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Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 976, 24 September 1878, Page 3

Sib,— We are apparently on the eve of borrowing another large sum' of money for public works should the policy of the present Government be carried to a successful isßtie.- I only hope that it will be spent m a more careful way than it has been hitherto. I can speak of instances of reckless extravagance and mismanagement that haye come under my own observation m and about this little onehorse town — • extravagance which, if carried on equally m other places over the country where public works have been under, way, w'buld be enough to prove the ruin of an older country than this, and need cause no wonder that extra taxation is found necessary m any form. I ake the Public Works Office to feegin with : The money that has" been thrown away first and last would make a nice little fortune m itself. A miscalculation oil the part of the Chief Engineer cost the country at least £1,000 extra m the construction of the bridge here* and might have caused a repetition of the disaster of the Buller

bridge. The moving, of the Btation from where it was put, through nothing but the obstinacy of an official, must have cost Bbmething, That abortion, the railway wharf, which cost the Government £1,700, only to be condemned as useless, is another item. They were pretty rough times, too, on taxpayers when a truly paternal Government paid a number of boys, as cadets, to learn a profession as Engineers at salaries of £100 to £250 a year, and expected men who had had to pay heavy premiums and do hard work before they could write themselves C.E., to teach ( these' gentry their business. A repetition of the Waikato surveys after the war, wb.3re boyfl just fresh from mamma's apron-strings, after a- fortnight's probation m Mr Meaphy's office were sent into the field" td try their hand at surveying, whose work had to be gone over and over again, is not right at the present day, and will, if t am not very much roiscaken, be the cause of considerable trouble, if not litigation, at no distant date. Talking about surveys, I should be afraid to say how many times the i eurburban lands about here have been surveyed. Indeed, it would seem that that was a standing job, or stopgap, for any. unemployed Government, surveyor. I have made my letter longer than I intended, so, with a hope of better things m the future, and that the experience "we have bought may proye of sufficient value to warrant the outlay.— l am, &c, Muicahy Beotkbes. Ngaruawahiaj Sept;''23, lß7B.