THAMES AND PIAKO RAILWAY.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 607, 11 April 1876, Page 3

THAMES AND PIAKO RAILWAY.

. P'*,— You 4>*ve truly stated the cam, tbtt til* "j hames>and Piako raUj»ay, though not a trunk . line, ia ona nevertheless of euch importance that us- construction ought not to be neglected by th# <;overnu*ent, bat unless not onliy the press but ibe settlers interested urge the importance and ' i ecetaity of tbe work upon tbe Government, it <r a or* likely to be leit undone than not. Keither tbe Thames nor tbe Waikato press baa been i .rjligfnt in calling public attention to tbe matter tfrXi turn- to time, bui nnleia tbe public itself in loth communities t*kes up the natter with i) irit, and at once, another session and anotker je»r'Wil!<pasaib} without anything betng<done. It was only when tbe matur was urged upon tl • Pirmier <by acommittee appointed to agitate t) • matter, that tbe Hying aurvev of Mr Bimp."•oii, alluded to in your leading -article -of Thursday, was made. 'Ibis done, tbe wiitter wa< rle Wed, tbe bugbear of tbe native difficulty was i ade tbe pcg 'on which to Jiang delay, and the i atter ha* remained «ver since in $tat» quo. 1 bat difficulty, however, no longer exuts, or in ' i .mild a form that it oould and ought to be rssily overcome. It oould at least Iced to no utioua complication, while tbt advantsgst to be tuned by tbe oonetruotion of a railway connectLpGrabaaatown with the Waikuto would be of > t eh Taat importance to the welfare, progreas, ard n-itintenance of peace hi the already partly settled districts north of a base line drawn from 'lauranga to Bsglaß, that -neither expense nor -difficulty of negotiation abould be allowed by the •Government to itand for one moment in the way -of the prosecution at tbe undertaking. In omitting from the lilt of public works the •construction of this line of railway the Gorernnent baa, I folieT*, left out one of the most important and reproducti/e schemes in tbe whole plan, and baa not only been culpably negligent of the intereats of tbe Waik»to, tbe Fiako and the Thames, but of the colony at large. When fbe Government refuted the offer of Meairn irogden to construct tbe various lines of isilway by private enterprise on a gtiarantoe, it aasnnvd a re»pon»ibility ot doing tbe work itself, and in so glaring mi instance of neglect of such large local and colonial interests as are inrolred in the consi ruction of this work, there it little doubt that it only a strong ard steady pressure) of public opinion were brought to bear upon them, the naticr would receive tbe attention it deserve*. 43ur«ly if political pretaurs oan ensure tbe oon* »trucuon of a railway from Kiverhead to Auckland, which, running side by side with inland navigation, vill open up l*ad tbat on no average would not m&intwn a goat on «vtry hundred acres, the v«*t fertile tracts to bo b«sefltted by the proposed Tlumea and Waikato railway have *n rquai if sot supwior cUun.— i am, Jco, EaO* «isn 1-kio, lnril>B, lB7ob