The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 760, 17 September 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1878.

Mr. Lidple deserves the thanks of all well-wishers of Oamaru and lovers of fairi play for the able letter, a reprint of which .appears in another column. It augurs well for a man's patriotism when, although ■ he has virtually cut the "paynter" with ' the former scene of his labors and has : engaged himself in a new field, he is not unmindful of the old spot. The circumstances that have called forth the letters are pretty well-known, and we need not, therefore, enter into details that have already been imparted to such an extent as to become nauseating. The letter, however, has reminded us that it has been sought in certain quarters to work evil for Oamaru. There may be some question as to the wisdom of undertaking the—for Oamaru-—gigantic scheme which is now about half completed ; but this is the wrong time to discuss thai question. Whether for good or for evil, for better or for worse, the deed is so far done that there can be neither retraction nor abandonment. After all, there are many who approve of the action of the Council with regard to the Water Supply, and this need not create any surprise. Oamaru is worse off for water than any town we are acquainted with in the Colony. People principally depend Jfpon the water procured by digging wells ; but j the supply from this source is very meagre, and the water is unfit for the majority of domestic purposes. The Oamaru Creek is resorted to by some ; but its waters are far from being of that limpid crystalline quality so much delighted in by poets. Under the circumstances people would fain use rain water ; but the rainfall in Oamaru is but slight, and the amount of rain water that runs off a cottage roof is insufficient to meet the requirements of the people that live in it, especially if the family is large. No wonder, then, that the Municipal Council of Oamaru felt it to be incumbent xipon them to secure a water supply ; and it is excusable if, with the gleaming wholesome waters of the great Waitaki before them, they were templed to go a little too far. But they contend that they have counted the cost, and that, notwithstanding the gjoomy forebodings of many, they will be able to meet all their engagements in connection with the undertaking, if accorded fair play. Whether they have exceeded the bounds of prudence or not is not the question now. The work has been commenced, and it must be completed. We cannot afford to pay interest on L 60,000 for a water supply which would not reach ua by three miles, nor is there any necessity that we should. On this account we would have been surprised at the savage opposition that has been set up by the Hon. Matthew Holies. did we not know that he seems to possess a terrible dread that the town of Oamaru should increase ijt prosperity. Last year he successfully opposed the exchange of the police paddocks in Thamea.street for Municipal properties ; now he apparently fears lest the people of the town should have more than their share of water to drjzjk. He always has some specious reasons to adduce for his opposition, which appear to gnawer his purpose very well in the absence of truisms. It is a pity that such an enemy to Oamaru should have been supplied with such an instrument of opposition as that of the alleged mismanagement of the negotiation of the loan ; and it is a greater pity that the Hon. Robeet Campbell should haye felt it to be his duty to coincide with Mr. Holmes on this score. Not that Mr. Holmes needs any incitement to continue his opposition to our interests, but ber cause Mr. Campbell w ; ll carry weight with him. But we hav a little fear for

the issue now. Discussion has laid every fact connected with the matter hare, and we think that if there is any opposition to giving the Municipality power to borrow another L4Q,000 to complete the works, in it Mr. Holmes will stand alone.

The truck difficulty is again cropping up. Our port is already made lively by the number of vessels that are waiting to unload and receive cargoes, and before a week is over we are likely to be able to witness quite a forest of masts. Amongst the vessels to arrive are some of large tonnage, such as it has been the most fervent desire of the Oamaru Harbor Board to accommodate. It is little use getting these here if, when they come, we fail in providing everything that is necesiary to ensure that time and money will not be lost to their owners through delay. A detention of a week beyond a reasonable time would sicken many a man, because it would take the cream off his profits, and the inevitable result would be that our port would get a bad name, not because it is a bad; port, but because of the disinterestedness of the railway authorities. We must have a sufficiency of railway trucks to enable the quick dispatch of the vessels that visit our harbor to be accomplished. Yesterday considerable dissatisfaction was expressed at the scarcity of trucks, and we ascertained that 16 or thereabouts were to come from Timaru to meet the difficulty. Sixteen trucks will, of course, be welcome ; but only as an instalment of about a hundred, the number we could beep constantly occupied for some time to come. We might not be able to find constant employment for such a number all the year round ; but that cannot be helped. Vessels crowd into this Port in batches, as they do in every other, and when appliances for unloading and loading them in a hurry are required, they, too, should be forthcoming. This could all be done satisfactorily, if the railway department would foeatpw upon us the attention we have a right to demand, We are not asking anything unreasonable. There is no excuse such as that whiph held good during the last grain seasqn for keeping us short of the appliances for which we ask. Trucks haye mysteriously disappeared since the completion of the line to Dunedin, and we have a suspicion that they are congregated in the sllt'. there, if so, the sooner they ure mum >'■■ out and a number of them aent in :...U direction, the better. We leave it to any one—even the Railway authorities themselves—to decide whether it is right that the efforts of the Oamaru Harbor Board should be rendered abortive because of the neglect of someone to see that railway trucks ars properly distributed, and it be rendered almost imperative to otore vessels' cargoes on the beach, to await the time when the Railway authorities shall awake to a sense of their duty.