CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1980, 2 May 1885, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE ALFREDTON EKETAHUNA . ROAD.

To the Editor. Silt,—Settlers here, to say the least, are surprised that a body like the East County Council have so little judgment as shown by their recent action re metallingontheEketahuna-Alfredton road who cannot discriminate between what is true and what is the reverse. The only one who seems to have an idea of what is fair and just—of course our member as wellis Mr W. H. Beetham, who was one of a Committee, who, along with Mr King, went over the road and reported on its requirements, and- whose opinion should on that account, have had weight with tlio other members of the Council, who know nothing about tlio question, never having been through, being a treat in store for fcliem, should they over come this length. The members may talk of doing patch work, but this is ridiculous and only shows their ignorance, as' the metalling now to be done at the Eketahuna end, is neither more nor loss than patchy, being quite disjointed from the present mile. Tlio others members say, for so I presume from their action, " why metal the bad parte? rather continue 1 tlio metalling of the good part of the road aud leave the bad part to get worse/'for that is what it amounts to, as anyone walking or riding along tlio AliVedton-EketaJmna road can testify, except the Engineer, who seeks to -justify himself in the action he took in the matter. Mr McCardle stated that on one or two occasions recently, ho had been along the road. Thoro are several settlers here who entirely deny this statement, and say that, to put it mildly, this is a fiction on Mr McCardle's part, or else he came in at night when dark, which is not likely; they can, however quite understand his action in . this matter; he simply wishes to curry favour with the Eketahuna settlors, bearing in mind that at some future time tlio votes of the settlers might come in handy, and knowin!; well that Alfredton is disaffected to his interests, it is to he hoped that they will bear this last action in mind,

Mr McCardle I notice, artfully evades the question of bringing in stores during the winter to Alfredton; lie' harps on the 'hardship of the poor children near Eketahuna being obliged to wot their feet to go to school, and states that the settlers in Alfredton can afford to keep private tutors. This latter statement is new to myself. Has Mr McCardle discovered a' gold mine in the district and is going to give settlers here the benefit of it, that he talks so confidently of their being able to keep private tutors ? Besides, as he seems not to care whether stores are able to coine in here in winter, docs he proposo to feed the children and settlers 011 books ? Rather dry eating,—all I have to say is in that case there would be very few settlers left alive here at the end of winter, while the poor settlers at Eketahuna will have enough and to spare, as well as nice dry metalled roads for themselves and their children to walk on. If this is justice, to the settlers here, well may they represent her (Justice) blind, Mr Hawkins is reported to have said, "The difficulty the Council found itself in was, that a certain sum had been promised to be expended in metal at Eketahuna, and that had not been done; Cr Macquarie had not denied that.- They should keep faith with the settlers, for they were paying thoir share of the loan £3500 and had only got £250 of it." Now, this statement of Mr Hawkins is quite untrue, and quite misleading. Mr Macquarie entirely denied this; 110 distinctly stated,, "Tlio sum raised had been £3,607," ! but there was only ; £402 for metalling,! of which £250 had girie. to Eketahuna; leaving only £212 availably for the remainder'of theuoatl. The grant 1 was intended for the wholelroad and not for one end of it." ~,i

1 givo the following particulars for tlio

benefit of tho public, and for which I may state 1 am indebted to Mr Or Macquario The applications under tho Roads mid Bridges Construction Act, extracted from the records of the Council are as follows; Eketahuna.. to Alfredton—metalling, £1232. Alfredton to Tinui, sections 1, 2,3,' and 4, between end of formed part of Eketahuna to Alfredton and first crossing Tirauinea River—£243o lfe Id, . •■Sections.s, 0, and 7, from first crossing' Tirauinea River, to Tiraumea valloy towards Tinui: 3 miles—£39lo 13s 2d. Sections 8, 0,10, not to be done, cost of Whareama bridge "will absorb tile whole> of the Itlis for these sections—£9.92 9s 9d. , --Whareama bridge—£77slos. > • --'Total amount applied for—£93s3 9s. Therefore it follows that as only jjtlis of this £9353 9s was granted, not more than the same proportion of the £1232 for metalling can legally be expended on the Eketahuna to Alfredton section, or in other words, it is therefore undisputable that the Eketahuna to Alfredton section .had-no claim whatever beyond Jths, viz, £3G2 of this sum. The Eketahuna end had. £250 expended in ■metalling, - and not a penny on any other portion of the Eketahuna to Alfredton section beyond a few pounds for, fascining, Pro Bono Publico, ~ Alfredton, April 30,