THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3087, 9 January 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1879.

The Government have, we believe, on the adt ice of the Engine* r, decided to make the terminus of the railway on the foreshore between the Albert street and Burke street wharfs, with a station at Shortland. Having regard to the present traffic with the port, the sites chosen are the best that could be selected. They will connect the land traffic with the shipping, and the convenience of shippers and consignees will be equally considered. So far as we have heard any expression of opinion, this decision gives general satisfaction, and it certainly has our most hearty approval. It cannot be said that local or personal considerations have been allowed to influence the Government in coming to this decision. The report of engineers after a careful examination of the harbor and its approaches has undoubtedly been acted upon. The Goods Wharf and Bhortland Wharf are the two points to which the trade of the port has gravitated, and near to these centres will

the stations be planted. That extensions may be made in the future we do not pretend to deny. A great deal will depend on Sir John Coode's report":cm the harbor. In the meantime the Government have unquestionably consulted the wishes of the majority and the best interests of the district in fixing the sites for stations as above indicated, and have thereby laid the Thames people under further obligations.

It is reported that the Thames Waterworks Corporation is in difficulties, and that an appeal will shortly be made to the Courts in the interests of a large creditor. The local bodies who have, become guarantors for the Water Corporation's debts will therefore have to " stump up," and as the Borough is reponsible for more than half the amount, the chief burden will have to be borne by burgesses, who already contribute the greatest share to the revenue which is derived from the water. The Borough is in debt, but the Borough's credit appears to be good, and if the Waterworks Committee's debt be transferred from the one account to the other, the ratepayers in the Borough will hare additional burdens saddled upon them, with interest to pay and' principal to meet some day. Such being the case, and seeing how very unsatisfactory the management of the Waterworks has been under the present system, we would urge upon Ihe Borough the desirability of acquiring the sole control. The past management has been as expensive as it has been unsatisfactory. If under the Borough's control, the Borough officers' services would be available for its management; a committee of councillors could overlook all ordinary details, as they do in bigger corporations where both gas and water have to be managed by local bodies; and we are quite sure that the public, both inside and outside of the Borough, would be supplied with water at a cheaper rate. This is not the first time we have ventilated this subject, and we know that most people are favorable to the plan we have suggested. The members of the Water Works Corporation do not seem inclined to move in the matter, while the County people are indifferent, and unless the Borough Councillors take action there will be no improvement, nor any steps taken to effect an improvement. If the Borough would take the business in hand, what is now an expensive concern could be made into a valuable municipal endowment, an incalculable boon to the public, and a credit to the corporation.