Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] Being the extended title of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is identical SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1892.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4291, 10 December 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] Being the extended title of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is identical SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1892.

Tub return of works oarried out in New Zealand during the yearlß9l u 2 under the co-operative system is very suggestive. It is a record of short lengths and patches all over the Colony partly constructed and for the time being useless to man or mortal. Three miles here and four miles there have been formed to a certain extent, but in no ono instance has a section, apparently, been completed or brought to a paying point, If a tailor gave as the result of his year's operations so many waistbands made, so many pockets, ft fine assortment of sleeves and a fine display of coat collars but not a single whole or serviceable garment, ho would be regarded as a howling lunatic, but our statesmen who aro doing a precisely similar thing, who aro turning out shreds and patohca of railways, claim to have discovered a wise and wonderful method of executing publio works, The total amount expended and mostly wasted by them last year on railway odds andeudsand otherunconsidered trifles, under the co-operative system, was about forty-seven thousand pounds, and the distribution of this sum was a little curious. Messrs McKenzieand Seddon, the representatives in the Cabinet of Otago end Westland, took tbe half of it for their own provincial districts. Of the remaining moiety'the lion's share went to Auckland, a distriot where railways are notoriously■ ■• unproductive, but one which lias considerable influence wit|t tho present Government. ' Wellington, which possesses tp inpomplete lines wjiicb ccfuld be speedily construQted \q a paying point, came off badly with a couple of thouoand pounds wasted on the; EketahunaWoodvillo line,' and a similar amount mis-spent on theMarton-Te Awamatu railway. : _ V ■ Jp this way the publio money,

available for railway constructipn is frittered and dribbled away, so that I the possibility of any adequate return 1 for the expenditure is absolutely pre- 1 vented. ; Of the amount)) voted for 1 the respective works, a considerable , sum remains slill in hand, so that in | a case of emergency, such as a general election, Ministers can put on full steam and for-a short period employ on public worlca an unlimited number of votflis at a high rate of wages. j ===== ]