PUBLIC OPINION.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 163, 20 January 1914, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

A COLUMN FOR THE PEOPLE This column is " The People's Column." We invite them to express their views on all public questions and matters affecting the district. Vfe do not identify ourselves with the opinions expressed bv our correspondent!!

The Lock Scheme.

| TO THE EDITOR., Sir,—l hope to see a big gathering cf residents tf the Waiuku ard Waipipi Road diitricts at the meeting tq, be h.ld in the WaiuKu hall on Wednesday evening. Judging from what has appeartd in the "Timts" 1 fancy I hold about the same views as yourself. I am a railway advocate; I want to &ee the railway come. But I do not think we should turn away from a scheim which promises us regular and speedy connection with Auckland. I understand that a butter factory is to be built in Waiuku withii tne next year or two, and when we are imnuficturing here it may be frequently fourd of great slipping convenience to tend our produce to Oinhunga for shipment there. Uitim.tely, when the isthmus is cut across we will seldom or never rail our butter to Auckland for loading on the eastern cide of this Island. Our mail service could be more promptly dealt with if we had the boat s.rvice, than it ii tt cresent.

Of course, if we are really to get the railway (and 1 am sure we shall if Mr Mafssy can possibly manage il) the canal does not become of such present importance. At the same time it will do an immerse amount of good to seriously consider the project, as sooner or later the xatepayers will be called upon to decide wheth°r they will a?ree to ratirg to cover the ccst of construction of the l;ck at the Needles. I fear it is this question of rating which is causirg some of our settlers to discredit ths lock system as against the railway. It is common talk that the engineer is ready to turn (he first scd of the railway now, and some fay that the line will be built before next electi.n. 1 sincerely hope that it will. But there is no reason in the world why Waiuku shou'd not have two strings to its bow, and for that reas:n 1 hope the ratepayers will lurn up in force.—l am, etc., WAI'ER AND RAILAGE. [We agree in part with our correspondsnt. Of course there will be r.o need to commit the district to sny rating until the railway ques tion ii settled beyond all doubt, and the prospects for the eaily construction of the line are blighter now than they have ever ueen lefore. In any case Waiuku should ■ot undertake the permanent'responsibility for the cost of the lock because when the car.al is cut through to the Waikato, the Needles lock will be as valuable to the districts up to Hamilton as it will be to Waiuku, and when the time comes those districts should then bear their full shate cf the co3ts. —Ed.]