the Waikato line “ would not pay grease for the wheels;” and he added: “ You know tho “man and his little mind.” What we did say was that “ no one has had tho “ courage as yet even to attempt to show “ that the Thames Valley railway will pay “ so much as the grease for its rolling “ stock, nor can Mr. Macandrew’s for“mula that it will open up so many thou- “ sand acres for sale and settlement, and “ promote the growth of cereals, be used “iu the demonstration of the value of “ the new line.” That we still believe to be a true statement.

distance, as tlxc crow dies, from Hamilton on the Waikato to Grahams town •on the Thames is not much, if at all, less than forty miles. The length of the railway line from the Waikato to the Thames River at or above the Aroha, would be about thirty miles, as it is shown on the map attached to the Public Works Statement, and .described in that document and in the Railways Construction Act. It would follo'w,

if we are right—and we have given the grounds of our present opinion—that the line from Grahamstown to Waiharakeke, some thirty miles, the first sod of which the Premier has turned, is a new line; that it has not been authorised by Parliament, and that no money has been appropriated tor its construction ; the lino from Hamilton to the head of the navigation of the Thames—thirty miles—of which the “first sod” has not yet been turned, is the authorised line for which alone the money (£30,000) has been appropriated, and upon which alone it can be lawfully expended. We shall be very glad to be set right upon this very grave question if we have misapprehended or misstated the facts. One hundred and sixty-five thousand pounds is a large sum of money, and we are not prepared to believe that even in the interest of his constituents at the Thames Sir George Grey would knowingly commit the country to such an expenditure without the consent of Parliament or the authority of law.