THE WHANGA LINE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 37, 3 July 1914, Page 3

THE WHANGA LINE.

OPEN IN'! ITNCTION

THE IXNCUKUN'

The luncheon at the Wiuiiga-niomonu Hotel 011 Wcdno.sday was very largely attended. Mr. W. A. MeCutelian presided. witlh the Minister of Railways on . his right and the Mayor of iStratford 011 Iris left- •'The King" having been loytil'iv toa. ; ,tcd, lie read congratulations and apologies from Me-'-:rs L. Jack-on. president of the Stratford A. and P. Association.: Altaol Meredith, \\ nan,ffimomona {'unity Council; .1. 13. Richards. President of the Stratford Chamber of t'-aiunerce; il. Okev, C. A. Wilkinson and 11.I 1 . arce, MV.I'.; and \\. A. Hewitt, manager i f the Stratford brunch 01 the NX Loan and Mi .r .-untile Agency Co. Mr. McCuicean tlien proposed "The Parliament <of New Zealand." It was a Frenchman, he thought, who said tUi-t a country was governed from the antechamber, Ihe bed-chamber, and t'he Parliamentary chamber. lie believed that it could still, furtuiiatvly, he said of New Zealand that it was governed -by the Pa/liameiitary O.amber. wh:."i, as a trite o\Mri:--'ioii liad it. w.ts but. a

lI.'X (if tin; ipeqpie. ivfleeting it>i bop'W and aspirate us. it was an unfortunate tiling that our system <.f triennial clccticiiH often prevented l'ar-liam-nt from being a true r. 11. s of people, lor the strife of decl ion". v.asi almost eontiiu'ons. Loyalty to party | often interferid, too, witli the pionle.| being rcprc-enlcd as tli' j v would likej to Ire. Me bespeke more 1 o!< raneej among the lcaders»ot Parliament, for t ivrri' ofl,"U mere rcspou-ihlo than wci'-el tlu; rank an I lilt; lor |;:i('ty bitteriie-s and party ranoi. If more candor were di-plaved l.y (lie liad-x- of the Cevcl'nn.ents regard.iiig their' i%>"sals witli reyaril to the great public <|iie-t ions it would teiul .o do away with tli.it hitter criticism wliie.li tin. ofl.-n followed par-1 tail tatcineilts. Xotliilig so disarmed; criticism, sad the spi aker. as a full .'-tatenn lit ol the truth, the who!.-: trutii.j and nothing hut tile truth. ( onduding,i Mr. Jlel.'utcliiili cxU'lidrd, to tin' Mill-. i>t';r and Ihe me.:i:ber for the .-'.nrlst; Hie hearly thanks of the people o. j Whanpiniomoiiit [or having, at jir«atj ]ier»-ual inconvenience. come along to t;;1 part in th» d:iy's important l' 1 ""- ■eeci I'm u ~- riii- Hon. Mr llerries, re],' ymg, said he agreed will, the opinion that New /(■■•land would he better nil" if t'ln IV wei'-j less parly strife, and mentioned that ll.m present Government was following these, lines with lizard to the liwiishijj mid Uihle in-sclioj!'.- questions, leaving the inemlters to vote upon them as fueir c,licences «r their pledges dictated. I!e complimented liie local people 011 the resources and potentialities of the district, which the was convince 1 was a ti rritorv we'l worth opening up. ami t.lid the' policy of tile <; overinaieiit would lie to liroviia til" funds for n./ad or railway development in any district where there promised to lie freight to enahle the railway to he \m> litahlv cuiiduct-d. Some people, he Mud. bad the id.-a that tl'.:e pie-ent Covernment. was opposed to borrowing hut he wanled to mi'lie it clear that the eminent would not hesitate to borrow lii.iif'Y for expendit lire ill opening ai ~ (lev:'li);i!HLr the country and iic. Teasing il- productiveness and pm-penty; and wouhl see that .v.i.-h -v was properly expended. 11- believed that tiV next Parliament would ~ _tron -er on-.: than ti'.e prc-ent one. >mt i.e a ..reed with .Mr. Uctutdian that it vou'd be in the best interest n, the count rv to gi-.e members of Parliament an extra w.tr's tenure «'l ofh.e. Mr. .1. 11. Iline. -M.l'.. vho.-c mime was al-o counb'.l with the' toa<t, said tn.u. I v hat.-ver the shortcomings of meuihcrd ' I'.i in.eiit. il wa-. generally ■•r.-og- ' ttl'at th» i \' ttirru'd out lioiuVJ; ' what the.v <•. n-'idcre.l to b. ; their duty. ,v Miller's fust duty wa- to hi, coantiv and his next duty to his coinlitiluits. and if he kept that in view and fearlessly .(del along those lines, both

in 'hhl ( hit of l'iiriliinii'iit. In? nccil 11-tve Mi fear in £oin;i before s I'uii-litir'iits. 1 I lis 11w":i of six year-; in tlif 11,,.,.,, witii the ''ins' and \\itli .lie l('<i -I'm to cxprt-s li's thanks t,. iI M . Ministers part and present ot I- tli slmiliM of purtv politics, for the consideration extended to liim and yUier m ,.„,h-y« of '' ,o : , 111 ' 1!I(>11 ; 1 tioncd Hint this district had be-n well Urated by tlic Government for home

years past, and it spoke well for a Government that it could lay aside party considerations and do the right tiling for a district in the matter of grants and subsidies, irrespective of the particular "color" of its member. (Whistles of surprise). lie hoped] that before next January the Hon. Mr. Herries would be in Whangamoniona again, opening t'he Kohuratahi section of the line.

