Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] WEDNESDAY JUNE 1,1892. NORTH v. SOOTH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4126, 1 June 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

WEDNESDAY JUNE 1,1892. NORTH v. SOOTH.

Beino tub extended hub of the Wairabapa Daily, with which it is IDENTIOAIi.

We rubbed our editorial eyes last Saturday, when we read our Evening Post. To our editorial lips there came an apt quotation from Mr William Bhakespearß; " Are things what they seem, or is visions about ?" Could it be pnsaible that the Post was commending the Government—giving them an encouraging, pat on the back in its leading article I Once more we applied ourselves to the vigorous and often grammatical columns of our contemporary, till at length we had no room for doubt, The attitude of the Government towards tho Midland Railway Company had satisfied its august critic. It is true that the Poll's satisfaction was-expressed in the most disagreeable way poasiblejthat it was qualified by the introduction of venomous little phrases and taunts relating to matters not at present under discussion, Nevertheless, the Post is distinctly pleased with the firmness of the Government under temptation, and we must not be too critical of ; the Posh method of exhibiting contentment or bestowing praise,

The circumstances whicb have brought pence to the soul of our Willis-street oracle are briefly these: The agitation which had long been fomeuted in Canterbury, to procure the construction of a railway oonnect* ing Christchurch with Hokitika and the West Coast generally, was brought to a head in the reign of the StoutVogel Ministry. The Midland Railway Company was formed, to construct the desiderated railway, and very large tracts of country on and near the line of route were handed over to the Company by way of inducement to them to carry out the work. But the country has proved to be of mixed quality and of douu!f"' Vfl ' l|e in t,ie raarljet i 80 th *t theeffortsoftheC?^^ 0 realisß on some of their land assets iiu? 8 . 01 ? 1 been crowned with exhilarating suocesß. Now, therefore, after the manner of corporate bodies, they exhibit a dis position to break the contract,' They ask the Government of to-day-to take back the land, and in lieu thereof to guarantee them 8 per cent on the cost of the' line, in other words they ask for £48,000 per' annum, In return, they are good enough to say that the Government is welcome to the profits of the line wbdh it is open for traffic. Not a doubt of it, The Government, or any one else, will be welcome to. those profits, so far as the Midland Railway Company maybe concerned, For the profits will be like those of Messrs Sawyer and Allen, (late Nock-etu-ofi), chemists—it will be possible to place them under a gooseberry leaf,

But the Government could not seo it; and we quite share the thankfulness of the Post at finding that sotuo conimonsense and business capacity is to be found among Ministers. The tunny part, however, of tins business is the Hithuaiasm which the Post displays on behalf of tbje trunk railway projected for ibis island. "There is a remunerative public work for you, if you like I" exclaims our Wellington contemporary, " Thereto aninvestraem for aGovern* meut guarantee I No deception about this enterprise; all prizes, no blanks; the capitalist who will put his money into this will reap a lich return, in addition to an .immortality of approbation in these columns I". We know that it is not considered good manners now-a.-.days to quote Latin, otherwise we should like to suggest a motto for the Post :—Cpelum nop /j»tpi» mutant qui trans marecumnt. This, being interpreted, means that your, view of the relative values of the North Island Trunk Railway {and the Midland Railway Je-

pends entirely, upon the queation, Which side; ot Cook's Strait is your homej It may grieve the Post to (earn that' .there : are not wanting critiosin';Canterbury and elsewhere in the So'uth Island who pooh-pooh the idea of one trunk lino, who point out that it ' must necessarily. pass through a good deal of worthless, country, that it involves. costly engineering, and that it is either an effort at political propitiation or else aii inexcusable indulgence in luxury. There are people wicked enough to hint these things, There are actually people who have such ojmoral squint that they consider the Otago Central to have equal claims with the Auck-land-Wellington line. In view, therefore, of the possibility that ourproceed; ing with the North Island Trunk Railway aright be cruelly misunderstood " down South," we ate be thankful to learn' from'the wellinformed Post that "It would not at the present lime be prudent for the colony to incur, oven indirectly, any : large liability for railway construction of any kind,"! : That being so, we hope the Post will not push the claims of our Northern line in'seasoh' and out of season, If it does push these claims, it must not pour out its indignation when it finds the Canterbury and Otajjo newspapers holding a brief for their own railways, .:■