THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 86, 18 January 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1872.

The Auckland newspapers contain daily reference to tlie initiation of new works under the authority of the Acts passed by the General Assembly during the two past sessions, and anticipate much benefit from them. No doubt a large immediate gain will result from any considerable expenditure of money in a small district; and doubtless there will he an ultimate gain as well. The construction of a line of railway from the city of Auckland to the Waikato, and another line from the same city to the Kaipara, estuary, cannot do other than benefit the capital city and the districts in which the works arc carried forward. This expenditure should promote settlement, and stimulate production. Whether it shall in truth produce these lasting effects is another question, inasmuch as the country between Auckland and the Kaipara is not the most fertile in the province, and up to the present time, although among the very earliest of the settled districts, it has not been celebrated for its productiveness. It is an exceedingly healthy locality, in which very considerable exertion is required before a hungry person can find enough to satisfy his appetite: and it produced kauri gum of excellent quality in pasttimes, but the supply we fear, is now rather exhausted. The Auckland and Waikato line will he different. It, opens up a well settled and moderately fertile country : and if it be the means of closing the mouths of the Protectionist agitators about the Tamaki and Maugare, it will not have been made in vain.

But in tlie midst of all this activity, wo have been falling into something like a brown study in our efforts to know what is to be done in the shape of reproductive public works for the Thames. Have we been altogether forgotten ? What about our water supply, and our harbour, and the proposed road from Shortland to the Upper Waikato ? Arc these projects ever to be realised, or are they not ! To those who live on the goldfield, and derive their subsistence from it, these questions arc not without some force. They may not be in any sense forcible to persons who live elsewhere, and whose “ lines have fallen” in those “pleasant places,” to be made glad by the works of the great Brogden and his helpers.

It cannot be said that there is any want of information in regard of the water supply. In fact, the Government authorities, great and small, General and Provincial, are groaning under the effect of the engineering data at their disposal. Perhaps the details are too voluminous for them. Perhaps they have not given the plans a second thought: perhaps the new Colonial Engineer, Mr Carruthcrs, has condemned the work as wholly bad, as lie has already done with all the Southern railway plans, and nearly all the Northern ones as well: or perhaps the Government are. waiting for the great Haughton to appear upon the scene, and in his capacity of Under-Secretary for the Goldfields, submit a comprehensive scheme of water supply, and prepare working plans and estimates. Whatever may be the cause, however, we have to deplore the fact that nothing is being done. The summer is slipping away ; winter will soon set in, when it will not be an easy matter to carry on works involving earth cuttings; and we suppose the Government will then find an excuse in that circumstance, and delay the commencement till another season.

Another solution of the difficulty is possible. The Government may be waiting the leisure of Mr Brogden. Now, we are prepared to admit that Mr Brogden is an uncommonly smart man, and we are convinced the Government of New Zealand will yet recognise the fact of his smartness, but were lie twice as smart ho could not overtake all the work that lie is supposed to do. He has railways in the South, railways in the North, tramways here and docks there, and with himself and a couple of engineers, however clever, lie cannot make check surveys and

draw out tenders simultaneously for all. Now, that is precisely what is wanted. The general impression is that those who come early in the scramble will be best served. People very generally begin to think that a good deal of the loan has been already spent in useless surveys and costly departments, while no work has been done. The country has been filled with an army of officers, from the Com-maudcr-in-Chief, Mr Ormond, downwards ; but as yet, none of the rank and file have appnared upon the scene. With this conviction pretty strong on our own minds, we naturally become clamant about the goldfield water supply; and urge, as forcibly as we can, the necessity for securing some of the millions of crumbs which are now being distributed broadcast over the country.

Mr Ormond and Mr Brogden may be expected to visit the Thames very soon. With them, no doubt, will come the Superintendent and our local representative Mr O’Neill, and the Goldfield Secretary (not Ilaughton), and it may he the Provincial Treasurer, who can give account of the extent of his official indebtedness to the field and the skilful manner in which expenditure has been evaded by his Government. These gentlemen should be well received; and we dare say they will speak our community fair, through the deputations which arc certain to wait upon them. But we desire to impress this upon our fellow-citizens : the necessity for firmly stating the case of the Thames, and insisting on its receiving at least “ a fair share” of attention from the Government, and a suitable proportion of the public expenditure. We should have our water supply on the field without delay. We should have speedy and certain means of access into the interior of the island, as well for our own sakes as to promote interior settlement and cultivation. We should have harbour works constructed, and telegraph connexion with Tauranga on the one side, and Coromandel on the other. Thanks to Mr Mackay, the telegraph to Tauranga will be constructed soon; no unnecessary delay should take place in effecting telegraphic extension to Coromandel. The fact is, this is the natural commercial centre of the largest and the most fertile territory in the North Island: a territory abounding in mineral wealth, and valuable timber, and it will be our own faults if we permit ourselves to bo deprived of the advantages which nature has placed in our way.