The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1874.

Waikato Times, 13 January 1874, Page 2

The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1874.

The turning of the first sod of our railway gave two of our leading politicals an opportunity to ventilate the.r opinions, and, if they felt inclined, prognosticate as to the futute. The Hon. the Colonial Secielary has long been noted for his reticence and ability tv lead his hearers oft any hcent which luiurht teuu to the discovery and capture of his party's fox; or in other words, be lias the art of avoiding close intimacy with the lead ng point of any question with which he deals. On Satui'day he was very careful to explain to us that the toioo the Guvenwnuub has ju&fc raised was only brought under military law for the purpose of maintaining discipline ; and in order to excuse luMMelf for an act, on account of which no attack hid, been nuide upon him, lie took the trouble to atucL tLu- contractors for the delay that has taken place in the ujijiti action of the Auckland and Mercer Hailway. Ho forgot, however, to inform his bearers that it wae the Government of which he

was ami is mm who are solely to blame. Had tho contracts b^en issued on different terms, the price might have been a^fTEle higher, but the work could and would havebeen vmy much more rapidly completed, To the Government only is owing the fvict that the railway will not reach Mercer before 1 870. regards the men who are to make our railway being trained to ama and under military discipline, it is probably well that it is so, but we have never yet seen any men who wore a uniform work with tho same energy, and do the same amount of work for the same amount of money as civilians. In this chro, we wei*e led to believe by the speech of Df Pollen that thosajnen would only put down the pick ard shovel and take up arms when required to do so for their own safety and that of the settlers. We are not aware whether it is the intention to proceed with the men as at present, but trust not — we aliudo to the mounting guard an hour befoie da) light — in fuct, going through all the absurdities that were perpetrated by the Imperial troops when in this country, if the Government think it necessary to mount guard before daylight in the morning, at a place several miles within our " frontier line," the least they can do is to warn the advanced settlers that they are in danger and liable to attack. We do not for one moment believe that they think thi-re is any danger or that any exists, then we ask, why play at soldiers? This much may be depended upon : the more soldiers is played at the less work will be done. We quiie approve of swearing the men to obey their officers, and rendering them liable in cases of disobedience to very much more severe punishment than can be inflicted by civil laws ; they should never, however, see a rifle or mount a guard uutil it becomes absolutely certain that fighting, and not railway making, is the order of the d iy. We can rest perfectly satisfied of this, that the nearer our new force becomes like soldiers, the further it will be removed from resemblance to the road-making navvies. Nip drill and military nonseuse in the bud and our force may make our railway at a trifling cost over that of civilian labor; otherwise the experiment will be a costly one. We learn from Dr Po.len the bare fact that Mr Vogel has a project for settling the portion of the province bordering on llawke's Bay and Tauranga. The Colonial Secretary's gieat caution here becomes attain prominent; surely he must know something about the scheme. The Superintendent took a. glowing view of public matters, and we believe that circumstances fully justified him in so doing*. He consented to turn the fit st sod in the belief that the railway into the heart of the most important distiict in his dominions would be constructed without delay, in other word-*,i bathe was not taking part in a ministerial pantomime, and innocently performing the part of chief jester. We agree with him in thinking that the most important public work in the colony was initiated on Saturday. When completed tho Maori difficulty in the Waikato, at any rate, will be practically at an end : the principal district in the province of Auckland will be brought within easy reach of a market, and one long stage on the road to Wellington will have been accomplished. We have so often expressed our opinion as to tho probable results to arrive from railway communication with the centres of population both north and south, that it is needless to again enter upon the question. The Waikato will be a great district, and those who are struggling at the preseut time will, in the ordinal y o >urse of natuio, live to see their children with glowing prospects, and themselves contented and glad tbnt their good sense led them to pereevere in times of discouragement. The railway will do mu< h, but we desire to remind our settlers that they must help themselves ; unless they unite for the general weal, and are frugal and industrious, much that natuie and a paternal government is doing for them will be neutralised.

