The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4422, 7 March 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1883.

Ix the year 1881, the Hon. the Premier honored us with a visit, and during his stay here he, inter alia, came to an understanding with the Harbor Board as to the quantity of land to be given by the Board for railway purposes at Shortland. That agreement was, as far as the description of the land is concerned, only a verbal one, but it was arrived at in the presence of, and by, the Premier, Messrs Bagnall (who was then Chairman),,. Osborne, and Wilkinson, members of the Board, and Mr Dean, the Secretary to that body, and was to the effect that the Board would grant the land absolutely required for the construction of the line. The party above named proceeded over the ground, and no mistake on the part of the Board could possibly exist as to what was agreed to be given. The Government has forwarded a plan of the portion they propose to take, which includes a large area surrounding the Shortland wharf,. aud even the wharf itself, and to such an appropriation the. Board very naturally demurs. The land agreed to be given was sufficient in width for the railway line, and the boundaries of it were very distinctly pointed out to Mr Whitaker when walking over the ground with those we have mentioned. With a most decided air of high-handed authority the Government now informs the Board that they intend to take the area shown in a plan forwarded by the Public Works Department, stating as their only reasons for doing so that according to the memory of the Hon. the Attorney-General that was the agreement arrived at. Now, this seems to us an act—though worthy of its source—which requires immediate and resolute resistance. We have amongst us those who were parties to the arrangement made, and who are willing to prove, in a most conclusive manner, what Mr Whitaker assented to. Plans of the land offered are in existence, and their comparison with that of the area proposed to be taken show that a great wrong will be done the Board should it allow the Government to have its way in this matter. Putting aside the fact that the Board cannot afford to lose, a penny of its income, the claim of the department seems a most inequitable one; and even supposing no agreement had been arrived at as to what land should be given, the deprivation of the property and its resources, would be a serious loss to the Board, and it is very doubtful whether the benefits accruing to that 'body from the railway being constructed would recompense them for

it. Looking at the matter in another light, we fail to see that for the purpose of railway construction the large area sought to be acquired is needed. It appears that the authorities, in a sort of "graball " disposition, are trying to get as much as they can out of the people. We trust that the Board will succeed in frustrating this attempt to rob it of its property, and bring the Minister to a senge of-his duty in keeping to a bargain, or, if his memory has been treacherous, incite him to a course of mneraonical study.