Mr. T. A. Bradley took the advice of the chairman to tii«art, and was very brief in hiti speech, giving the health ot the Public Works Department. In his opinion this Department was the most important in the country, and the Whangamomona district had been exceptionally well treated by its officers. Mr. Keller, local! engineer in charge of (Jhe railway construction, expressed the regret of his diief, Mr. U, T. Mur ray, in not being present at tile function that day, assisting in celebrating the triumph associated with the opening of tlie railway to Whangamomona. Although the Railway Department was receiving all the kudos that day for opening the line for regular traffic, it wais the Public Works Department who had had the work to do and made possible tine advent of the Railway Department. Mr. Keller paid a tribute' to the men engaged on tlie construction works, for Miey had faced the cfimate and done their slogging despite had wfather, and often under th<- worst of conditions. Mr. Robert Kill, inspector, also spoke concerning til- work of tllte "greatest going concern in t'he Dominion." The department vl.ich expended the money made it possible for the country to earn monev, for. said he, if there' was iio public Department there would be no railways to open, and no necessity for the visit of the Minister that day. lie remarked on the difficult and arduous nature of the work done on the Whangamomom. section of the line, and mentioned that. (he farmers right along the line had always appreciated tlie work of the Lcpa-rtmont and had given every assistance asked for.

Mr. XV. Ct. Malonn, in proposing the toast of "Tlie Ijocal iiodics," ';aid that in some w#.ys their ta*k was: -harder than! that of Parliaments, for they tad tremendous cal's nn a limited income, and had to build and maintain sirch roads as would enable the land to beioni:' fruitful and feed the railways and facilitate tin* settlement of the country. He paid a tribute to 'the honesty of purpose of t&o memfberis of local bodies, Mir. W. 11.I 1 . Kirkwood, Mayor of Ktlttforil, who was particularly well received, said that though at times mcinihe.vs of loeai! bodies were viJiiied to a degree, yet it was generally recognised tlhut their work was arduous and useful and occupied a -good deal of time. All tlie local 'bodies of Taranaki were pleased to-day that this line had been opened, and they would all jom in impressing on the Government the great necessity for ex pcditiously pushing on the railway to its junction with tlie North Island Main Trunk system at Okahukiira. lie had noticed a remark of Mr. Wilkinson, M.P., at liltham. that before long there would probacy lie an Rltham-Toko instead of a Stratford-Toko section, but lie (Mr. Kirkw(.od) was- of opinion that both the speaker and Mr. Wilkinson would have long passed out of their sphere, of usefulness before any change of the so"rt A-as brought about.

.Mr W. ilathawav. chairman of 1 k--Stratfoi.l County Council, referred to a trip i'.-- lla.l made to Whangamomona ■and Hie country beyond it some IS years ago, and remarked that in the aim< st en-tire ab-en.-e of roads at that time he had considered it a clime on tlie part of the (iovernment of the day to cut jap such country into --nail oil-acre holding-. .Many of the original selectors- had 'had to -leave, after having proved the impossibility of making a living e-JV their holdings. Touching 011 local bodies. Mr. Hathaway said that it was these bodies who made railways possible, Talking of the enormous cost of roading in Taranaki. lie stressed the fact that Hie rf-itlers had not been afraid of taxing themselves in order to l". 1 isleans tor loading, and said that no district had done so much in this regard as the district from .Sentry Hill to Norinaub,-. The <-ost of aiiitcnanee of roads in the Stratford county had grown from £4"! to £l-0 a miie, i-xi-hi'-ive of culverts and bridges, -and much of the wear and tear 011 the road- was hciu,'_r can-cil by tourist and other onti de Irallie. The inequities of the pres-nt system 01" subsidies im rates were stressed, and Mr. Hathawa\ complain."d of excessive valuations, ami blamed the s-Mem of "ex-litm-jos" 'Swaps" for tin lietitiou-, valuation created. (The chairman: Then skip "swapping.'') The next Parliament would be a stronger one even than the. p]-"scnt one—then; would be no opposition here, for even Mr. Mc<hit.-Han. hj" believed, had b'*en converted ('.-angiiter.) Mr, McCiitchan replied on hpbalf of i the Wliang-imomona Ceunty Oonneil. | lie deprecated the tendency to look I hack and blame others for -diortcomim: There was no use in Jooking back, Let us look forward, lad us sec where our shortcomings were. Local gove/a- ---! ment reform had been promised for ! years, and given piecemeal, instead of ' in a comprencn.-'ive fashion, for which ! the country was crying. The present | (iovcnmicnt. bad not yet li-nl an nppor- (•- >'ly of introducing local government: l- "ill. but prelmbly sou;.'tilling would be j do :e in the coining session.