ALFREDTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2455, 18 November 1886, Page 2

ALFREDTON.

[Fbom ooti. owy CoaaEßPONfiExi.) * Anyone visiting this district during the last two months might very reasonably ask if it always rains here, and the reply might woll bu in the words of the Sootohman, " Ay, except wheu it euaws." The result of this wet.season. U that feed is very backward, and tho Btook not at all

iu the condition Hiey ought to be in. I am afraid the percentage of lambs will also be very rouoh below the average. So the Government have thrown the FortyMile Bush road on the Council, and in duucourso tho Council will throw the burden on the shoulders of the Alfredton and Pahiatua Hidings. In the eyes of some people to make the Alfredton Battlers pay for bridges in tho Masterton Hiding is quite a reasonable thing, but to make the Masterton Hiding contribute towards tho Forty-Mile Bush road would be quite unreasonable. Owing to the condition of the road we have to travel before we get on to the Forty-Mile Bush iwd, our traffic is confined to two or three months in the year

—luuimer ninntha. It would be most unfair to tax us for damage done to the road by through traffic in the winter mouths. 1 should think that the best meaiis of-protecting the ratepayers of Alfredton and Pahitt.ua is the erection of to.ll bars-one at Maarioeville North road and the othor at the Manawatu. Tolls are considered by some as antiquated, but there are many tilings called antiquated which "a preferable to many of the newfangled ideas, suoh as general rates,' spooial rates, separate rates, etc Tolls have at least this merit, that they make those who rum the roads pay for it, and I, am ,\ot at all oortain that it ia more costly than sOmeofchersyatem of collating rates. it took two years to make a start with the survey of the Alfredton block and as the mau reinarked.who witnessed the donkey raoe,'" Laud bliss us, what'ua start." At the present rale of program there is just a possibility that the laud will be in the market before the end of the century. We ■are setting quite powerful in the way of " oritics" in Alfredtep and neighborhood. A straightforward, honest oriito is a deoided advantage to a locality, but I am afraid our critics are the backdoor sneak-

iug kind of animal, those lovely oreatures who neglect their own duties and resting ontheßoftest part of their bodies, consider it their special function to oritioise the aotion of those who are giving their time and oftentimes more to further the interests of the district. lam glad to believo that the sort of oriticism 1 refer to is confined to the "floating" portion of the oommumty and individuals who have no interest in tho district. A special subject for britioism ie the expenditure of loans under the " Roads and Bridges Construction Act," This is a very it&lo story and requires no other reply than the fact that not two of those critics agroe in their objections to the expenditure. 1 am told there is some talk of a private Company being started for the purpose of connecting by rail the Whareama and Castlepoiut Districts with the Forty Mile Bush line. Tho proposed line would follow the Puketoi Country for a considerable distance, and, no doubt, tho Company would look to tho Government for a large slice of that rich country.