The Thames and Waikato Railway.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3301, 21 July 1879, Page 2

The Thames and Waikato Railway.

i ' '''Public MEiETiN^i-rUn^ia ■ j t T^tweeft:6ooand?7Ga)rtsident*''Bf-''t*lw jarging on -the vGorernment ;the more jewnestJptosecution of th»' Thames aiid 1 On the 9^t^ uof';-|^-,^r^i.'3Eirasße3ry Isefcpn^e^^u^ W<:; J-'sSpejgh^fjMri LL. 1 iEWepfried,,;lho Acting-Mayor,,tdok the pliair, aridj&ejrdj the L tidferti»ement con|reainK)it,he .;meotingj> and expressed- his eratification at seeing such a large attend fiance. He said ji'w'ai-gratifying to those who had laboi^fed'in the cause to see their efforts backed . r iHpsjf;' the 1;' 1 W series of res6ratibns''!ha'd Lbeen prepared, find would-be proposed;' which if *arrftd Would be.teUgraphed)'!©' 'th^iPffeiniter andFThiso;colleague*. !Ke 'truited-'tHoße ; )reß'ent would be unanimous in the matter I.' .He then called on , Drj/KilgduWv!whbV^iiXreoeit^d; with 6heers, to more the-first reaolutipn. H« $aid J^eThadln*)t ek^eo'fedT td fIW- ckl'l^df upon to address another meeting at thel Thames on the.:q^eption ofrthe railway. He bM r^pj^i^erjp4.ihiit^rhen f £lii: Goprge ! Grey*'turdedjjihe^r^ sod o/ the railway ,ijhat no further^ agitatiW' was' necessary. Howfere^'sirice then circumstances had arisen which required "~fhejai : .t^ r a ; f^\a^fi}^ ipte}>: <idtid;!' _ 'lie ; ,^had i; • |no' jip^t J'/roij| .i tjhe' expressions tff. 6pinipn',,thaii tad beenl, SiTten" from tinie /to Jbim^ matpan equally , e.cide'd one .would; jnot;') betjexpreMed. 1 ?TUe ho^ field. iia,nrhiß ; .hand! *as a technical one, and he thought before* , saying more hQ;jshould read it^tb' them :— j't 'jphpt the prosecutiom d£ fcheffhamerand .^aikato railway;, i ,durißg „past,yea^,..has^ fb|eenln accordance with the Railway Consiruction Act, 1878, and is the same line for Tipich the inbabjtfl,nts,pf r Th,ames, ; Piako, and Waikat'o.asked/for^ legislative-powers by special bill to construct at their own cbst, and having for its termini the Boroughs of Thames and Hamilton, but I which; Parliament, f being-.aware A,of > the? value 'of''the^ line in -'pperiirig* up those' l^rge auriferous and agricultural districts lying between the valfeys of Waihou and Wako, decided, to cpnstruct under.ab.ove nientiouey.i^b'tr,''arid: that 5 'tnik' J'mating cordially thanks Government for works, dbn^andinprbgress^ahdurges;the s^eecly; completion of the line." (Loud applause). He was glad to see such tokens of approval as they had expressed.. The,resplutipn theyi must was iHtended':m6r^ for the | Parliamen£ HTifcliah the Thames pleople. He would now speak with respect .to the position. He believed the. railway that^hlMprVsißn^ /a jiblrtitsal^otte, cmtend^lby!^i^fee6)^ Qrey's opponents simply as a lever' to* remove him from office. If uafvrtu-

