PUBLIC MEETING. CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 174, 19 June 1873, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING. CAMBRIDGE.

A jielti>g of settlers and others belonging to the district was held iv the school-room", Cambi idgc, ou Saturday, the 14th iiisjt , at 3 o'clojk p in. In consequence of the meeting nut having been so fully advertised as it should have been, tlao atttndance wan not so laige as could have been wished.' Most of the principal settle is wcie, however, present. Mnjor J. Wilsom was called to the k cnair. He c {pressed, the pleasure which it gave him to occupy the chair at such a meeting, and hoped that in speaking to- any resolutions which might be brought before the meeting, those gentlemen who did so would not introduce local topics and local feeling into the question. He stated that the question of the termination of the proposed line to the Upper Waikatoshould b3 left to the Government and the Government Engineers to decide upon..

Mr J. P. Campbell thoa rose ami proposed the following res jlution :— " That fiis meetiug feela convinced that thj present high late of freight, and delay in and of the tr.uisib'of gools hl3 done mach to retird settlem3nt | and progres3 of the Waikato, and it desires to impress upon the Government the necessity of pushing forward at a more ra t )id rate the construction of the railway between Aucklaud and Mercer." In proposing this resolution, Mr Campbell pointed out the great inconvenienoe to which settlers and business men were subject through delay in receiving their goods ; live weeks often elapsed between the forwarding of goods fiom. Auckland and their receipt in the Upper Waikato, He also alluded to the almost prohibitive freight which existed between Auckland and Waikato, anil showed that in many instances the freight amounted to the value of the goods. The speaker also expressed his surprise, in spite of this horrible incubus which had been weighing j down settlers for many years past, that the district had pi ogressed so rapidly as it . ha.l . done. He could only account for its present comparative prosperity by the fact that the settlers were determined to oveicoinc all difficulties j that they weie hard working, energetic, and persevering ; and that the country they occupied was such as to amply reward their labours, lie concluded by staing his conviction that if this railway were completed to Mercer, the Cambridge district would advance in a degree that would astonish the present settlers, and would speedily become the most flourishing and the most extensive agricultural district in New Zealand.

Mr James Runciman seconded tW resolution, and in doing so remarked that the first sod of the railway was turned eight years a»o, and showed in what a different position the Waikato would now have been if the 1 ail way had then been carried on to completion. He also alluded to the many hundreds of thousands of pounds which had been sent away from Auckland to the southern provinces and elsewhere for produce, w hioh could have|been supplied equally wel\ if not better, from the Waikato.

Mr Fob rsr rose to speak to the resolution, and said he was glad to see that at length the Auckland people were interesting themselves in the r.iihvay question. He said he had some experience inrallway work, and never yet had seen a railway in couise of constiuction progressing so slowly and so miserably as that between Auckland and Mercer. The motion was then put to the meeting and unanimously carried.

Mr Joseph Buttle proposed: — "That this meeting is of opinion that the railway now being constructed between Auckland and Mercer should be extended without delay to the Upper Waikato, as, if such were done, it would also tend towards the permanent pacification of the disaffected Maoris." He stated that the Waikato people should have been the first to agitate the extension of the railway from Mercer ta the Upper Waikato, and blamed them for the apathy they had shown in thia matter. He stated that in the event of war — and if the mxirderera were not given up war must come (cheers) — nothing would prove of greater assistance to the Government than a railway to the confiscation boundary."

Mr John Arnold seconded the resolution.

Mr Bruce proposed :—": — " That the chairman be requested to forward the above resolutions to the Government, and that a committee be appointed, consisting of Messrs Campbell, Kuncimau, and Major Wilson, to draw up a petition embodying the resolutions passed, such petition to be presented to the House of Representatives as soon as possible after it assembles."

Mr Peter Thomson seconded the resolution. After passing a vote of thanks to the chairman the meeting separated.