THE WERAITI ROAD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4482, 28 July 1893, Page 3

THE WERAITI ROAD.

Tlio following lollor from the Minister of .hnils un tlio subject of tho now fsuitms Weraiti road question, was road at the l«t meeting of tho Masterten Road Boaid Department ot Lands and Surrey, Wellington, 23rd Juno, 1893. Sib,—l have tlio honor by direction o! tho Minister ot Lands to acknowledge the receipt ol your letter of tho 17th June, in which you request that the Board should be favored with an intimation ol tho determination ol tho Government in tho matter of tho Wcraiti Road. In reply 1 have to repeat what was stated to you ou tho 15th of May last, that unless tho Board will wy -that it will pay reason- -• - (ot this road being taken through tlio Wcraiti property, the Minister cannot see his way to advise tho issue of tho proclamation taking tho road. Tho reply, which you sent to that letter, was that yon are prepared to indemnity tho Crown against tho payment ol any compensation which mav bo lawfully found due to tho owners ot the Weraiti estate upon the oxcrcfeo of tho vr&nant taking tho road. Without touching tho question of tho legality ol any warrant taking n road through the estate as desired, I am directed to say that nnloss thojßoard distinctly undertakes to pafsjgUMnsatlon ns if no right to tako a road the Minister wilt bo unable to do anything further in tho matter. I hftvo, Ac., (Sd.) A. Bamoh. The Chairman Mastcrton Itoad Board, Mastcrton. Mr William Beetham, Chairman of tho Board, in the course of his remarks thereon said, that so far n» the Buard was concorned tho mattor of takinj; tho road was at an ond. It was to lie reCTetttd—in his opinion-that tho district had lost a road which must ultimately ho much needed, and tho necessity for scour. ng the right to which was amply pruved by the fact that Dr Hoskinn—tho former owner of the estate-waited on tin! Board and acknowledged that a road was necesaaty, and offered to puichaso tho land required, if ths Board would iniik<> tho connection between tho County ltcad and the District Itoad on the East bank of tho Taueru, though the i djoiniiie properly (slr Bennett's) instoad of selecting tho routo through Wcraiti. Tlio result of the action of tlio (Jovernmont in declining to excrciao the war-' rant, signed by the Governor, authorising tho survey through Wor.iiti, and, still further, after tho Board had been to the tho road, in refusing to advise the Governor to issue a proclamation taking tho necessary land for this purpose, would bo that a very largo area of country eminently fitted for cutting into small grjzing farms, would 'remain roadless j the most direct routo from Mastcrton to tho East Coast would b8 practically closed; and, when the necessities of tho district required that tho road systems on the east and west aides of tho Taueru to be connected. This could now only bo dono by purchasing tho necessary land at a sorlocs loss to tho ratepayers, whorcus the Board was desirous of securing the right of way while this conld be obtained without such expense. Tho Government, ap. parently solely in tho interests of a political supporter,- bad acted in a moat arbitrary manner. They had ignored the ' request of tho Mnsterton Road Board. They had before thorn the report uf its Engineer. They had also obtained a ro- i port from the Chief Surveyor on the alternative routes which was entirely in favour of that through Weraiti. The ovidencegiyen by the Survoynr-tionornl and two Chief-Surveyors boforo the 1 Waste Lands Committee of the House of i Representatives was wholly in the same i direction. Tho Wasto Lands Committee | alter hearing exhaustive evidence recom- . mended tho taking of the road. Tho Board held an official intimation that the right to take tho read through Weraiti would not lapse until the 23rd of June I last, Beforo tho It.M. Court it was de- I uided that it was a public road. At a re- 1 hearing beforo a Bench composed of the Resident Magistrate and Justices of tho Peaco-tho former deoision waa con- , firmed. An appeal to the Supreme ' Court confirmed the decision of the ' Lower Courts, and yet the Ministers de- I cllned to move in the matter unless the i Board agreed to pay compensation, | bo legally recovered ' or not. Thiit is to say it was an attempt to force tho ratepayers of the district to put a largo sum of money into tho pocket of a supporter of the Government, by 1 way of compensation, which ovidontly I the Minister himself does not think i could be legally recovered. That tho Minister does not think so is clear from tho fact that having, he Bays, obtained an opinion from tho 1 law officers of tho Crown to the I effect that the land through which 1 the road was to bo taken having been | filled and grassed, is " cultivated" land —through which no right of road oxisted or could bo taken—jet though challenged i to do so he did not dare to produce that , opinion, beforo the Waste Lands Committee, though care had been taken that 1 that Committee should have a sufficient 1 ' preponderance of men of the right colour i amoDgat it members to ensuro the carrying only of such tieasurea and recommendations as the Government would approve Yet, notwithstanding the composition of the Committee the ' evidenceWßoovecwhelminglyinfavour . . of taking the road that they recommended - the right should be exercised while it ! existed nor did the Minister date to im« peril the interests of his supporters by adopting a course suggested by the Board viz,, of permitting tho question to bo decided by testing it in the Supreme Court, whore tho right—or any other colour—is not recognised. Mr Beetham further expressed his surprise that a so-called Liberal Government, who profoted to have the settlement of 1 tbe country at heart, and with that ob- j ject in view had by various irritating processes inaugurated a bursting up policy, should have laid themselves out to prevent tbe acquisition of a road, ; whioh would ultimately give access to a . largo area of land suitable for settlement, which also affected the value of , Grown Lands still in the hands of the Government, and concluded by saying the time would come—though not perhaplin his day—when the ratepayers of the district would foel that a great wrong had been inflicted upon them by the action of tho Government in this matter,