CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1244, 1 December 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

COUNTY. AMALGAMATION. TO THE EDITOB. Sib,—ln yonr paper of Monday is a report of the meeting held at Masterton to consider the advisability of" publishing the banns" between counties East and West Wairarapa. I think, sir, although this truly representative meeting decided in favor of the union, there is one fatal objection, and that ifl—the parties are not agreed. This little game is intenselyamusingtothe onlookers, but unfortunately is not creditable to the public men of the district. What with the washerwomen with the dirty linen at Carterton, the wretched attempt to create local'jealousy and party feeling at the Masterton meeting, and the undercurrent of political motives of the movers in this amalgamation business, it is sufficient to excite in the minds of eleotoH that pity which is akin to oontempt, The chairman of Saturday's meeting at Masterton (Mr W. Hi Beetham) and Mr McGregor were quite overwhelmed by the' stubborneas of Carterton, which they held up to obloquy as the impediment to progress of unity. The principal reason of their scathing .remarks being the one great fact that Carterton disagreed with them, There is not & great variety of reasons in favor of amalgamation urged by tho promoters, but from what I can gather from the reported speeches, Mr J, V. Smith's strong point seems to be the railway. As a Conservative he deprecated changes, and as a Lihoral he advocated one of the greatest importance. There was a trifle of inconsistency, but if I remember aright Mr Smith not very long since strongly opposed amalga* toon so that he is consistent m his inconsistency. Ho omitted to elucidate the bearing of the railway upon the question. Possibly like the boy who gave as his reasoa for smoking, that he was afflicted with corns, Mr Smith did not think it necessary to enter into explanations of palpable absurdities. He \>as, however, good enough to remark that there were many other mioni for the ohango- evidently reeog. nising that other reasons were needed-but he confined himself to meroly remarking, Mr MoGregsr's strongest argument wasinere in the nature of an apology for the existence County Councils,, which he apparently felt was greatly needed. He acknowledged that there was very little for them to do, and the fewer counties there were the better for ratapayers. If we follow his arguments to their legitimate conclusion he advocates now abolishing counties. But there is a curious anomaly existing in his speech, he says Road Boards have done all the pnotical work, but that the Wairarapa has been cursed in the past bv piecemeal Wjrk, Did not Mr McGregor let slip hi) real sentiments then ? I think so. It is bat a step from charging Road Boards with incompetence, to abolish-, ing thorn I Of course as Mr McGregor sayaby enlarging the area of the ideal county, making it a one horso affair, you uoreaae its! influence and importauce, and equally of'sonrso its revenue would be largely increased. All this is so easily demonstrated it is quite' astonishing there should be any objections. With one county, all local jealousy, all; party feeling would cease, one half the oounfr electors would gladly be disfranchised, out of love for tho other half. We should have one model onunty; nine model councillors, one model staff, and'one model offiss, and become tho glory and admiration of New Zealand. The admired qf : .-'all beholdors, ospeoiallw tho debenture .holders of the East County, Mr McGregor asked how it was recommends tions went, to the Government from tha. County, and not from the Boad Boards. I will let him into the secret,-it was heoause otherwise the Counties woald hare had nothing to do. It is amusing to see how Mr C. Phillips makes his puppets dance to thetune of provincialism. He hankers after thW flesh pots of Egypt,.and has oarried tb& other amalgamator* with him so far that; they cannot retreat ; only whilst advocating the ,-eturn journey they are lest eandid than the''Star I 'and disclaim tha object of theirpursuit. One werd as to economy, as that string has been considerably harped upon, although not one of those who putitferwari as a plea have shown how or what they wift economise, Coining events oast their shadows before, well I saw a shadow recently. The work of County West is more than. its. present officere can perform, Assistance, clerical has been applied for, and a small aum voted, but the assistant refuse! Unite the Counties and abolish County East staff Bavo say £SO a year, and give an extra office? or two to the unitod Coituty, and what is the, result likely to be? Dic.diily not a saving.' There is now one County engineer for both Counties, and when the new works m 'oomV menced that one cannot dothem, Then you will have to got assistant engineers, simply because the County is too unwieldy, the work* aoatterri over mas; miles of ceuntry, so that then will cither bs neglect and bung, ling, or a travelling engirieewn-ohief with a big staff ef assistants, So muoh for tha . saving. Yours Ac.,." . AOownEwcToß. .