The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 843, 10 November 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10 1877.

Uqmilant exact justice to all men. Ot whatever scute or persuasion, religi m- < r political

#"•-#■■'•■# * . *■ Here shall the Pres-j the People's right maintain;' Gnawed bv influence and unbribed by giiin

We Jo not underrate the value of such a work as the construction of a road which shall connect Camuridge with Taupo, so that the- distance may be travelled by wheeled vehicles, but we do hot see that r.heie is anj r need, while securing l this object, that more settled portions of the" district-should be lest uncared for. It is satisfactory,, therefore,' to find that ihe settlers of Alexandra have adopted the ; suggestion thrown put recently; by this journal, and reminded the Government of the claim to havetheuiaintrunk road through from Alexandra to Ngaruawahia constructed with the labour of the A..0. Force. The matter is one which equally affects the people of Whatawhata"and Ngaruawahia, who will, doubtless, move at once in the matter.

And they have good l-eason to show why the Government should listen to their grievance. ; The work has been long promised by the piedeceasors :o£'the present Ministry, and-is exactly one of those referred to in the: present •:session of the Houseas coming within the category ot works supplemental to the gi-eat Pub : ic Works Scheme. It is only fair, while the - whole colouy pays alike for. the construction of railroads which benefit a few favoured portions of it, that those parts which are not directly benefitted by rail.way construction should receive some share, at leas', of.the public improving expenditure which is< still going on. ' For all practical purposes, the; ti lie agricultural disti'icts of Tuhikaramea, Ngahinepouri, : Wiiatawhaba, and Manga piko will ~be as little benefitted by the extension Hamil ton -and Te Awamutuwards of the Kaipdi-aPuniu Kadway as if that work were not undertaken at all, ad, therefore, in all justice they have a right to remind the Government of former | romises .made in reference to the construction of the Alexandra and Newcastle Road. Some portion of that work was carried out near Whatawhata by a working party of the A. Q.: Force j the season before last, but since then nothing, has been done in the matter. This.year, .a larger number than ever of the Armed Constabulary- in Waikato:,- have ; been available . for public works, but the continuation of the work commenced on the New-castle-Alexandra Road has not. been proceeded r with. Every : available man has been employed on thie Taupo road to the neglect of ' other' partsi of "the district, and even to the.utter denuding of the Alex- ! midra station of its' propershare of Jl < defence. Such a cour e was no more than might have been expected from the latv Ministry and the late Defence Minister... With ih.em thero would be little or no sympathy with a purely Auckland work when brought into competition with ttie Taupb road, which has rather the cliaractet of a colonial one. From the present Ministry weiire inclined to hope for better things, and therefor we trust the other portions of the district more directly interested in the matter, will not be far behind the settlers in Alexandra iu urging the Government to a consideration of their claims. '

And after all, though beyond, the means of the' local Elighway Boards —the Counties Act is not in operation—these works are not of. such magnitude, that the Government need hesitate in entering upon them They need little outlay beyond the labour which is already i vailable.ia working-pirties of the Armed Constabulary force stationed in the district, wnre the strength divided between the Alexandra and Newcastle and the Cambridge andTaupo road works.- The latter is not an undertaking of immediate pressing necessity. The great objeec is to have secured the possibility of un. Dei taking it at, all, and a tew months more or less -leLiy in its co nplttion is of far less consequence tbau the keeping a settled portion of the

Waikato locked oafc from the general prosperity, as is the case with the Whatawhata, ■ JSTghiuipouri,' Tnbikaramea, and a portion of the Mangipijco district. As we h.ive said, the subject, is not new to the Government. Some three years ago in response to the urgent appeal of th? settlers of the ordered a survey of the.road to be made by Mr Clark, the District Engineer. Mr Clark, reported to the Goyertnent that it would be useless to expend money" on that part Commencing from five and a half miles-above Ngarmwahi, where the road runs over a succession of hills, and was further instructed by the Department to lay out a new line. This he did rather more', than *wo years ago and succeeded in getting a very good line oyer level ground, commencing about four miles from Ngamawahia, and a<*ain joining the old roaj about half-a-mile from the Ohote Creek. On this deviation one bridge, estimated to cost £BO, and one large culvert, estimated to cost £3O, would be required, but, the maintaining N0..4 bridge on the old road, abandoned, would be saved. The Government, however, from that day to this, have taken no.-steps, since the deviation was surveyed, to have it carried into effect, and this deviation would obviate the only engineering difficulty that exists upon the whb.'e 26 miles of road between Ngaruawahia and Alexandra. There is an ugly cutting at present in the Manga piko Board District, near Te Rori, but .no great work after all. In the first 14 miles belonging to Newcastle or Ngaruavvhia district, new bridgea are required at thw Okumera, Ohote, Mangapiko and Koromatua creeks, the estimate cost of which, we find on enquiry, may be set down at £6O. £3OO £l5O and £IOO res ectively, or, £6lO altogether, which with the cost of the culvert and bridge on the deviation above referred to, gives a sum of £720 for bridges in the Ngarnawahia half of the road. There are also some stiff cuttings, a few rather bad swamps to cross, and a good deal of formation required. The works on Alexandra'halt of the line of ro id w mid be of.no. great difficulty nor cost, and tho' labor on the whole line without inter-

fering with the work of the Taupo road be carried out during the present summer by a party of the A C Force stationed in the Waikato, the material for cuiverts. &c, being found by the several Highway Boards. All that the Governquhil. need be asked for is ihe labn\ It is not a questi m of necessita ing a a vote from the Assembly bat simply one 'or the Government to consider, Whether in utilising the labor of the A. C. Force they will push on a work for Avhicb. there,is no immediate hurry or still longer leave a large and partially settled district cut off from the rest of the community altogether.

Party spirit rides rampanr on both sides in the Assembly. Business has resolved itself into a simple question of'" pull baker pull devil " between Government and. the Opposition. . Each party resorting to subterfuge and dodge to outwit and circumvent the other. The , Government, refuse to take up the glove and fight the ma'ter but, and put up their men to. talk against time so that the,notice of motion, No. 3 upon the order paper (Major Atkinson want of confidence motion) may be shelved over . tid Thur day n xt, and probably by a, resort id the same tactios again be put past for another . week.'. The Opposition goaded into retaliation 'declare, that if this line of policy be persued they „will not allow the- ordinary business to go on. According to the latest news from our special correspondent, dated 10 a.m. yesterday, the House sat.till : half past, tvy.o o'clock yesterday morniuij- but not 'for business. "It indulged L in a ; recrimmaiory debate," and*- " nothing 1 ' 'is being done" are omiiibus words of' the message. Clearly matters have arrived at a pass whan interference on the part of the Governoi will be. ci>me a duty, and.a disolution can alone end the . disgraceful scenes, which have dowu "thatmost, august 'Assembly" to the level; of a "Free and Easy," where the members of which have' passed the niau lin and arrived at •, the quarrelso-ne stage of their orgy. -