The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume XI, Issue 899, 28 March 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

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

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1878

The Ohaupo extension of the Kaipara Pnniu railway will, we are requested to state, be open for full traffic on Monday next. And whilst 011 this subject, we would ask what has become of the promised extension from Ohaupo to Te Awamutu ? Surely this important piece of railway construction, a matter of (he utmost concern to the most largely producing district along the entire length of the surveyed line is not one of those succulant dishes of promise on which, as Col. Whifcmorc with such charming naivefti admitted, at the banquet on Monday night, the Government had been subsisting since they came into office. Surely this work does not wait the placing of the two million loan on the English market, for we have a vivid recolectiou of a large available surplus on tue Kaipara-Puniu railway vote, which should be available for this particular purpose. Some months since the Government gave quite a different reason for the delay iv calling for tenders, but the cause for that delay has now some time passed, and the people of the Upper Waikato may, therefore, be excused if thiy show a Hi tie anxiety and uneasiness about the matter. Great is their faith, but fnith too long played upon makes the he^ri sick An uneasy feeling Ims yot abroad that the interes's of that part of Waikato are to be sacrificed to the exigencies of the native department, and that a diversion of tbe line will be made conditionally on the natives givinopermission to carry it on as far as Kopua. Now we should be really gkd to see such a work carried out. To once get the thin edge of the railway wedge into Maori territory would be a precedent worth much, and the common sense of the natives would soon teach them the value of farther similar concessions. But wo 4o uot flee why Te A waimiiu should

be the ram fouud caught by its horns m the bush to be offered as the sacrificial victim on the altar of the Native Department. Such a line as that from Ohaupo to Kopua would be a purely political railway, and us such is worthy of a special vote to be thankfully piaced at the disposal of any ministry, by the colouy — but the line could scarcely rank as put of the commercial trunk Hue of the North Island. It might, and would prove a valuable feeder to it, but it would not be the main line itself, a point which engineers and surveyors have already laid down. Moreover, such a work would, like all matters connected wiih Maori complications, be one of indefinite time. What is wanted, is the completion of that portion, of the Waikato railway, which of all others, will give the greatest proportion of return for its length. The ten or dozen miles from Ohaupo to Te Awamutu, running' through the richest portion of the Delta, will do much to pull up the average of the profit on the entire length of line, and will be a most important assis f ance to the advance aud consolidation of settlement on the frontier. As such, the colony cannot consent to give it up for any problematical work of whatever political value, nor, indeed, considering the positive assurance of the present government to the people of Te A.vamutu, can we believe that the promise that tenders would be called for about, or somewhat earlier than the present moment were |ot the class to which Col. VVhitmore alluded. However easy and pleasant it may be tor any goveruuitnt to live upon promises, such sort of fare is apt to tarn bitter m the mouth of the other party.