The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume XI, Issue 876, 29 January 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1878.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. '•■"- -* -' ' - ; ***** Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, . .... Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain. ' -■ ' '

The Hamilton - Ohaupp extension of the Kaip-u'a-Poniu Railway" will m a vqry short time' be opened for traffic, and, we trust that before the week is out, tenders for the construction of the line between Ohaupo and Te Awamutu will be called for. The Under Secretary for Public Works replying on, the 13th instant to the chairman of the Kangiaohia High way Board, who "had urged the completion of the line to Te '\wamutu on the Government, said that the specifications had been prepared, with a view to calling for tenders but that the plans could nob be ready for the inspection of intending contractors before the end of January. That time has now arrived, and, though we do not for a moment suppose that the present Government intend keeping the pronjise to the ear and breaking* it to the hope, we wou.d nevertheless urge upon them tho extreme desirability of avoiding even the Jeast possible margin of delay. The interests ot the railway and the interests ot the dia; net alike call for the speedy prosecution of the work. The cbustmction of the line from Auckland to was the deadwork which is often necessary to be undertaken m any enterprise, and which of itself alone is npc remune,*ative, but every mile that the railway progresses beyond that point— every local district that it opens up m its passage through Watbito — is tapping the golden ore vi traffic that brings np the average returns to and beyond a paying point. This is clearly discernahle m the working of the Th«meßVVaikato Railway since it touched at i\ewcasr,le Jji 187677, the railway was worked at a Joss ; the I receipts did not balance the expenditure. Last year, accoid ng to the published returns, the revenue was M 27 per mile, as against an expenditure of £327 pei mile. As the railway proceeds, the increase of revenue over expenditure will increase. The extension to Obanpo will make a marked difference, but nothing like what the next Hoz^n miles will do. The railway will then strike into the heart of the producing country of tho Delta One Te Awamutu settler told us the other day, that one of the first consignments the railroad would brings to Te Awamutu would be 50 tons of bone dust for his farm. Others, instead of renovating their worn-out grass lands, will break them up, and enter largely into cultivation. This will ensure much, freight— manures one way and produce the other— and is all outside the regu ar goods traffic for the supply of the ordinary requirements of the population. The sooner, therefore, that the line is completod, the better for the Histrict and ihe better for the colony. Eighteen months is spoken of as tbo probable time that it will take to form the line after the work sha'l once have been commenced, and the reason gixeu is — that thpre are considerable difficxlties m the wa- of construction. If this be 'he casrt, then, we presume it would be d-sirable that the work should be let m smaller sections.

We do not know what action locs school committees m the Waikato re taking to tufill the requirements of the ■ Education k.ct, and secure for themolves the privilege of nominatng members for election to the Jential Board of Education Alexindra, we see, has moved m "the natter and the names of Messrs Jaultan and E. G. MoMinn have peeu seat m. Other school com*

mittees will have to take action at once or they wll \e too late, as such nominations must bo forwarded to the Cehtrnl Board m Auckland xby Thursday next. Othe«^chb^Bjlike %&t of Alexandra have tecei^ed due notice froni,the~ Board w fvhat wiis vqiilfed of them, an-J it^wall be their f inlt if they have leVm,e>opportunit.y slip, and neglecLed ftie duty which us the elected of the ratepayers they had m trust to perform m tho general hitere^tFoTfliedbmrarinity. Indeed; m our issue of the 3rd insjb. we pointed this matter out to local ■sehQol-eemmibfcees-as necessary -to bedone before the 31st irisfc. As there is, howevei'i time yet for many of the school comrnitttes whioh have not done so, to take action m the matter we will again explain the course of procedure. The Boards of Education, were heretofore nominated by the Government but by the Education Act of 1877 have been made elective. To have made the election one by the 1 rate payers direct would have been impracticable, and the course has been adopted for the seve'jL'uj school committees, as representing aril aotin& for the ratepayers to each send m the -names of _two.,oaiv» dida(es for seats afc the Boaivl of Education, the written consent' of such nominate 1 candidate having been first obtained. These names aye to be sent m to the Educatiou Bo <rd on or before the 31st January. The Board will then publically nofrify the names of all candidates thus neat m, and ap oiut the day of election not later than the 15th March. ,Each school oornmittee will receive a lia> of the names of ail the persons so proposed this week by the several committes and will on the day of election choose from these nine names as the nine members of the Bjard of Education to be fleced. Of coins* it may so happen -th'^t a large number of persons will be nominated m the first instance by the numerous committees, and that when it comes to the choice from all these many more than nine names will be found, but the nine having the largest number of votes will constitute the new Board. It will be seen that there is still time, but none to spare, where school committees have up, till now neglected this duty.