THE Waikato Times OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1874.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 280, 26 February 1874, Page 2

THE Waikato Times OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1874.

The Premier has declared thai it is not the intention of tbe Government to construct h railway from t'lo Thames to the Waikato, and the Superintendent, >ib will be seen by a telegram, has abated that ti,e Provincial Government has not the means. We regret that such is the case, as we always regret whenever the financial position of the colony prohibits the construction of any work that in >t>elf would, without doubt, add to its general prosperity and benefit a district in a preater ratio. 'Ye are not clear that the Provincial Government uould not m justice be called upon to undertake the work ; this distrct hag as yet received little or no benefit from provincial ve\ enue , of that no c inaplaint could, up to this time, be made with ,t'Bti<e; but >>f late, Hie set-ing aside ot £2f>0,000 uy tut* Colonial Pailiament for the purchase of native lands, to bo ve-ted in the Province, has lltered the aspect of afftiie. So long as the whole of the land revenue of this di-triet went into the ' lolomal coffers we cmiM not. of '"ourse, expeot the Pn vi ire to prpenH rr r«Mme derp erl frftn ot.ber •lources in this district 'I \m i; 250,000, however, i! must be rememheiptl. w»s yiveu by l\u'lia,mont, md there on bo liftle doubt that, we are equitably wii titled to our share 'J he cost probably ot waking i railway would be greater thnu our proportion ; It us therefore nsk. a* tlipre m every probability <>t our reoeiring, 'he necrßfaiy to coiißfrucb 8 . 00-l pabbable load fruiu the Waikato to the Ibamee. Our exports at, preent are capable ot walking to market, when another s<ato of affiirs anses the colony will without doubt be able to ■tffbrd the cost of a railway. The coal trade of fch6 Thfraes ie considerable, aud we trubt that Mi if. fact Will have due weight with the authorities, aud

muuce tuem, »t tht* eurlient roomful oousiitent with politic! fo.es'^ht, to uffoni tv the Walkato the means of supplying the mat k*>r,

