The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 570, 15 January 1876, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Ot w hitever tuite or purmuMon, roligi >us or political Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by mttucuce and uabnbcd by gum.

SATURDAY, JANUARY IS 1876

Now that the worry of election matters is over we shall all of us, Press and public too, have lime and opportunity to turn attention to the oonsideiation oi many important public questions thai have been somewhat overlooked of Jatc, and as if to etir us up to our duty in thu-rc-Bpect we learn that the Colonial Score-

tary and Premier, Dv Pollen, may sjibitly be expected in Wa-kato, when an opportunity, which we may not hive again for some time, will be afforded, of bringing many matters direct to the notice of the Government. Everyone can understand the difference between a request made by letter to tlie Government, and the same thing asked for dnectand the special leasonsioi ilsbeiug granted stated and pressed by <i iK'imtaUon upon a member of tl>e Ministry. The people of Raglan might have iterated again and again the reasons for the necessity of a Rnglan and Wajpa load, but that one littlo vkifc to address the electors did more to convince the now successful eondidate of the necessity for the work than anything 1 the people of Raglan could have said or written. Just so with a member of the Government v ii-iting our district, vv c may do more by means of a few well chosen deputations to fix the necessity of certain public woiks and requirements on the official mind than any amount of representation from a distance could possibly effect. The Colonial Secretary may be expected here ahout the middle of next week, his object being- to meet certain influential men of the Ngatirakauas with reference to the extension of the road from Cambridge to the Hot Springs. It is satisfactory to find the Go\ eminent vigorously pushing this movement ahead, as the opening ot this road is a matter of very great importance to Waikato, bringing as it will do the bulk of the tourists through this district, for no one will chose the Tauranga route after this is once open. As Mr WlriUker very justly observed at Cambridge thp other day, there are hundreds who, like himself, would rather traA el five hundred miles by land than face the discomfoits of a sea voyage to Tauranga, and have then a rough and uncomfortable land journey to boot. There are, however, other matters than this, important as it is, to which it will be desirable that the attention of the Colonial Secretary should be directed during his pi ejected visit to the Waikato. And first among these is the establishment of a local hospital for the Waikato. We have aguinmd again pointed out the necessity for the establishment of such an institution, say at Ngaruawahia, as the most central and convenient position, being easily reached by water communica tiou from all parts of the distiict, up and down. We need not expect that Dr Pollen would, on being deputationised, at once say " let there be a hospital," and that immediately the late military hospital building, still standing at Ngaruawahia, would bo fitted up and a resident hospital surgeon be appointed, but we might learn from him the proper course to take, the time to take it, and we should have at least one man in power, when the application was pressed, personally aware of the wishes of the settlers ai.d the merits of the case. So, too, in the case of roads needed to open up the distiict. We have. a 6ne agricultural country, but in many parts of it we regiet to say cultivation is being brought to a standstill -not for want of good lavd — not for want of means to work it, but for want of a market for the produce when raised, owing to the absenoe of loads to take such produce from the lauds where it is grown. Here, we have Hamilton, the largest centre of population on the country's side ill supplied witii allarticlen of farm and dairy produce, where even a decently grown potato is counted a luxury at the present time, and the people of Whata Whata, not more than ten miles distant, complaining that for want of a road to connect that district with Hamilton, they have mot a market for their pro duce. One district, little known, but comprising a kn.>t of thriving and industrious settlers — Tuhikarauioa — is cut off from civilisation altogether. We all know how j urgently a road is needed between Raglan and the Wnipa, and again a road to connect Alexandra with Ngaruawahia. Then again, all-devouring Hamilton has been long crying for a bridge in place of the present punt accommodation, and really we do not ace why this demand should not be granted. These are all, except perhaps the last, pressing and immediate wants, beyond the means of the local Town and District Boaids, and are such as, with others which will suggest themselves to our readers, should bo brought personally, and where possible practically, to the notice of the Colonial Secietary during his projected visit. Whatever some parts of the colony or some sections of tho people may have or choose to say against the General Government, Waikato has no reason to complain, and we believe that any fair and reasonable l'equest made by the district will not only be courteously received but carefully attended to by any member of the Government, and by the Government as a whole. The question of roads is one in which the Government itself is not a little interested. A short time henco and at considerable outlay the Waikato will have been tapped by the railway in course of construction, and it is of no little importance that the woik shall be a re-productive one. But unless the railroad can be itself fed by branch roads in all directions leading to the several agricultural districts this is not likely to be the case. We trust the piesent opportunity of advancing the several claims of different parts of the distiict will not be lost sight of. We at any rate have done our duty in calling attention to the matter. It now vests with the local authorities and leading public men of tlie several districts to do theirs.