On Saturday lust a deputation eonsistingof Messrs Seddon, White, dimming, and Fnrrell, representatives of the Kiri» kiriroa and Komokuruu Bonulg, united upon the lion, the Colonial Secretary and 1113 Honor the Superintendent, asking assistance jointly from the Colonial and Provincial Governments for tlio purpose of opening a direct road from Cambridge and Uannllon to the future terminus of the railway oppoii c Ngnruawahia. The deputation stated tha* four bridges would be required, nnd thai the Board could mnke throe themselves, but asked the Government to construct the fourth. For the purpose of carrying out their proportion of the work the Boards were prepared to devote the whole of the rates of the two districts to that object. Mr Miiclchv was consulted by the Superintendent, and he stated that tlio road to Horotiu would be five miles shorter than that to Taupiri. The lion. I)r Pollen said that applications had been made to construct bridges on the west side of the river, yet the Boards were expending money on works not immediately necessary. His Honor the Superintendent asked that full particulars should bo furnished in writing nnd promised that the matter should have bis earnest attention — The deputation then withdrew. "The Canterbury Government, however, it would appear (says the Otngo Daily Times), plant out trees on Government reserves nnd tl*p.»here on ft much more extensive scale than has been attempted hero. Tlio nature of the work in j this way which has been accomplished by the Canterbury Government during the present year is given in an article Iwe refer to. We read of nrenuea round Chnslchurch being I planted with tot <o lime, Sp.ii)i-<b cbesnur, pinui insignii*, and I pinus radiati, and of terraces being "clumped" with a variety of CnHforni'nn pines and ryp) esses ; also of an I avenue ronlnimng an arm of five acre* bring planted en- ! tirely with c-nprevtus mnrrocarpa. Ou the northern line of ! rnt(w»y, noov K.iiapin, about 8000 young Irrea have been )>lanted this year with the view of protecting the line from (he sand which is blown About in this neighbourhood. About 6000 trees were planted nt. the same place last year. Besides the*© trees, titaut 20,00(1 y>!m\t«of »c -side grasses h»vo been pfatttfd out. At the Government nursery attention seems to bn given to th« icani.g of <he best kinds of both evergreen and deciduous troei, and we notice that some of the divisional hedue* in tlio ruuwry are being formed of holly nnd native pitrosporums. Hcd es of this kind will prove belter than thorn for narteriet, a* they will protect the joung trees at a tune when they mewt need protection. Mr Armstrong, tln» gardener at the. Government Domain, we are informed, has suggested the formation of an arboretum for Aew Zealand trprs and shruhi. He points to the necessity for something of the aort being done, because of the rapid destruction of our native forests. Three land owners, we are told, have sent m application* for the land bonus offered by the Forest Trees Planting Act. One of these, the lion. Mr Richardson, the Minister of Public Works, has planted out 10 acres at Oldbury, near Timaru, with, according to Mr Armstrong, the Government gardener, the best collection of new nnd rare coniferous trees of their ago ho hii!" ever seen in f his country. Mr Armstrong would do wpII to vmit Nonitt of the large estates 111 tho Omnnru district if he wj«he-« to are really line colledions ol conilerae. It may be 1 lint our Cantci bury neighbors are beloro us with i their applications for land bonu«es, but we doubfc if better and more extensive plantations can be shown in Canterbury than there areui Northern Otago." It must be clear to any man who has taken the trouble to watch the gradual disappearance of the bush in the Auckland province, that unless some vigorous steps are taken to plant timber more that in proportion to that cut. down, that the day is not far distant when we shall have to import timber from the South ou the other colonies. His Honor the Suptrintendent arrived in town on Sunday evening at 8 o'clock. Mr William Henry George has been gnzetted keepor of the publio ferry at T9 JUori, in the jpluce of Mr George Harper ,

The following Jitter wia Dmn u-wnca in acKujW^.j^c.nt,!!. of a memorial winch emanated from a meeting of representatives fioin each District J'.ourJ m the Wajkato, aaking that the Colonial Government, will t.ike the management oi the main postal roiuJa into their hands. We nave been requested by Major WtJaoii;J,he Ch-urman of the meeUUff, to publish the letter for general informa.' ton :— " Public Works Offioe, Wellington, 24' h December, i 873 Sir,— l Imvifie hotwi* to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of tUeM9t.li j Nou'inber, covering A luohiarial Iroili various Higßwuv Boards in the WaikaU) district, rt'questing^siistanco Wii the Goremment, and, in reply, to inform j*ou fiat tha matter i is now ureter the aetio'Ud considerHtion ot the Governmeut. I ronret tliat, owing to my nbuetico in tti« . S6utl>, I waa undblo to acknowledge jour lutt-ir trwlior.— -I liRTa &u., Edward Kishabdsok. W.nlut ut Hokitika the Ooverrwr^TiaiU'd tlie Provincial Gaol tml ordered two prisont-ru to bo released ivoxn cuttody.