The Temuka Leader. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1878.

Temuka Leader, Volume I, Issue 87, 16 October 1878, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1878.

We are glad that we are now in a position to redeem our promise of last week to give particulars about the Milford Harbor scheme. For some time past enemies and quasi friends did not hesitate to interpret our silence on this subject as conveying an opinion that the Milford Harbor project was hanging fire. 1 Some had even gone the length of circulating that the scheme w r as abandoned altogether. What prompted them to promulgate such unfounded reports we know not. The local committee had never flagged in the performance of its duties. It had, on the eve of the assembling of Parliament, invited the Member for Geraldine to meet with them for the purpose of consulting as to the steps to be taken by him in furtherance of the scheme. Discussion took place about the constitution of the Board, the amount to be empowered to bj? borrowed under the Act, the grant of the foreshore, the request of the Government to supply Sir J. Goode with certain data as to the depth of water in the lagoon, some sectional drawings, and a full-sized copy of the plan prepared by Mr Hardy Johnstone, these were matters discussed by the local Committee, with our member, at that meeting (the land endowment had already been settled by the Government). That was all that could be done or said, A resolution was passed that Mr Hardy Johnstone should he employed to carry out the instructions left by Sir J. Goode. No time was lost in carrying out the resolution, and although we think unnecessary delay took place in Mr Johnstone’s complet ing this work we are now able to state that this additional engineering work is now completed, and the documents will no doubt be forwarded by the Government to Sir J. Goode by the next mail to England. The history of the passing of the Bill through the Assembly, the vetoing of all Harbor Endowment Bills by the Government is well-known to all our readers. All that the Government could do even for Milford was to reserve 40,000 acres of land waiting Sir John Goode’s report,J The Bill constituting a Milford Harbor Board, granting the foreshore and empowering the Board to borrow £27,000 on security of the works, &c,, has now become law, it having passed the third reading in the Legislative Council. The Board, consisting of nine members, will be formed immediately after the first of January, 1879. We will then have a Board of Management constituted by Act of Parliament to manage this business instead of some ten or a dozen gentlemen with almost no power whateverffipome may be ready to say what is tfinule of all this without money. In reply we affirm that if Sir J. Goode’s final report is favourable the Government are pledged to find funds to carry on the work. To those who may have doubts about the forthcoming report being favorable we would say that three engineers have, during the last twelve months, visited the Milford Lagoon, and one and all have expressed not only an opinion that it was quite practicable at a moderate cost to make a most excellent harbor, but have also expressed surprise that this fine sheet of water has not been utilised long ere now. Adding to these the re-iterated assertion of Mr Hardy Johnstone that the oftener he visits it the more firmly he is convinced of the practibility of the scheme. Have we not, therefore, good ground for believing that Sir J. Goode’s report will be highly favorable ? This may not be in New Zealand sooner than perhaps four or five months, but with such a prospect we can well afford to wait. No doubt farmers, merchants, and others, who experience the heavy expense and inconvenience of shipping

at Lyttelton will feel verv anxious that no time- be lust in forwarding this, the only feasible scheme for obtaining an outlet for South Canterbury’s rapidly increasing produce, but they must wait patiently for a Few months more, when there need he little donbt of the ultimate glorious reward for the pluck and energy, and combined determination, of the settlers of Temuka, Geraldine, and other districts, to have a cheap, convenient, and easily obtainable harbor to enable them to export their grain and other produce to foreign markets. |The control of all New Zealand harbors is now, by Act of Parliament, placed in the hands of the Government. This will be an advantage in so fai that it will protect the public from exorbitant charges on exports and imports by local Boards. This we think, will be found to be a most salutary check upon extravagant borrowing, trusting to being able to rate the settlers in surrounding districts to pay interest on borrowed money injudiciously spent. Every rightthinking man must see the wisdom of the Government in passing such measures as will protect the settlers from being swallowed up by local taxation, a matter which it may be repeated will require tlje greatest watchfulness by all who mean to hold their own and keep the colony prosperous. Before leaving the subject of the Milford Harbour Scheme we are in duty bound to refer to several members of both Houses for the interest they have taken in this scheme. Honour to whom honour is due being our motto, we cannot withhold a meed of praise from the member for Geraldine for the very great activity he has displayed in the matter. Had he not taken up the subject warmly when the Bill was thrown out by the Lands Committee after its first reading in the Lower House the Bill would have been in the waste basket and the scheme shelved for another year. On- this and the Districts High School measure Mr Wakefield has displayed an independence of action regardless of results which is quite a contrast with the action taken in local matters by the member for Timavu. However much we may disapprove of the part taken by the member for Geraldine in other matters, in local matters he has done well and deserves the warmest thanks of his constituents. The Hon. Mr Wiglcy, who had charge of the Harbour Bill in the Upper House, the Premier, Mr Stout and other members of Government, the Hon, John Hall and other members both of the Upper and Lower Houses deserve our most hearty thanks. Now that the Milford Harbour Bill has passed al its stages, and that a Harbour at Milford is only a question of time, we will doubtless speedily experience an improvement in the trade of the whole district.. Property will advance in value, buildings will spring up like mushrooms, speculations in town and rural lands will become more common in all the inland districts between Timaru and the Rangitata. The state of suspense with resj ect to the Bill being now at an end everyone will bestir himself in making improvements who before were merely lying upon their oars waiting what might turn up.