The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 156, 21 April 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1877.

Equal and exact justice to all men, : ; ! Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; ' Here shall the Preso the People's right niaintain, • Uiiawecl by. influence and unbribed by gain

The grant of a sum of about £I,OOO made by the Assembly some time pince for the construction, of,. either end of the Swamp, road, is about to be expended on that object, under the superintendence of the Wtxikato County Council. The i*ba'd at pre-j sent existing leads from nowhere to nowhere, . but when either end of this road is completed—that on the Hamilton side and the other on the Piako 'side Crawford's . .store p,i Piako and Hamilton, instead of being as now twenty - five miles apart, .will be. brought within seventeen miles of each other. And this, moreover, will be all so much done of the much-needed road between Waikato and the Thames, a "work, which it will be an everlasting disgrace to the .Four Counties, if, when called upon by the Thames Council to take their share in it, they fail to do so. The latter body sees the ; advantage to be gained by the direct connection of Grahamstown with the Waikato'districts," a connection in every respect as desirable for us as for tbem, and declares . itself resfdy to make good the road from Grrahamstown to Omahu. if the county districts beyond will complete, their half between Omahu and the Waikato river ; that is, when this thousand pounds'of Government money above alluded to shall have been expended, tho remaining portion of the line of road.between the Omahu and Piako. The difficulty lies in the non-working of the Counties Act by tbe Piako and Waipa Counties. The Waikato County Council is prepared to do its duty in the matter.. The Piako settlers, we believe, are equally anxious that their couniy should do the same, but the Council declines to work I the Act, not as in Waipa, by the wish of the ratepayers, but against their wish and in the supposed ini terests of two individuals, one of ' whom is Mr. .Firfch. " Now, we have

more faith in that gentleman's public spirit than to believe .-if-the large majority of the settlers express themselves in favour of working the Act that he will stand in the way.; lior is there any reason that he' •should fear to work it. jQpmmandingS as*he and the meiriberSforiPatatere 'riding do. half thp voting power of the Couhcrh controlany thing like an- attempt to" unduly tax their large' properties for improvements, which would benefit other parts of %e district morclargely - than, their own. .We should, ffierefore, ~like to see the frieuds of progress in that county agitating for a reversal of the insane •resbltitibn which lias "tied''"'" up*the" Council for all useful.and' beneficial purposes. And so, too, with the Odunty- of Waipa. . There" the ratepayers of three out of the ridings hdve declared against the working of the Act, bub how inariy of them who have done so understand: its meaning 1 How"*' many, indeed,..have ever read it X Every month, however, will show them the mistake that ;they have made. To-day the whole*,of : the ; ferry -'tolls: atithe,: Hamiltonpunt, are ordered Jo; be taken possession of by the '"Waikato ?.County"'Council, whieh does i consent -to work the Act j tomorrow we shall- have the renew;al of the licenses, and a sum of over ■£3oo forthe year will pass into the ■jColb'nial Treasury, 'to be'used for the general purposes of the Colony—a sum more than sufficient to hare worked the Act in Waipa-r-while large public works, such as *'■ the completion of the road between Ngaruawahia and Alexandra, the very first work which any Waipa Council should have taken in hand, .will be left over to some day in the remotefuture. One by one the opj portunities we might .have seized will be lost to us till, like the ;"<Sybilline: Volumes, the Act will be gladly accepted- by-and-bye when half its value has been losk [