CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1326, 13 March 1883, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

MB tOY'S REPORT. [to THE EDITOR WAIRAIiAPA DAIIY.] Silt,—lf Mr Foy's report had bee published without any remarks from yo I should have not. asked ynu to givo m space fur furlher discussion. I thin your (pardon me) rather spiteful littl paragraph entitles me to a reply. It : hardly fair in you 10 say, " Mr Foy he the advantago of his detractors in undei standing the subject on which lie write.' and being untrammelled wit It local preji dices"and "readers will see the brie wall against which his opponents hav been running their heads." The firs allegation against Mr Foy is that he neve went over the ground himself. The secon allegation is that he sent a young man <. the class known as " tucking engineers to do tho work; that the young man wn frightened by the Maoiits, and the rai and the rough country, scrambled throug part rf his wmlc and' caved in. Tli third allegation is that tho work done b Mr l'..fk under these conditions was fault ami unreliable, and Mr Northcroft (: compel ent Government surveyor) ha wilhin the last throe months, reportei to the Government that it is faulty am unreliable; that he disputes the state ments as to the grades, curves, and dis tances on the Wangaehu route, and M Marchant, Chief Surveyor, endorses it and strongly supports Mr Northcroft ii flaying the Wangaehu is tho best route and urges them to tend their railwa; engineers to survey it I beg your readers carefully to read th Foy report: let them note that not on word of it is based on his personal surve; or knowledge of the country. All ih information he has is " furnished by M Park,"or from Governnibntsnrvey mapsthe wordlessness of which at that da' for such a purpose it is hard to sufficient measure. Now as to Mi Foy's freedon from " local prejudices" let any persoi read the report carefully and 'ell m whether the report d->ea not, on its face carry such clear niniks of gross prcjudic as to finally dispose of any value tin report possesses; Mr Foy is an advocat for Mauriceville, an opponent of 111 Wangaehu. Whatl object to mailing a tailwa; • along side a road 1 " That is the bes thing to do," says Mr Foy. "You can' make a railway without having roads t( the line." Shades of Brnnol and Stephen son: to what has railway engineerinj come 1 Then read his remarks on the Wan gaehu.-a sneer lies in every paragraph "Poor,land, overrun with rabbits,' "Land belongs to two brothers; thej have no capital, and can never make t living out of it." " Sanliey has a few cows, but generally works for Mawley nm Dodgshun." "Poor pastoral counlrv' " Poor pastoral land." And then, aitij summing up zealously against tho Wan gaehu, it Btrikes him he can give a final kick, and adds: ".And in conclusion ] must state that the township of Alfredtou is represented by one solitary individual named Cross." Remember that all this tirade is based on hearsay—the report of the youthful Parks, who was frightened by Maoris, worried by bush,,and at last driven out of the country, tenls, theodolite, measuring tape and all, by the inclement winter, " which,'in that part ot the country is, as a rule, attended with rain for weeks together." (Wo know, Sir, that I lie win. ter along the Forty' Mile Rush Road is delightful, and never attended with those terrible rains.) . Pray, fir, instead ot holding up the excellent and inimitable Mr Foy to public admiration, tell us why the Government refused to accept Messrs Northcroft and Marclmnt's statement that the report was unreliable, and con. lained grave errors, and their recommendation to have tho line surveyed by CAM) Government Railway Engb njHßertainly the only way in which tjHPwernment and its friends can us is by frankly avowing the : truth. Lot me formulate it for them : "We confcPß wo matlo informal promise! ; to purchasers of land on the Forty-Mile Btish Road to lake the railway line there —compromised ourselves horribly. We were very glad to get the Foy report, • which served our purpose admirably. It was ;most vexatious that Mr Northcroft and Mr Marchant should havo reported 'to us C 8 they did, and more vexatious Btill that that report should have been shewn: to members of tho Wan«aehu deputation. We have given tho officials in the Department a good wigging, a'nd told them "in future not to show aiiy reports so inconvenient to the Government. Wo admit that the whole thine is . a job, but it can't be helped ; and as the money will be spent in the district, wc hope ho furlher bother will be made' " That fellow Hawkins is a great nuisance: , he is a new chum, knows nothing, and il '' is high time the Press jumped on him.' 1 .. i Yours, eta.;' . . !. Robert S. Hawkins; Bowlands, March 12th 1883. :

.. French amy surgeons say that a' ■great, deal of tlio sickness among soldiers is caused by the use of tobacco. In 1840. Wand held nearly, onethird of the population. of the United Kingdom. It now holds one-seventh.