The King of Piako.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4245, 9 August 1882, Page 3

The King of Piako.

(SKOOKB, HIB.SENTIMKNTS.) A bright and shining HghVkas "burst forth as a brilliant illumination in our midst in the. person of W. A. Murray, late M.H.R., and the old saying of " Fools run in where angels fear to: tread," is to be seen in his letter to ttte Tauranga buster, and re published in the Advertiser. "A great and mighty city, a second Babylon is to arise in our district, and' I, W.A.M., am buying up all the school sections on which I can lay my hands, so that I may again repeat the compensating dodge of Waitehuna, but the owners of Morgantown and Lipseyville most be removed out of my way. Great engineer am.l. The.distance from the Thames to Waiorongomai is less than to Morgantown. I #an pierce the hill behind in a short tunnel; I can get from Hamilton to Tauranga in two and a half hours—but then I have the wings of a dove. Wretched localism I abhor." Since ~ when, dear boy ? as you used to have the credit of not seeing beyond the Provincial District of Otago when residing there. By some piece of scoundrelism the route of. the railway has been changed to suit affinities of-the Ministers. I wonder who they' are ? The style of writing of W. A. M. is likely to do harm, as it would have outsiders believe that some great wrong was being done, while snch is not the case, which can be easily proved. If any impartial observer will take a look at the map laid on the table of .the House;-of. Representatives in Sept., '76-,' he will see that a line of railway was , laid down on that plan which allowed -the distance from Hamilton to the Wnihou , River to be some 32 miles, and the ter- i minus was on Government land ou the t bank of the Waihou River. The land is immediately opposite Mcrgantown, which ' had no existence at tbat time, nor for years after. In the report of the.then Engineer, he recommended that if the line was to be continued Jo Grahamstown, the crossing should be lower down the river, and any other recommendation than that will lengthen tbe line. The proposal to t"ke tbe line through the main range to Tauranga is nonsence at the present time, owing to want of funds, and no short tunnel would do for the work, but, on the .contrary, one of great length would be required, and anyoDe who has crossed tbe main range must be aware of this. As ihe distance in a straight line to get to where the line would be of ony use to join to the Katikati — that wonderful settlement .of G. V. Stewart's—since a tunnel would not bo less than two and a half miles", and thence would be twenty-five miles to Tauranga, this would make the line one of the most costly in this part of tbe North Island. So you see it is all bunkum io talk of doing the distance in two and a half hours. And there is another thing to consider: WaioroDgomai is not the only portion of the main range where there is a probability of payable gold being found, as reefs are known to exist from Karangobake all along the main range, and it is just possible that within a short time we- may have another centre of population lower down the river than Morgantown and the same cry would be raised that they were being ruled by. the land sharks of Waiorongomai, and there we some there'who are trying to swallow streets, but it is to hoped it will disagree with them, as town sec tions have no more right - to be taken up and remain unoccupied than mines. The statement tbat faith is being broken with parties who have bought land I think is untrue, for if my memory is right there is not an acre of Government land e>n the original line until the proposed township at Waitoa is reached, as thero it passes through the Company's ground for ten miles, and through Morrin's estate, Murray's, Williamson's, and others of a like kidney. Philanthropists all !— who, however, think more of themselves than all the rest of the human race. Is the society of Morgantown and Tipsyville so bad that W.A.M. should come anovg us, take up sections, build bouses, and charge big rents, and he would not be guilty of buying cheap land —he would not lease native land at any price.