nutely tha Ministry were defeated, he believed their successors would carry it isout—they could not do otherwise. The The position-was this : Last session, the same day as Mr Macandrew brought forward his Public Works Statement", a Cabinet meeting was held, when it was resolved that the railway should be carried from Hamilton to Grahamsfcown. 'He had this from the Ministers personally. In the Public Works statement it was stated that the line would run from Hamilton to .Thames, seeming only to embrace that portion'betWeerrHamiJton 1 and Waihou. Sir George Grey in reply to Sir W. Fox's attack on him re the railway, in the House the other ni^b-t,^ stated that last session when he asked in the House whether the Hue was to hf carried to Grahamstown or not, tap answer was in the affirmative. He (the speaker) had been present in the Housp when the statement was read and though he could not- now recall to mind Sir- 'George Grey's question, *tfye'v i House must have known; »tji(> meaning' of the statement. However'if what the Premier had said the other nighj; wasvincprrect, he would have been at once challenged, as there were many in thi .fltp,use who;had been, present when |he statement ■; was read. (Hear, >< hear.) After the.reading of the*statem«tffc; Be/ 'id ; tcorop'any: with Mr Brodie* who! was ulsd in Wellington at. this .time, made it their Jbusinessjto see, the Hon. Mr Mjacanqrcw, who assured them that the line was to bd made from Hamilton to Grahamstownl This was "wired to tlie Thaniei newspapers by „Mr Brodie. When ; he waited on ihe 1 Government re the powers required by" 4 private company to construct aline from 1 Grahamstown to the Waikatol he had been informed that there was no occasion for him asking for fheinfor-i as the line had been placed on tae "schedule of Public Works. -'Thetr'flip; ' Gove'rntne&t arid Fiirliamejat;'tak,i,iig; 'CHe 'Responsibility of making thfci.line,off..tflpr, hands took therespohsibilityof cbnstruct-j ing it and not in, pa,rl;,, an^ there! could have been "ho mistake" or m'isunder-j standing. Previous 'Governments had* favored the construction of the line be-i twee,n Thames; and Wjaika^o. la> 1874' the "Ministry of which 'Mr Richardson [^as a;, me mber ,fay pred the- constraction ;pf the line, and ordered a.survey to be made w^nich was done, showing it was perfectly clear r the importance, of |fye, , wo? k. : was recognised; (Loud UheersjC "- THe Thames was weakly riprejente'd* in Parliament, ..andeven if the whole of the. North Island members had stood up for the line, and the Southj against io wouldThavo been dead beaten, as the South Island, haying; Oil:) graaterfj .areajrjap^j (larger population have 14 members more,than rthe^Nrirthi'; and tbe 'iHSjdrity* wsild|,§e increased ,so, ]tnafcthere!^^'!couid ?in6t Jlefa bui that fth:6y r' rwbnld^!lia^O|> suffer again through being in the'minOnfy. Thjiifilvas^t thjeVplAoa^i|^agW#ii^r a cure for Jbhis, but ihe,tinigtkt^p (! )^o some day. "(Hear, hear). It womd be useless «for, ,him; before,,-them.-)to ; insi|t, ©n.^he advantages, of the railway,: but he imigbt .refer then: to one or two little .matters haying:a^bearing on ithei :subjectiU'lThey had to import their butcher's imea^^t se&\' arid cdnseqaeiitly had'to p6y sjheaVily for it, which 5 was- absurd,-'considering the fine back "country they ,had. They f: were'; ;' fk l and elsewhere for their' 'butter and other produce. .The remedy for. all,this wa^a railway to', the interior. .lOpppnents tp'th^ line had: constantly harped on tntf fact that we^haye a fioe jiyer^But f Than»ep reaidehts"itneTf .the difficul^ieis of' ioia'vjgatidn, and iossbf time in shipment there" was in the river-^raffic^ ''^ Anoth'et^'malter was, ihe ri vier di^not • open up jth c c6un tr j - iii 'iriaiiner"a! railway would, whicii' 'woiil'^. to' thy Jand a vaVue it did"riot possfessi;!;He ;lrtid niufch; pleasure:in ?' mo^ ing^'iM^ rfesblu'tibn as' reVd. lU ("Loucl' Mr A. Porter* who was well received, said lie: ihftdi nmch pleaiureiin Isecb'nding the resolution, and^in-doing so would bring under their notice a^ fe^ra^tioflSl faßts'thafe mighJth;ajrejeßcapedlin^ "Uoctoi's att^piwul iß&Masjitl Wellington when the Bill to construct thV]lii)^|capei|>|||§^ he noticed that though the line was set down as from Hamilton to Omahu, the sum for its construction was put down at mosfeexhprbitant^MMM^) thought, to make „a, line over 30 miles of flaf Country wifh no great engineering difficulties. A further sum of £30,000 had . been put down, and if that would not construct the line, he was very much mistaken. There's another thing he would like to remind then} of. Mr Eichardson, on the 3rd'of 1 September last, asked the Premier;iio ;ha»e" a' 1 plan prepared of certain- liijeS. | ThTtt plan was prepared by Mr Blacked, jEiMrineer-in-Chief, and doubtless many'^f thgii had seen it. It shewed'the Thames jaud^Waifcato line from -Hamilton to j Grahamstown. (Cheers).,. L ! The resolution was then put and carried iunanimously. s f^ ] Mr* yfi J.J Speight,' ,who was rcce«|d jwith "applause, then moved the following resolutionv—'VThat v t com^pf'tye',fore-'going"'rVsolutiori-tfe'sent to (he members -the, Thames ( and ; s -j^id> fbefore' the Government." Mr Speight, said what Dr Kilgour had stated, .viz,^ jthat the resolutions wer^ .prepired" JFor the Government ' .was" perfectly correct. The resolutions had been carefully worded' with a distinct object, Wuiph was to endeavour to convince the Opposition that the.railway works were being coqstruqted .for^the ,wjelfa7r9.,oL,the district/ 'and had*- been 1 '^fcfiohem^By Parliament, a fact that some opppnenjis . tlieiriGovernment appearedl^o^ha've^lost* light o_fj:j ,The, object was to endeavour to Convince iliem7ft)»a^tTie,.,^ainp«" people #ere fully'"Cognisant of 'this 1' latter fact, 4nd were determined Sp stick upr|or their rights. Hi's' opinion was).'' that the. very iae'ii Vyho 'were'inow' opposing th^Qine*" would be found in the opposite lobby voting for it . to^mprr_o.w_.if....il_ juited. their purposes. (Hear, hear.) He thought it w.e.1l to speak distinctlypn p |;.his f point, as there seemed !to bp !sonie doubt as to the* cjourse Mr ,Epwe •take. .The fate of a Government Jiad,once, before dep"ended upon'that gentleman's ;Tbte, and inigh.t ,d,o so, again. .:Np|;w r i|ih^tandin^ tha^ he'had been a determined opponek^, ojf Mr Epwe's for some: years, lie cpn©l njot- think lie would" fote' figainst! tfie; Government in thermatter ofsthe ThatiiesJ and Waikato Railway, and he- thought'; that after the expressiou of r opinion shown, by the'meeting Mr ltovro would takeLnii, side by the Government. He thought that wai a' settled point. Here wa»:-the-thin^.they had been waitiug.for^ veorking fQr.andaye, in a sense, starving for, in jeo"patdy, raud'if any member df tlietri' jvbted against it,, f.wo§ iibetideo^hinir 'It would be well to let him know that the Government must be supported; let mcm-

bers do what they liked afterwards (Applause). Mr McGovran, in seconding the motion, said that whatever Government was in power it must be borne in mind that the Thames people wanted the railway, and they would not support any Ministry unfavorable to its construction. The Thames sent two members to Parliament, and should send three, so by unanimity the Thames people could make themselves felt. (Loud Cheers). The resolution was carried, and the "tisuatcomplimentto the Chair ""brought the proceedings.tp a close. „,