The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1130, 2 December 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1879.

Tint importance of the proposed OamaruNascby railway has again brought the subject of the desirableness of its construction into prominence. We in this district would wonder h«>w it is that the surest ion to open up the lands of tile interior by way »>f Uamaru lias been treated cavalierly by the past and present Governments, were we not aware r>f the ignorance of some people of th»r .'.■o-rtphie-ii and coimm rciai positions of those parts r,f the Colony I,vy. nd their own domains. If the policy of the country is tw develop the ruoiirctii <>f the country, we contend that the northern interior of this Provincial District should be connected by rail with its natural outlet, the port of Oamaru. We ask for nothing unreasonable. All wc desifo is that the Government shall investigate the matter that has been laid before them in such reasonable language in the memorial of the Oamaru-Naseby Railway Committee. Therein it is contended that the line sanctioned, and in course of construction to Livingstone from Windsor, should be curried as far as Naaeby, and thus open op the fertile and ample lands of the interior. Tito majority of the interior settlers*. too, would like to see this done. The DunedintUs. of course, disapprove of anything of the kind. The whole lof the commerce of the Colony should ! W diverted, at any cost, into her ! jMjrt. Artificial means—where natural ] do not exist—should b« devised whereby lahe can be made the emporium of the I Colony. This is the teaching of the Duncdcnit4j*s> Bible— this is the beginning, the middle, and the end of his creed, religious, political. Social, and moral. "V ery well. We will not object to his fighting ; but let him fight with fair weapons on | open ground, and, if he then should win, hj& would deserve his victory. \W say that the interior should be tapped bv way of Oamaru. The denizens of the city of New Zealand say that it should be done by way of Dunedin. We have nature on ©ur side—on theirs they artifice. The interior of Northern Otago must at n*» distant date be opened up somehow. The excellence of its lands, the requirements of its people, demand it. it will form one of the nt*rat iin[M?rt.mt links in an heroic policy. JJow is it to be done .' Of course, in a manner that will secure the greatest benefit nt the smallest cost. ° We do not nrofess to understand the tecbnicalitfes of the question. We only know wh.it seems to us to be just and expedient. The rest ahottld be left with engineers, wh», with (as the Judge says in "Trial by Jury ") mind* "from bias free of every kind,' should decide. It appears that a step is being taken from which there will be u*j return—that will place ua" out of Court/' Whether this is being done intentionally or not would be difficult to say. But we think we are not far wrong in suspecting that the superior and numerous influences of Dunedtn are mighty with the Government. It seems t»> be Oamaru's misfortune—from whatever cause to be overlooked. The late Government, with whom we, through our representatives, were friendly, concecteii more than their successors, for, in some instances, the former went the length of promises, whilst the latter have, so far, in every instance, set us at nought. One system of treatment is as unfair and dishonorable as the other. If it is true '—■ and we hnve everv reason to, believe it is—that the Livingstone line has been surveyed with the intention of ! making it terminate ct n point ltiO feet below~the twn —or 100 feat below the i point given in Messrs. Hull and Thornton's report—an enquiry should be instituted into the reasons tor auch an extraordinary proceeding. If tiie construction of the line is carried out in accordance i with the survey, five miles of it will be useless for the purposes of an interior railway. No more effectual means of closing our mouths could have been (adopted. This once done, the relative positions of the routes into the interior t>y way of Dunedtn and Oamaru will be considerably changed, to the detriment of Oamaru. It is the <l"'}" * >£ C " c P re " sent Government to see to this, and grant what is now being asked by the Oamaru-Naseby Railway Committee—a ' careful survey of the country King be- ! tweet* Oamara and Naaeby with the object 'of ascertaining beyond cavil thd merits or demerits of their proposal. Leaving out of : the question the handicap that it is i', sought to place upon our scheme by ■ tearing the terminus of the Livingstone Hailway in a hole, it undoubtedly possesses numerous advantages over tfte ? other. Judging from the success that has ■ attended the Ngapara line—one of the ; moat remunerative in the Colony—there ' is every reason to 1 believe that the transportation of grain and wool alone, from i the fertile country through which it would ' pass and which exists in so large ja quantity at it* terminus, would ; ensure for the proposed Oamani- ! Nasebv Railway success quite as great. j But, then, the Xaaebv line would carry , a targe passenger trallic. It would be j the high road to the Lakes, .is designed by S nature. The residents of the north, and ! those who would arrive in the north of j the Colony from other parts, would take [ advantage of the comparative inexpensive- | ness of the route we propose and visit the j interior, when they might have neither the inclination nor the money to avail thtm- ! selves of the circuitous route by way of Duni etiin, more than 100 miles longer each way. ' To ui, having some knowledge of the lay iof the country and the merits of the ; routes proposed, it seems absurd that it j should be necessary to point out the ! advantages of the route from here over | that from Dutietlin. But we suppose that • so* Ion; 4 as ignorance and trickery exist in i our tJnvernment—sobbit; 4 as some men • occupy positions for which they are not ! educated even to the extent of a know lodge I of the gcorraphy of the countiy in which j they live, andf others, for political reasons i and reasons of self-gain, unblushingly I misappropriate the_ public's money—so ! lonsj will it be necessary for the Press and ; the people to take a prominent position as ! guardians of public expenditure. It is j the duty of the Government to look into i this matter, and arrest a needless waste of public money ; for, despite sdl scheming to avoid it, the railway to the interior will, sooner or later, have to be from Oamaru. Whether it would be politic to enter immetliatelv upon the extension of the line from Livingstone or not, must be decided by a consideration of the finances of the country and the merits "f the varioue pubtic works contemplated. If _ the matter were in the hands of a private company we are sure they would adopt the recommendations of the OaniaruNaseby Railway Cuiniuittee. The Government should do likewise.