We have received the following letter from a con-capou- ' dint In it is cmLrvi eJ a dii'il ol tiuth, and good sound lii'iise. — " Wtteu I t -ad of deputation-, one ufter anotnor, asking members ol th« Government foi Ihib Tnuuies iail* a) , and nothing else as a substitute, it puts me much in muni of the ' Merchant of Venice ' who would have his ' pound of flesh' and nothiug else. Had the first deputation who waitod on tin* Hoa Mr McLean compromised the matter, and when a railway was not to be had, urged him to open up a good cattle track, it would have been a beginning ; t-till this la^t deputation followed in their predecessors' footstep-., and aid not, as far as I could see, urge the o ening up of any other kind of road, although, so much required Mr Vo^al, in Y'a r ply, s.ud he hoped to nee the Thames supply itt elf. T ! >is is impossible, when the upper part is more isolate than the Waikato at the present time. Surplus, cattle from Hie Upper Timmea have to come over to Cambridge, thence down tho Waiknto to Auckland, and perhaps shipped to tb< goldiicld within forty niilea of where they first started from. — Tae roaaon 19 that n very small strip of lund below Te Aroh.i is owned by natives who object to cattle benig dnvui oior their lond. The advancement of tho whole of the Upper Thames and Piako is delayed in consequence, and tue greater part of the land in those districts is in tho hand* of Europeans. Any road that may be constructed will oioss very little Maori rrmtory. lam strongly of opinion that the Thames and W.iikato people are entitled to have a road made forthwith. The loss to the Waikato is very considerable indeed, as stock that eventually finds its wa^ to the Thames market has to be driven u long roundabout way to Auckland, and pay several tolU on the road, and shipping j charges eventually. The whole ol this los* falls upon tho | •ettleri. Another light to look at thu matter in is that the j want of a road lessens the chance of an increaso of popula- ' tion. Had there been a good road made two or three years biek, men seeking a change of woik or seeking homes, tired ol « digger's hie, would in many instances have made their way into the Waika'o, whereas, wh mi once they got on to the Auckland wharf, Sydney or Melbourne appeared nearer than the Waikato I think it is quite tune to put on the Hcrew with some of the railways ; there me more started now tliati-can bo finished for thr nevttwentv u-nrs unless every other industry is to cease while the railways make progrew." Mr J. Banks, when in tho Waikato last week, bought a largo number of cattle for the Thames market, the non-ex-isfence of a road direct »o tho Thames will necessitate their being driven to Auckland, and shipped thence to their destinntion. The present Ministry have got an awkward nut to crack. The murderer Sullivan, supposed to ha\ i been safely shipped off to Dunedm -tho place from whence he can — is, it appear*, nfcill in Auckland with his keeper, and ha* been in the locality ever since the Mikado repudiated his company and would take him no further. II 3 was tuleu out to Onehnngn for the purpose of being shipped off bj the Phusbe, but being a man of an independent turn of mind, and not entertaining any loye for Dunedin gaol, lie refused to go, and tho keeper, knowing that he had to deal with a privileged mdi\idual or remembering the f.ite of the unfortunate West Coast victims, thought it better not to thwart the innocent lamb, so aarepd to remain with him hero. This convicted murderer appears 111 a singular position both as all'icU himself* and society. He appeal a to be neither free n>r bound. He is understood to have bean pardoned on condition of his leading the country, but there is, of course, great difficulty in getting him away. He must, therefore, strictly speaking, be m the position of a prisoner illegally at large, if he is at large. On his side he may urge that whatever his crimes may be it is uujiut that he should be deprived of the clemency of the Crown extended to him. The Government ought certainly never to have let him out of ganl without having been | repnred to meet the difficulties winch were pretty sure to arise in his case. A correspondent suggests that tht Hon Mr Vogel might take the opportunity at rhe banquet on Thursday of explaining what the Ministry intend to do with this last White Elephant of tlin'rs The people of Auckland will naturally object to Mr Sullivan being in thcr mid*r, and would greatly prefer his room to his company. That some definite decision will bave to be come to by the authorities iv respect to Sullivan there can be no doubt whatever.— Star. We are glad to learn that entries for the show at Te Awamntu are being sent in from all part* of the district We trnst that every settler will exhibit, it he has anything worth showing. We underdlund ihit there vmii be a considerable number of visitors from other parts of the pr >- viner, and it i 9 deMrnble thnf they should letmn home with n*j favorable an impression of the resources of the Waikato find the energy of the settlers as possible. We trust that the g?od sense of the, settlers on the Cambridge side of the district will lend them to exhibit, and forgot any hf'le soreness they may feel with regard to l.te transact/ons. The late drought we fear will lead to many of tli/e exhibits not being in such good' condition as might be desired. Those who attend the show must not forget that -tho weather this season hat been particularly unfavorable. A banquet was given to MrVopel at the Thames on Tuesday. About 80 prisons weie present, including the Superintendent and Executive. The chair was occupied by Mr Eowe, and (be vicc-ehnir by Mr Robert Graham. The speech of the Premier was almost entirely confined to allusions to locnl mid mining matters. At tho commencement he said " He Imidl) e\peutid he would be thought worthy of sui-ii a demonstration after the plain manner be had spoken to thr recent deputation. But he then thought it desirable to be plain spoken, and to deal frankly with the deputation, and it had not evidently cost him f heir good opinion." We reiiret to have to repoit the destruction by fire, on tho 17th instant, of two stacks of wheat belonging to Messrs Bruce, oi Te R»hu. It appears that 11 Maori was burning fern from the land o< 0110 of their neighbours, tbo wind changed suddenly, and fired the fence adjoining the wheat Geld. The loss amounts to about 150 bushels. It is matter of surprise to us tbut accident* of the above description are uot more frtquent. Tho country during ncarlj the wliolo 01 last week was on fire in all direct if inn. A correspondent, writing from Alnxandra, sayt — " It is a pit> the Hon Mr Vogel is uot coming up here. 11 he were an eyewitness to the great loaa and inconvenience the settlers are subjected to from having to cart all their goods from Hamilton, he would be nble to appreciato the necessity of sending the railway through the Delta." It will he seen announced in ourtelrgraphic columns that a large influx ol settlers to t 'anterbury is takiug place, tho new men being from Auckland. Allowing that the above is the case, we can with equal truth assert that a large influx to tho Waikato of settlers, to whose names can be added late of Canterbury, has taken plmce during the Inst twelve months. Some of the largest holdcm iv tne Waikato aro deserters from their original homes in the South.