OPEN COLUMN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume II, Issue 55, 18 January 1868, Page 3

OPEN COLUMN.

THE RAILWAY OR TRAMWAY. (To the Editor of the Wa'ikaeapa Mkrcuby.) Sib,—l wonder if “ Railway Sleeper ” was taking a nap when he wrote the very singular letter that appeared in your paper last Saturday. T Would not be : at all surprised at seeing a paragraph appear in the “ Mercury ” this week stating that your correspondent “Railway Sleeper ” is a Somnambulist addicted to letter writting during his sleep. “ Railway Sleeper” must have been dreaming when heimagined that 'a short Railway would pay better than a long one 'whereas the fact proved by experience,.is that coaches, cabs, carts, and waggons drawn by horses on common roads do successfully compete with Railways for short distances especially in goods traffic but not so for long distances. “ Railway Sleeper ” was no doubt very sound when be compared a Railway Company in adding to the length of their line to a steam navigation company adding to the number of the steamers they employed in the same trade. The comparison might be a fair one if a Railway Company putting a single line of rails sufficient for the accommodation of the public went'to the expense of laying down to a second lin. Or if after having opened up one. Wellington and Masterton via Eimutaka they made another Railway or Tramway to'the same place via the coast or the Wainraomata, which ■would be a very different thing from doubling the length of their Railway right on end “ Railway Sleeper ” could not have been quite awake when be imagined that it would be only the surplus production of the Wairarapa that a Railway to Wellington would derive any revenue from. If “Railway Sleeper ” had ever travelled with his eyes open he would have known that an experienced Railway projector ought to take into his calculation not only what a district would be able to export but also what it would be diffleient in and therefore would require to importe.g. if thereJ were no timber grown in the district, then instead of sending ‘•some few broad boards for coffins to Wellington,” the district would employ carriers to bring J‘broad boards for coffins” from Wellington. Like. a ladys’ postcript the concluding ■paragraph explains what appears to have been “Railway Sleeper’s” dream “after,carefully reading the article reprinted in your paper from the “ Westland Times,” at three o’clock in the morning as he was quietly sittingin his bedroom making his calculations he dozed off into a comfortable sleep during which he wrote his letter to you. , ; I am Sir, Your’s Ac., RAILWAY BUFFER. LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT V. PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT. ■ Sib,—Notwithstanding the manner in which the people of this district have always been treated lay the Provincial Government, we continue to bend our necks to the yoke and our backs to the burden of tbe taxation laid on us, to be expended, as remarked by one of your correspondents last week, in reclaiming land from the sea at Wellington, and in building expensive bridges at Wanganui and elsewhere on the West Coast; and, your correspondent might have—added in subsidising coaches as well as steam boats to Wanganui. But it has always been tbe policy of our Provincial Government to starve the East Coast baby that it might have a little extra tittie to give its sickly, discontented twin baby of tbeWestCoast; an ill favored thing that always exhibited a great deal of jealousy at any little attention to any other baby by its nurse or “ Docter.” It is not only its Territorial Revenue that this district is deprived of to support Wellington and West Coast extravagance, but also the f formerly, and now the half of the Customs Revenue. The Wairarapa may profit by the sad example of the Province of Auckland before the Superintendent of the Wellington Province will have sold much more of what land is still left unsold in the district. It is even now rumoured that the Government purpose bringing more land shortly inte the market—not because it is required for settlement—but simply to force a sale for the purpose of bringing a little money into the empty coffers of the province. A newspaper (that is a thick and thin supporter of Dr Feathcrston and ultra-provin-cialism)! in its general summary, of the 7th, has the following : “ The Provincial affairs of Auckland are in a Very bad state, and the Superintendent hrs sent a circular to the heads of department under the Provincial Government, requesting them to notify to their subordinates that no funds are available for their salaries for another year, and that their services will le dispensed with at the end of the present month. * * * The sta' rent made by the Provincial Treasurer -lowed that the estimated revenue, for 1867, was £96,588, while the actual revenue w.s £57,657, thus showing a falling off of about AJOJOO. Under those circumstances a prop- has been made by Mr Carioton to hand over U o management of the Province to the General Government.” Now Sir, has the Provincial Government of Auckland have completely broken down notwithstanding tbe fact that they have had the reputation of having been about the best and most economical Provincial Government in New Zealand, I think it should act as warning to the people of the Wairarapa now that their own Provincial Government has some difficulty in keeping afloat, to lose no time in getting the management of their local affairs in their own hands before it will become necessary to make a proposal for tbe Wellington province similar to the one made by Mr Carleton for tbe Province of Auckland. Yours &c., NEREUS.