CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1295, 5 February 1883, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

' JIJASTERTON-WdoiYIIiLE BAIL-, 1 |v V itiE j/ : j'- ut Sir—l'eanhot allow your articles on \ thii railway, in your isaueg of 80tb ult. . and Ist inat., to pass unnntioed. The first '■ ample Wpqfy fiction J.; the^. iecqnd-; is 'an ,: appeal, arid iifmy judgment a very unjust. 1 otiOi to popular Bkorlsighted ness ,and : •) seHiahncss,. I know that the question of i route ia Eeitled. and hap long,been settled,. | not- on'; its,' me.ritSt; but ..on other lesa ( repgtiible grounds, It,mji,wit; true 'that Mr Brapdon.and. thel Weiiinjjt.oo people , had. any. aotiveipart in theiuiovement for ' the Wangaehu wute. It was qol'oft'ly-the ' settlers' iu the Wangaoliu'-Valley, but i those in the Taueru, . Tirauiaea, , and i Whareama who urged thejGovernment to, ; The first aovera were j two members of t|)e West County Council , andjonly the paralysed, condition of the , two oouncilfl prevented ill being brought : forward in the xoiinoil. Mr'Buchanan, •' member for South Wairarapa, did attend 1 the deputation^' 'lfe did i)ot it simply beoattie,' 1 ' for laolr of- time,' Mr ' Brandbn;had been asked to ;irVaiige the reception ofdsputatiu'n by the Minis-, •er, • &Jr QdoVke. Beetliam would 'certainly have' been asked'to join had Uo mit ,been' with;his brother,'who is seriously ill, in Auckland. Mr William Beethatn,'. who is not one to support mere selfish interests, joined the. deputation ; and 'concurred heartily ! iri its desire to!have a'survey of • other routes. That the members for the Wairarapa : are, ; not; supporters < of. the 'Wa,n'gaehn'route maybe; very possible, hut Neither would charge the : deputation wijhjselfißhues's. Wliy the first movers in •the matterstayed "their hands'so* long,' and by whom .they were induced not to move, till the time for moving eras gone by, is in their own'power to reveal; v: ' ' 1; ' Now as to selfishness. On one side you fifld the rail wky is! to run alongside of a good metalled public ,Forty. Mile Bush road—which has already opened up,all v the lands on side. These lands,' 1 iii rough calculation,' art given as 172,000 uorea, of which only 20,000 are settled.',;Oo'tiieotnerj'aideyon find the where,"; there; are no, rowjs, ovpt ja, .line. jvhicli -is reported ,tQ, the Government to be easier of construction and cheaper to construct than the. Forty ■Mile; Bu«h road, and which will serve 266,000 aoves, of which 117,000 are , seweir Andwithin 'thislast ;sij' weeks a surveyor, supported by the chief surveyor 'of the Wellington district, : haß reported', thi? 'to. be! in his opinion' the best route 'and urged,'the Government to,.have it, lurveyedjorthe railway. Yet the settlors on the 20,000 ' aor?l tore, all that is patriotic, and the fifty* ; spven; settVcivs, owning nearly 00,000 acre's in farms of from 60 acres to 17,000 aoreß'are mere BelHsh'l'gMonsjJMking to do i private'job. I-1. Andlwhat : .did they aak~-7 Not to have the railway taken up the tyungaehu, but that thVGovernirient should act on the reports of Mr Northoroft and Mr Marchanfc,;;ttnd;;fiold theii 4 . hands till the survey had been completed at the very utmost a delay of six.months. Now, sir, for the appear to Masterton and Master ton- traders -and worjting men. Ido not hesitate to say that; they will .be heavy losers by -the) hfition of the Government. The' Forty Bush Koad, and what trade it can bring, comes now into Masterton. The will take iraiicji of■ it, Through ;to Weljington. 'Granted., that. xtHe money, will: be spent now on construction, • is", it now so urgently needed, are the Masterton people bo greedy to clutch at. fonds, now that they would; sooner see them r squandered to. their 6wn ultimafo;huft or tq',tbe 'injury/ , of thejoolony, rather than wait six months and, Bee the money well spent! If,, , Government had granted and ■ the railway had beon taken eastward,, the 1 coun try opened up would have Mh'of immense!.benefit to Maatorton. It is coun-' •try nowquite roadless, .the. aettleci parts o( which goes in largely to Gastlepoint, aiid' the trade of the unsettled , parts of which, will, when they are settled, for want of the railway or good metalled roads go east. I know the thing is done, 1 but 1 deplore it, and I believe yon and 1 all interested in Masterton, will, in time ' to,dome,,regret'it, f I had no 'part or Jot in "the .matter till it was"proVed to me'as . a matter of right,..as a, matter ( .goody that the'Go'verriment ougjfritblTto persibtjagainst all evidence, truth, argu- ' menti [and reason in hurrying on this 1 littlest of line to Opaki. The .thing .is. 1 done,' and is, I firmly believe', as}dis v i creditable to the Government antlstW i iutioutt to the public interesu; but I con- > fesa that I cannot keep silence when I see; i a totally indefensible aot supported in the press^By most unjust jinuendoß, and,by appeals to publto Winch areas'' 1 shortsighted as they are immoral. ' i • lara&o., < ' , . Hobbex 8. Hawkins. . ! . -j;.! Jv