THE Wairarapa Mercury. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1867. THE SUPERINTENDENTS SPEECH.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 18, 4 May 1867, Page 2

THE Wairarapa Mercury. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1867. THE SUPERINTENDENTS SPEECH.

Disappointment, regret, dissatisfaction, and a sense of injustice, are not very pleasant feelings, and yet, we fear, that it is with all these the Wairarapa reader will arise from the perusal of His Honor’s speech. He will he disappointed in finding no reference made either to his own views or those of the General Government relative to the great question which will come before Parliament next session, in the right solution of which the outlying districts of the colony are more especially interested. He will regret this the more as His Honor devotes no less than five paragraphs of his speech to the subject of the withdrawal of the troops, which is beyond the jurisdiction of the Provincial Councils, and which he admits does not specially concern the Province. He will feel dissatisfied that while no allusion is made of any intention on the part of the Government to repay this district the large sums it has advanced to it, and which it has expended elsewhere, he is pointedly told “that the large sums which shall be shortly required for the Wharf, Reclaimed Land, and Wanganui Bridge will necessitate the postponement for this year of several works which are urgently required, and amongst others the erection of Government Buildings.” He will feel a keen and rankling sense of injustice to himself and the district in the cool and off-hand stylo in which the claims of the Wairarapa are ignored. The numerous subjects referred to by' His Honor would each furnish a text for a leading article, and can only now be

but briefly referee! to. We do not think that the services rendered by the troops have been more beneficial than their presence has been baneful to the colony, but we agree with His Honor that it is a matter of regret that a Colonial Ministry should have furnished an excuse for the treatment the colony has received in this

matter at the hands of the Imperial authorities. With regard to the Mauawatu purchase we shall say nothing. Not having’ entered into the controversy before, we do not intend to do so now. It is consolatary to be assured that thitf matter has at length been satisfactorily concluded. If there is no eligible site on the Manawatu for a Small Farm Settlement, it would have been well had wo been assured that there was an eligible one on the Rangitikei. With regard to the justice of allowing the squatters in the purchased block a pre-emptive right to purchase their homesteads, there cannot be two opinions, but we question whether they ought to have the power to exercise this right over so large an extent of land in this particular district as 640 acres. We believe with His Honor that if the price of land in the Upper Moroa Block and Seventy Mila Bush was reduced to 10s an acre, the land in those blocks would be readily taken up, but whether those blocks would not then “be virtually closed against settlement ” woidd depend upon the regulations to be made to guard against their purchase by land-sharks. We should have been glad to have seen the remark, when referring to this subject, he made when referring last year to the settlement of the Manawatu, to hear him advising the Council, while fixing the price of land in the Upper Moroa Small Farm Settlement, at 10s an acre, “ to studiously guard against inflicting on such settlement the evils of an absentee propriety, and especially against handing over the public estate to mere speculators.”

There is no doubt some justification for His Honor’s remarks with reference to the Railway Act of last session, but we would respectfully ask him and the public to compare them with those made by His Honor on the subject of railways in 1863. On that occasion His Honor said in reference to the Seventy Milo Bush and Upper Manawatu districts, “that, considering' the vast and rapidly increasing demand tor the timber of which they contain an almost inexhaustible supply, and the level nature of the country, the question irresistibly forces itself on the mind, whether it would not be expedient, practicable, and perfectly within our power to open up these districts by railroads, or at any rate by tramways.” If it was perfectly within our power then it is certainly within our power now. His Honor does not state the strict truth when he says that it is proposed that a new line of road shall be formed over the Rimutaka, what is asked for is for a new line of road to be surveyed with the view of ascertaining whether the construction of a new cart road would be expedient, whether there is not a quantity of land to be opened for occupation and sale, and whether the new line would not be the best lino for a railroad. As His Honor, or His Honor’s Government, has appropriated every farthing of the revenue, even a rough survey .of the proposed line cannot be undertaken, unless a small sum of the money to be expended on works at Wellington or Wanganui can lie devoted to this purpose by a vote of the Provincial Council. Tlie studied neglect of this district by His Honor’s late Executive, andthe total disregard shown to the expressed wishes and wants of its inhabitants in His Honor’s speech are not, we regret to say, altogether unmerited. “ He that by" the plough would thrive, himself must either hold or drive.” This is a proverb not without its significance in an agricultural community, and the lesson it teaches is applicable to other subjects besides farming. If we want anything well done we must do it ourselves, or seo that it is done. This is a saying not less true in a political sense than that in which it is ordinarily used. Neither Jupiter nor even an elected Superintendent will help us if we show no disposition to help ourselves. We have run into this apparent digression in consequence of a casual remark made by His Honor to the effect that the revenue will be amply sufficient to enable the Government to continue the same amount of aid that it has for some years given to the various Road Boards of the Province. The Government has hitherto given twice the amount contributed by the settlers for the construction of district roads. His Honor says;—“ That there is perhaps no district in the colony so completely permeated by good roads as that laying between Rangitikei and Wanganui.” The landowners of that district have shown a disposition to help themselves, and tho consequence has been that the Government has helped them out of funds furnished by the land purchasers of the Wairarapa. The Provincial Council votes annually a large sum for “ grants-in-aid.” The money is supplied by this district and expended elsewhere. We refuse to contribute a single farthing towards the construction of roads in the district, and our money is in consequence given to those who better understand, and who look better after their own interests. The fact of upwards of 30 miles of road has been formed by Dislrict Boards under the present Act is a triumphant answer to the statement that the Act is unworkable. If we want district roads we must show that we have no objection to contribute a small sum out of our own pockets towards their construction, which

will be returned to us fourfold in tbe improvement ot our own property. Such a contribution will he moreover, an earnest of our sincerity. If we want our public interests better attended to by the Government we shall have not only to make some pecuniary sacrifice, but we shall have “to trouble our heads about politics.” There is no good can come by our acting as silly school-boys; for while we open our mouths and shut our eyes to see what the Superintendent will send us, he will practically teach us the important truth, that nothing worth having was ever grained without trouble and labor of some kind or other. In his speech he has almost ignored the existence ef the Wairarapa, because the Wairarapaians have not shown by their Road Boards, their public meeting, their petitions and remonstrances, their election contests, their political activity and unanimity, or by and through their representatives,* that they really &o exist. If the dissatisfaction which will be created bv His Honor’s speech will have the effect'of stirring up the public mind it will net be without its uses.

The apportionment of the revenue — which will be more justly rendered vyhen we obtain a re-apportionment of the representation, —and the other subjects referred to in His Honor s speech must stand over tor the present, and will probably furnish matter for a future article.