The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 751, 24 April 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 1877.

Equal and. exact justice to:all men,. : QT whatever state, or,persuasion, religious or political;" ". i ft :IV?#''f!;;i:#';T ■?. ft V : :■■ •.-#•.-; Here shall, the Pre« the People's right maintain, "' 1 Unawed by influence and unhribed bjr gain

The Maori meeting held in the Pub" licHall^ ; Alexaindra, on Saturday* was a great success as far Sis it went, as showing how thoroughly alive to ! their <x>minercial interests are the King natives> rand how, anxious they .are to have, them furthered by the Government in every_£ossible.:,way.< iThat the meeting not %so fully attended as was expected, some 'seventy natives -only being present, 'was du<b entirely to the fact that the !Kihg> harl fromKawhia, and -msinyl )?hp )Vould otherwise have'been present, .at, the meeting at' Alexandra had gone > tip country to meet" him; / Although there?were as many Europeans present as Maories at Saturday's meeting none of them 1 seem to have jtakenpart with the Maories in the proceedings, somewhat to the disappointment of the latter, The question of the extension of the railway to Alexandra is one; however, which must be regarded solely from a Maori point of view, and" therefore •it was far more desirable that the expression of native opinion should be had than that of their. European neighbours who were present. Looked at from any other side of the question the choice bet'een Alex- | 'andra. and Te Awamutu will not bear amomen.t'sconsideration..,The extension of the main line must proceed to Te Awamutu.- Nevertheless, if the Maories are prepared to meet the Government, iio, a spirit of fairness, if they are willing to give and take, we nee no reason why a branch line should not be constructed for their accommodation. But let them plainly understand they have no claim to such consideration as matters now stand. The Government and the Colony doe not consider such a branch line necessary, or advisable rather, in the interests of the European population of Alexandra, arid what it denies to its own people,, who are living in obedience to the laws of the Queen, shall it grant to natives who set our l&ws at defiance, harbour murderers and thieves, and generally set their face against the colonisation' and civilisation of the interior of the country .- Yet this is what they ask of us ; to make easy the way to a European market for the prodrice grown in a part, of ,the country from which we are jealously excluded. There is but one answer which any Govenment can give to such a request as that now made in the petition; namely, that if the King natives are willing to allow the aukati to be broken and to give land for the construction south ward of the main trunk line of railway, then the Government will go out of their, way to construct a branch line of railway to Alexandra, or, if the natives desire it, further still into the King's territory. The King natives cannot reasonably expect that we should make railways for their convenience on our side the boundary line, when they will not allow us to make them for our own convenience on their side.

Even then we can conceive some hesitation on the part of the Assembly to sanction the expenditure of farther railway making in this part of the colony, bat that possibly might be got oyer. One thing however is very certain, that unless we wet the quid pro quo for it in the direction we have named there is not the faintest probability of the petition of the natives being assented to. There is no need to beat about tbe bush in telling them so* If they want the railway, they can have it, but one good tarn deserves another, and if we are to construct railways on our territory for their convenience tbey must allow us to construct them on their lands for our own. '"

The visit of Mr. Thomas Russell to Waikato has not been without its beneficial results to the district, as w© foresaw it would be. The works

of the Swamp Company will be recommenced upon a larger scale than ever, and be continued with vigor. have, we understand, been issued to commence drainage works on a scale hitherto unprecedented in swamp reclamation in this, part off ItSew Zealand, and every-available jsjry acre is to be forthwith;! pat 'under the plough, withjrae objfcjiit of laying it down in permanent English ,j grasses and clovers. To enable these j works to be carried out with a sys-! tern, and economically, the estate is to. be &t once sar-yeyed, and as, soon as this shall have been completed contracts for draining and other works will be called for. Amongst otfier matt era it "is intended to establish two new stations, and tenders will shortly be invited for the erection of cottages/ buildings, &c.-' : .'••/ Perhaps no more practical answer to the balderdash, uttered for party purposes last sessibn in the Assembly, could be given than the undertaking of works upon the extensive scale indicated. To have placed a number of.sniall, .capitalists upon this land would have meant ruin, or at least the -loss of the best years of their lives, to 'themselves anditheir faimilies, andfa Retardment to the progress of the-district as a whole. It Is few capitalists eVei! who' would. e'ntei'Wgle.handea' bri such a wjork, and even in the case of a number of capitalists associated together , the undertaking 1 has been one of not a little risk and. anxiety. They mayv gain, undoubtedly will gain> in the long, run in* recouping both their i capital and a liberal interest, but | the district "and the Colony will be \ the chief \ gainers eventually in the j large amount of money expended land put in circulation during the iprogres of reclamation, while eventually the desire of Sir George i Grey that the big swamp ■ shall become the homes of a large populaltion> will be gratified ; for we may 'naturally suppose: that an associated company will be far more likely to re-sell the land in blocks to individual settlers than to work it as a run or gigantic farm on their own account.; The capital involved in its reclama?; jtion 'would" scarcely admit of profit in so doing."