The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4494, 31 May 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1883.

The facilities offered by the Government to the projectors of the Thames Valley Company should spur the directors of the venture on to further exertions^ Mr Whitaker'a encouragement to the morethent wag all that could be desired; and, were it not for his defective memory, the Premier would be one of the elements necessary — and we might say willing —to see the seeds of this most desirable work reach fruition. In the preliminary steps the evident desire of the Minister was that erery facility should be offered to carrying out so important a work as the line in question, and in his position as Government representative he promised that whatever Crown Lands were available among those asked for by the company, they should be placed at their disposal with certain restrictions. In addition to this, he stated that the Company would be placed in the same position—as far as the Government was concerned—as the Thames-Tauranga Company. The mne» monical deficiencies of the Premier appear to intervene here. The delegates from the Thames Valley Company, hearing that steps were being taken by the Government to survey the Komata block, communicated with the Premier on the matter, and the reply given was that the "interpretation clause of the Railway Construction. Act defines Crown lands to have the same meaning as that in the Land Act of 1877, and section 5 of that Act excludes land which had been granted to any person in the fee simple. Komata was so granted, and the Government has purchased from a European some of the shares ; the title is not yet complete and can only be made so by an Act of Parliament." The telegram Iwent on to say that after the interview in Auckland with the Company's delegates, the prospects

Gf the Company, appeared to be hopeless, and the same impression still remains on his mind to such an extent, that he has ceased to take any interest in the matter. This lack of interest on the part of a man who had displayed such an interest in the work we write of, must be most affecting; can these tears be of joy on account of the railway from Thames not passing Kopu, where the Premier has gome interest ? Could it be that his other interests in the direction of Te Aroha would at all interfere with his memory or action as a representatire Minister in the North. We would fain believe that these half-born surmises are fallacious, but what can be thought when a responsible Minis ter of the Crown undertakes to surmise that the case of our Bailway Company is a hopeless one, and even ventures to still think so. Can it be that the " wish is father to the thought P" Hare not suffi. cient bona-fldes been put before a reluctant Government to ensure the carrying out of this most important work P We have seen a letter from an English syndicate agreeing to complete the- line, upon certain conditions, to which the government havejpartially committed themgelvei; no

outlay of colonial funds is sought for th 6 undertaking: certain lands within the vicinity of the route are. asked to be reserved, and the government who have the. granting of these lands is relieved of work which in the future would devolve upon them. Property— which, by the way, to a great extent belongs to the Crown.—iv the vicinity of the line would be greatly enhanced in value, and the Government taxation on it would be a recompense far and away beyond the paltry sacrifice they would make of the acres granted to a useful work. It is very difficult to understand why such obstacles are thrown in the way of this most important undertaking, unless we—most unwillingly—think that the interests of persons in power are interfered with by it.