THE UNITED WAIRARAPA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 837, 4 August 1881, Page 2

THE UNITED WAIRARAPA.

Bowlands, Auguflfc 2,1880. Sin,—ln your article of Tuesday last I am challenged in a sense to say whether I adhere still to the policy of the union of the two counties. I should certainly be open to a charge of levity if I abandoned it because of the vote passed at the oonferonoe.; That vote, as you • pointed put, simply put the, question by; It remains aiquestion .still,' and the opinions .expressed by/some of. those, who'spoke M , / ihe ivbte of all element of discouragement / 'toitheladvocatesofU'nioni I. <'i '

. The complaint .made by one speaker that the arguments for union had been limited,to. abstract, principles, was not •justifiable. ■■' The 'resolution''' was' necessarily an abstract one,, and it would have ~ - been .impertinent.ahd a waste of time t«M have,eatered upon Retails. ; - ; -'- •;■■ Nobody ban'suppose that if the'Councils'':were;: the idetails would present 1 any substantial • obstacle. The object of the .profo'sed j resolution. : was Jo\ show ' whether; the majbrity'ofthem'emberjdf.the were in favor'or 'not.'j: and the.debate, if not the appears to me'to ; haye. left that point quite undetermined, f'ltjrnust I be.remembered that even the .voteß need comment. .OneVcounoiUordidviiotlvote at- all, Councillor Phillips-was unavoid- , [ably. absent, i mi I am inclined to think had he been there four votes'would lave been against the amendment. The suggestion "that abstract resolutions; ' are fit only for jaYdebating sooiety, mV„ thatyhe time of a publjo body shoulij not :; ' be waited, in djsoussmg them, will not ■ bear examination, : • Some of the most important practical reforms effected by re? presentative; bodies have .been'-preceded by abstract resolutions. The mutual anxiety.to "get to' work" and professed impatience of all attempts at change orreform asbeing'hindr'anceß to work is ,only; drawing a red herring across the, trail, Time is. never jlosj which is employed in designing a-more perfect and effective instrument 'ifbxex? • ecuting w0rk....'.. , The reasons for the union of the two counties remain entirely."undisputed;' The • avowed reasons urged agajust it 'are, wjtl} one exception, only • such as are invariably urged against every change,' Thjs'*«: ception is that 'Hie East Qqunty. mis.trusts the West County. In plain language, that the' run-owners of the hills mistrust,the Binall settlers of-the VaUey. Mr'Beetjiam plainly felt this to-be. an argument not open to l|itn: 1)8, to"' all intents; and purposes, and essentially, stands as a Hill run-owner-to the Wai; rarapa he is a Beetharn of Brancepeth, Yet, as a member of the House of RepreJ sentatiyes,", Ije: certainly"; stands' by tlje votes of tho smallsettlers'andtown vqte; of the Western' County, If lie trusfsj him; "self to th'eni, "and tliey confide tbeii-' most vital interests to him, and with.mutual advantage, how could he suppose' that they /would act in a totally opposite spirit in the election of. representatives for the local government of the county or require at the hands of such representatives or allow them to pur'suo a purely selfish policy for the sectional interests of tlja.Valley? . /'<■ 0 W ■',:.^ : -n. The fact is that the supposed seyejanpq of interest bptween the hill country and the valley is a mere'' bogie," nor have | yet come to understand w hy men ot praptical sense and open mjnd care to keep up its fantastic existence. That itis a 1 bqgie' and a njischjeyqus qiiel am sure, I am a ru'nqwiier jn the County,' nt>d- 8j / such I desire'close 1 , cordial, and oonstant f communication with tho population of the' West County, and better'. rqads, inore v frequent access., and extended gomrqerce between hill-and valley will rapidly force ' on the minds of the inhabitants of both the conviction that their interests are closely bound up, and that any system which tends to sever them is in.itg.alf '. To. Bay. tlmfc the Councils of the two Counties do not oppose one another in their several workings, arid that each by.itself does effective work and often joins the other in it, only goes to prove: that there is no reason for their being diaoonneoted; that their interests are,in faot, one; that the scope ot their dutios inter-. mingles,, and that they could perfectly well work asone Council.'-" •'-

The argument that the proposal -is a return to the Provincial system wits probably not seriously used, -In seeking to-form a strung County out of two weak,ones I certainly look far beyond the mere present; bub. it ia-ia the present that the strength is especially ■needed. ' A otropg fjbunty pan far bpttpr work oitt the propleni of ideal government than two wefck ones,'and if the tyai'raraja is to take qp a strong position, in" thg colony, and to start on a substantial career of self-development and progress, it must discard all internal mistrusts and jealousies, whether as betweon hill and valley, or town and town.' ■' > ' : Those who support the.disunion of th« Counties are> keeping up a machinery which educates the ratepayers in a policy of mutual mistrust I purposely still reffajn from entering upon details, suoh'questions as,the Bait Oounty'dbbt ah'd the' West Qounty road liabilities aro 'narrow issuesj onlculatoa merely to draw attention from the'main' point; they will be without difficulty idjusfed when typ tjme arrives fop ing th^m. —I am ? &c.,