The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 801, 4 August 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and. exact justice to all men, Ot whatever scate or persuasion, religious o political * .* ft * * Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawetl by influence and unbribed by gain

SATURDAY, AUGUSTS 1877. The question of the. Waikato and , Thames Railway is the one of most general interest to the Waikato and - Piako districts at the present mo--1 ment. Cambridge and . 'Hamilton 1 have stirred m the matter, and at the late meeting at Rarapipi it will be seen the local Board agreed to - co-operate with the Thames Valley : River Committee. Something more, I however, than mere expressions of ) sympathy with the practical efforts ' made by that committee are needed from ua. Not a district m Waikato, i if it really appreciated the position, 1 but would call a (.üblic meeting' to consider the question and take . practical steps for urging the undertaking upon the Government The • petitions which leave this district for 1 the Assembly asking the House to ' authorise the construction of this , line, and the sooner they leave it the better, should contain the name of every inhabitant of Waikato who has the interest of the district at heart. It is not a Hamilton or a Cambridge question, but one of all , Waikato. One plase or another | ■ may be more directly benefitted by the work, or m a larger degree, but , all are alike more or less benefitted. . The hand or the eye or the foot cannot benefit, but the whole body shares m it, and if we are to hold aloof - from active participation m ( the advancement? of each other's interests and say, this is a Cambridge or an Alexandra or a Te Awamutu 1 or a Hamilton matter, as the case may be, and to stand aloof, or give, at beat, a lukewarm spiritless assistance—why, Cambridge, Alexandra, Te Awamutu and Hamilton, and Waikato as a whole, may eappeot nothing more than to go io the wall together. But, as we have said, this is a Waikato question, and, therefore, it is that we trust to see a widespread and general agitation throughout the district on the matter. A Wai* kato and Thames railway will bring cheap timber for building and fencing purposes, not merely to the local district with which the line connects, but to all Waikato. It will afford means of transit for meat, grain, potatoes, and dairy produce, not to , one district, but to all ; and if one portion benefits m a larger degree than another, that benefit will re-act upon and be indirectly shared m by the rest. The construction of this work should be firmly and persistently urged upon the Government and the House. In 1873 the Minister for Public Works m his Statement admitted that it was a proper and a necessary one for the Government to undertake, Out 8ii«l tliat ho would not i hen ask for a vole f>r ir, been use as vet, the course, of the miin ttuk line hud not beeu laid oti; Htid io WrtK dels-able that the Thames Waikato railway should junction wiiii it. t hat : rtmsau for • de.ay'no loiiKer cxisis. -US! or should that of cost be urge!. As Our r e.»i d era a re awa re, a pri vate caj>ic alist has off red io under lake the work, at least that portion of it between Wtukalo »»4 Uniuhu on,

Thames, if a guarantee of do mtidh per cent, is given by the Groverhment. Now, this potion of the{work — and ifc would give steam Communication, m part by rail and ii^part by water — would not cost itiore than .£90,000, anil; iif the Assembly cannot see its way,^ this session, to vote the amount iiecessary for the construction of the entire line, it can, at loast, .afford this much' a?p an'; earnest of its m. tentions. If it means to do nothing, then it has no right to stand between- the settlement and prosperity of large and important districts, and, dog m the manger like, neither do the work itself nor permit others to do it. We must not, however, be foolish enough to suppose that, either the Assembly or the Government will be so influenced by the merits of the case, so struck' by the necessity for it and by its . advantages as, of themselves, to take the matter m hand. Patient waiting will cool its heels m the , ante-room unheeded, while unabashed importunity elbows itß way into the Presence. There are enough of open mouths outstretched for : the crumbs of broken loaves without the Government going out of its way to look for an additional one, and members have money votes enough to consider, coming into competition with their own pet schemes, to take any|other by the hand which is not so forced upon their notice that they can scai'ce help doing so. If we are lukewarm m the matter, what can we expect m Wellington ? In every district then, we should agitate loudly and persistently for this much needed and most beneficial work, and it is to the chairmen of oar several local bodies we must look to initiate this agitation and to turn it into a practical channel. "Public meetingSj followed by petitions to the Assembly, are the legitimate instruments of popular agitation, and it is on the Chairmen of the Highway District Boards we.must depend as the men entrusted with the position, to call into force and exercise such instruments m the general behalf. : ... : '■■„.