The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15,1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 819, 15 September 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1877 .

-1 T3ar'y that its inhabitants should take ?the only coarse left open to them, of securing for themselves local selfgovernment and the enjoyment of their own revenues. The want of a bridge has doubtless had much to do in ripening public feeling in this matter. Unity is strength, and the two townships) with their large and valuable reserves, may together easily effect that which, as separate highway district boards, they would scarcely have been competent to have entered upon. The increased powers, too, whioh are afforded them as a borough, will enable them to do much in pushing on the rapidlydeveloping resources of the district. Already expensive permanent buildings are being erected, and it is exceedingly desirable that the levels of streets should be fixed, that the formation of footpaths should be more generally undertaken, drainage works be commenced, the prevention of nuisances be cared for, and the good government generally of the townships be provided for by the by-laws which it will be competent for a. borough to make and enforce, and the means for carrying out all which it can raise by rates and loans. The petition will be sent to the Governor in the course of a few days ; but the assent to its request cannot necessarily be made for some two months or more at the, least, inasmuch as no district can be proclaimed a borough if a counter-peti-tion signed by an equal or larger number of resident householders is presented to the - Governor within two months after the presentation of the first petition. As a matter of focm^ the period of two months will have to be waited, although a counter-petition is out 'of the question, inasmuch as that now to be forwarded contains more than half the entire number of resident householders in the district. And the step in advance now made by Hamilton iaT all tlie more gratifying when we call to mind that less than a dozen years ago the site of the future borough of Hamilton was native territory in the hands of unbreeched savages then in actual hostility with thjsjfe Europeans, and that since the^ ;ii|f! the last half of that period, the district has been subjected to every difficulty that frontier settlement is heir to. Freed from the drawbacks of chronic panics, settlement in Waikato has gone rapidly forward, and each year progresses with more vigour than ttie la3t ; nor, \ve expect, will much time elapse before, other similar petitions from other Waikato townships are heard- of. Meantime we will not grudge Hamilton the good fortune which has given her the pre-eminence in this matter, but will earnestly hope that the horns of her sister settlements may be speedily and sim.ila.rjy; .ex-, alted. .

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religims o political # # # # * Here shall the Presi the People's right maintain, Unawed bv influence and unbribod by gain

In another column will be found the notification required by the Act giving publicity to the petition about to be forwarded to tho Governor, praying that the two townships of Hamilton shall be joined together in wedlock under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1876, and declared a borough. Rapid as are the strides which Hamilton has made during the past few years, we had scai'cely looked for anything such as this, and before, too, the extension of the railway,* so far, had assisted its development. The time, however, has arrived when Hamilton should take advantage of the facilities for good and real local Self-government afforded by such a change as that now sought to be made, and the fact that other portions of the Waipa County have persistently refused to bring the Counties Act into operation, whereby the one-half, at any rate, of Hamilton suffers serious loss, rendered it all the more desirable and neces-