The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 971, 12 September 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1878.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever Htate or persuasion, religious or political. * » * * * Here Bhall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and snbribed by gain.

Whem the .Public Works Statement was delivered, the length of line 1 mentioned in connection with the proposed Thames-Waikato Railway led to the belief that it was the intention only to connect Waikato with the head cf the Thames navigation, and this • caused some little stir in Grahamstown/but, in answer to a telegram from the Mayor of that town, information was received from the Government that the figures quoted respecting the distance were a misprint, and that the intention of the Minister for Public Works was, that the entire line from Hamilton to Grahamstown should be constructed Quite as important an omission would seem, however, to have been made, and that is the provision for a branch line to connect Cambridge with Auckland on the one hand, and with Grahamstown on the other by junctioning either at East Hamilton or elsewhere with the Thames-Waikato line. It will be remembered that at all conferences held by the knal bodies whether at Grahamstown, at Hamilton, or at the general conference held in Auckland, this matter of a branch line to Cambridge was insisted upon as a sine, qua non in a scheme to be aimed out for the construction of a Thames-Waikato railway under the provisions of the District Railways Act, or any special Act to be passed by the Assembly. The arguments which were thea. adduced hold equally good in the case of the proposed railway being made a Government or colonial work. The railway from Grahamstown to Hamilton, without a branch to Cambridge,

is the skim milk without the cream. It is this additional ten or twelve milesi--of railway which, added to the- rest, will make the whole a commercial success, and, what is more, a success from the beginning. We say nothing of the justice of the case, that it is utterly unfair, in railway construction in this district, to leave so important a centre as Cambridge cut off altogether from the advantages of railway communication —we say nothing of this, but will put the matter on the sole ground of expediency, and ask how, with any regard to the busiuess principle of obtaining the largest possible return for the least proportionate amount for expenditure, the Minister of Public Works can propose to leave the branch extension of the line to .Cambridge unprovided for 1 We do no: wish to undervalue ths advantages of Hamilton as a commercial centre, but here, not a ;dozen miles away, is a largely settled and' productive agricultural and pastoral district lefteritirely to the inconveT niences, delays/ and expenses of a| mixed'wate'r tfufl. rail communication with an outside market. The proposed line between Grahanistown and Hamilton would doubtless cause large tracts of land to be brought into cultivation and thus cieate traffic for the railway bat this would of course be a work of time. In connecting Cambridge by a branch line, however, the case would bo very different. There the Government would find a large trade waiting to be tapped and the line would begin to pay at once by the additional traffic : thus secured. The branch line,. too, would be comparatively inexpensive, as it is* freo ; from 'engineering difficulties, either of hill or swamp, passing over level sound country. The line would thus cpnneot the two principal centres ot Waikato with Grahamstown, and would, we make no hesitation in saying, by including the branch line proposed, from the very first double the traffic between. Waikato and Grahamstown. The omission of this part of the scheme from the Public Works Statement is one, we trust, rather of inadvertence than design; and might 4 well form the subject for a question by the member for Waikato in his place in the House, the answer >» which may be the prelude t<? further action here, if necessary.