THE AUCKLAND AND WAIKATO RAILWAY

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 378, 15 October 1874, Page 2

THE AUCKLAND AND WAIKATO RAILWAY

We are informed that the Minister of Public Works has declined to open the line of railway to Mercer for public traffic, and we are further told that the contractors have declined any longer to afford Drury residents the opportunity, for some time back allowed, of travelling in the trucks. Probably this action of the contractors is intended to have the effect of increasing the pressure which persons interested in the opening of the line may desire to put on the Government through representatives, and to increase the public feeling in that direction. If such be the case it is to be regretted that the contractors lme followed such a course. Anxious as we are to see the line opened it is only right and just that there should be no loophole left by means of which the contractors might be able to slip beyond the four walls of their contract, or to make the fact of the line being opened, even if to be worked by themselves with consent of the Government, an argument fx % om which to drcvw a conclusion that the line was fit for public traffic, since the Government would thus be allowing the public to travel over it on payment of fares. Mr Richardson telegraphs to the effect that the engineer reports the line to be " in bad order, and unfit for traffic at present." He also says that the contractors " have been working up the agitation for some weeks, hopping to repeat what took place on the Onehunga line." There was, we know, some amount of dispute on the subject of the condition of a considerable number of sleepers on that line, many of which were condemned by the Resident Engineer, and had to be replaced. Mr Richardson goes on to say, that " when the line to Drury is properly finished there will be no objection to open it, if the Government can arrange fair terms with Messrs Brogden. They have to maintain the line three months after completion ; and if the Government were to open any part the contractors would put the expenditure on the Government. Such expenditure will be very large, as the ballast for much of the extension to Mercer, if not for all of it, has to go over the line." There are good reasons in these averments, from the Government's point of view, for care and vigilance, both as regards the safety of the line and the avoidance of financial loss. Respecting safety, of course the Government and their engineers are responsible for that ; and, hpwever much the line may, in the eyes oi non-professional men, appear to be smooth and safe, the professional opinion of the engineer is what the Government must act on ; for, if that were disregarded an accident happening involving loss of life or other serious disaster, there would be a strong censure passed on the Government. Again, if, by the immediate opening of the line, such additional expenditure for maintenance as is spoken of by the Minister for Public Works had to be met by the Government, Parliament would be apt to call them to account for bad financial negotiations. The reasons and conclusions ai-e all cogent ones as respects the position of the Government, but, for all that, there is displayed by Mr Richardson a willingness to negotiate a fair arrangement with the contractors so soon as the line is fit for traffic. We regret very much that any cause should operate in delaying what both town and country so earnestly desire and so much require, for the benefit alike of the citizen and the settlers. We sincerely hope that while every effort is made to put the line in proper condition for traffic at the earliest possible moment, both the government and the contractors will be prepared to give and take in the negotiations necessary for completing " fair arrangement " under which the public passenger and goods traffic can be carried on, even under some x'estrictions, as early as it possibly can be done." — Cross.

Three persons are in custody of tlio Macclesfield borough police on an extraordinary charge. A silkpiercer named George Hollinshead lived with his wife in George street, Macclesfield. Recently they took in a lodger named Jonathan Bentley. Mrs Hollinshead has had seven children, of whom two are living. It is stated that she and her husband were married at the Old Church, Macclesfield, in 1852. The lodger Bentley, it appears, paid some attention to Mrs Rollinshcad, and at length it was arranged that Bentley should marry the woman, and that the three should live together. The husband accordingly put up the banns for the marriage at St James's Church, Sutton, and he actually accompanied " the couple " to church and gave the woman away to Bentlej-. On returning they were mobbed by the neighbours, and husband No. 1 finding the neighbourhood too warm for him left his old quarters to his successor. The police had to interfere to prevent a breach of the peace. They had since apprehended the woman on a charge of bigamy, and' Hollinshead and Bentley for aiding and abetting.