CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1104, 20 June 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE ALTERATION OF BOUNDARIES MASTERTON AND CASfLEPOiNT, DISTRICTS. :■ TO THE EDITOR.

: Sib, —Under the above heading .i. most extraordinary letter appeared in -your paper ' of the2oth ult., signed "A'Castlepoint : Ratepayer." I say extraordinary, Decause' with the facts at command, nothing could excuse the tissue of incorrect jstateiiients, made by your .correspondent, He.commen-' ces by Btating " that the proposal \o alter ■ the boundaries of the abovo districts, origin--atcd from the Masterton Board. 1 ' The proposals to alter the boundaries originated with the ratepayers who subsequentlypetitioned, and not with the Masterton Board. The next inaccuracy your correspondent is responsible for, is the reason he assigns as that of the Masterton Board for not agreeing to one of tho proposed alterations of boundaries which ho asserts to be" simply because the Masterton Board cannot agree respecting the adjustment of ward boundaries," whereas the course adopted by that Board was affirmed by a resolution based on" the fact that something like nine-tenths of the traffic over the Kaumingi road is for the benefit '. of Castlepoint latepayers, as against one-tenth for Masterton ratepayers. . Then follows an imputation that Mr Meredith" a prime mover in the matter" did not propound and make public a plan to arrange the. wards of. his districts ftc, &c., &c. Mr Meredith propounded alternative proposals for the alteration of the boundaries of the districts, which ho submitted to tho Chairman of the Castlepoint Highway Board as also to the Chairman of the East County Council. Had either of those proposals been adopted your correspondent would have been saved the disappointment he evidently suffers at the decision of the Masterton Highway Board. My proposals wero that the Blairlogie and Kaumingi roads be the boundary between the two districts, cost of maintenance of the road to be borne equally by their respective Boards. that bo much of the Langdale estate be taken over by Masterton as would yield a fair contribution in rates towards the. maintenance of the Blairlogie road, .I do not say 'tkt these proposals were not open to objection, but thoy suggested a reasonably fair compromise. I, and the ratepayers of No. G . Ward, had no desire that the boundaries ofjLi, Masterton should be enlarged in the direct • tion meditated further than to take in the.. Blairlogie estate. Your correspondent as-- • serts that "I have demonstrated very clearly by figures that the Blairlogie road is of'tut.-* little or no value, especially'to. the CaW*"? point ratepayers, as there kr, only a'/ very small amount of traffic oh it; 1 even dur-, ing the most favorable season of the year." As I never made any allusion toth'e traffidon the Blairlogie road and made no'calculation ■ in reference thereto, nor supplied any fhju'ros, bearing on the Bubjcot, I oau only suppose that ". A Castlepoint Ratepayer" has been hoaxed, or occasionally suffers from mental abor'atiou. But m he evidently takes an interest in the Blairlogie road, I will supply him with a fow important facts, which, had he been aware of at an earlier date, would have tended to prevent him from committing himself in the way be has done. First,- - I have to inform " A Castlepoint Ratepayer" .;. that ever since the Castlepoint district has been occupied by settlors their only exit in the direction of Masterton during tho winter months has been through Blairlogie, • and as it has been in the past, so it will probably be in the future, till such timo as the Mungapakelia Valley is metalled and Ilia river bridgod. Second, tho money with which the Blairlogie road was constructed was mainly subscribed by Castlepoint ratepayers interested in getting a better and more direct line of road than the Mnngapakoha. Third, that within a poriod of three months upwards of 200 balos of wool, 2000 posts, 16,000 feet of timber and a considerable quantity of goneral goods, including wire and grass seed, passed over such portion of the Blairlogie road as was open to traffic—for your correspondent does not appear to be .aware that when he instituted a comparison between the traffic over the Mungapakeha and Blairlogie roads, the latter had not been open for much more than two months, and is not yet open to bullock dray traffic. Fourth, I have to inform "A Castlepoint Ratepayer" that the.Blairlogie road taps Central Whareamainits midst, which is far and away the most fertile part of the Castlepoint district, and consequently likely to afford much produce for transport, and further that the principal carriers on the roads have expressed their intention of doini; all the future carrying.trade between Blairlogie, lea, Langdale, and Masterton over tho Blairlogie road. I have not the slightest misgiving that the Castlepoint Highway Board will fail to do its duty, dispassionately and will so expend its revenue as will best maintain those outlets to its district which tend most to develope its very large resources. I have'only now todeny most emphatieilly the statement attributed to me by a "Castlepoint Ratepayer," that " tho metlaling near Kaumingi will only last two years. What I said was '.' that in reply to a question put to one of the carriers as to , : his opinion as to the durability of the ••■ metalling in question, lie estimated it to last i two yeara," But I nevertheless do not hefiI tate to say that the best metal has not been used except as a coating over that portion of the road near the foot of Korokoko terrace, and I believe that this is the only metalling done that will not require renowiug, more or less, within two years. ■ I am, &d., : Edwin Mebebwh, ,

Lieutenant Prierde la Comble, of the' 7th Dragoons, has just accomplished the performance of riding ; on his charger Mascotte, from' Luhe'ville to Paris in forty-eight hours, a distance of 215 miles. Ho wrote to the president of the horse show, then open in- Paris, announcing that he bad left Lune'ville at two in the afternoon, ind ; would reachthe Palace of Industry at the same hour on the second day. He arrived an... hour before the itime fixed, hischargeriseeinhV little the worse for the- journeyi : An 'immense number of spectators had assembled, and received.hia witH enthusiastic cheers. • Emigration from Switzerland "EaTbecome so great in late years that predictions aremadethat unless it ceasescer- : tain dißkiotß will lose! the greater part of their inhabitanls.'if do* not become literally., depopulated. ;, Beturns' are at hand for Bernewhich shows 1 that since 1821 the ratioihas steadilyiincreased, and in the past three yearsat a ;great accelerated pace. In 1870only;380pefaonBleft* the canton ;.in. "1878 the number was '477'; in 1879 it was 94l ;'m j lßßoilwas 1638, and in 1881,-2881,, while for 1882 the number js, expected to'be- larger still. Nearly all ofth'em sailed': for the United States:; and ofthssel6t);weit'eithertto : Si)uth or;. to Central Am'ericai . ::".^' ; 7 '