The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 958, 13 August 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 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, TJnawed by influence and tmbtibed by gain. '- :

Elsewhere we give a short synopsis of the Electoral Bill, now before the House, and so much of the report of the discussion which as yet has taken place upon it. Our telegrams of to-night indicate that more important intelligence in reference to the question may be before our readers in our next issue, that the Premier will be found opposing- the measure. We very m oh doubt that this will be found to be the case, and shall be vastly surprised if so aslnte a politician as Sir George Grey, from mere pert m; city ii extreme opinions, will be found playing ?o readily into the hands of the Opposition. More probably the wish is father to the thought, and Opposition members in Wellington, hopeless of finding a vulnerable point in the measures and polisy of the Government as a last resort allow their heads to be turned and their hopes to be led astray by reported disseutions in the Cabinet which exist only in report. A matter of more grave importance to this district and to the colony than even the new Electoral Biil is alluded to in our Parliamentary telegrams, and that is the want of unity among Northern Members in urging upon the House the most important work of the Session, the desirability of making the commencement of the trunk line of railway between Waikato and Taranaki a matter of colonial concern, and of immediate execution, so soon as ever the consent of the natives to its construction ' by any reasonable concession on our part can be gained. A matter so important to the colony must not be followed £to stand over to anthor session. We cannot tell

I the day when the Government which has done so much to bre*k down tho feeling of estrnngemmit. gftg&Sroen the Europeans and tho' natives m-iy be empowered by -the "Ngatimannpto to commence (he wmjk, and they should be vested with and power to do so at once when opportunity offers. The construction of the North Island main trunk railway southwards means the settlement of the native difficulty once and for ever, and the opening up of the North Island to colonisation, not in a patch here and a patch there, but, for the increased wealth aud prosperity of both races, over millions of acres now useless for all pract'c »l! purposes t)' Native; and European alike. Hal dissension come from the South .ve could have, understood it as the result of. a selfish arid j shortsigted policy, but one open to the argument that such obstructionists can best; underatkn4 tbat' of .the pocket. But to'find that the North Island is a ; house divided' against itself, that supposed superior interests to Warigahui i clash with those of aAuckland, and that evenin ;Auckland the Northern portion is anxious to ! benefit at 1 the expense bf the Southern, is more than? we 'had" looked for. To the North Island the great difiiculty in its advance ment has bebn the iinpenum in imperioy which has said to the colonist: "So far'shalt thou go and no further," .which has in effect turned the larger stream of immigration and settlement to the Middle Island, and been to the colouV as a whole a hidden skeleton in tlie closet, the recollection of which has always been, present even in the height of its ; prosperity and progress. To remove this should be the aim of the colony, and more especially of the North Island, and as affecting this object—not as in itself the cause of extended wealth and prosperity to a particular portion of it—do we l>ok at'this matter of the construction of the North Island t»ank line southwards. To make the question subordinate to party purposes or individual interests is a political crime, nay, more, it is a political s