The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 1012, 17 December 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1878.

cm be no continuity of line until the bridge over the Waikato river ! shall have been erected. The uial^as yet to be obtained from punne, afid, by the timo it id put up and .ready for traffic, the second ■ fy«Jjjj\ vofc o f° f £80,000 for the con. j str^idu of the Hue will have been ' [expired. Grahamstownhas, thereifoyjlno reason to fear that traffic hpjr bo thus diverted into a opposed to their special interests, for this gap m the ihe kind; At the ~sa me time, ""tlie* ! commence. nent of the line front the Hamilton .end- will be, a.great..bot(U. to settlers, inlthe:;iPiako dis'rict. A certain amount of work will b 9 ( ropidl^rnroceedej^with, arid a ineanjs ■ of communiiv\tion r aa irregular oi^^.thlPQ^b^jiil^uptesy' of the contwptor, : available ito a ' Very * con'si3erftilS^^eftt %ttyepj the country, and^the town o.t yHamil- ; ton.-' It was* so When the t)me t w.ftsj ;cstißtraicted-' between ' Hamilton and;) .Olidupp ';fydmJß;' mdttths; 1 beforq it wtfjr Yullyj; ,Qpenetti^jtO; ;> tTafiic, «,and \ will doubtless DQiisoi m this i case, s* E^en, therefdrej' 1 which* 1 ' .is "'not » unlikely, and oobtainn n .tenders ,tpr,» sections at j the Grahatnstown eiid may- entail a j delay of some five or six months bui\ y friend : "at the Ttiames need be, under no real „ a'aymi thitr Waikato will get a long start ' ahead of them. There seems, fo.V,frdm ' the ' Grahamstbwn Stai'f* to be an- i other possible difficulty which tnight cause ,d«^y at that end, but which is impossißle at tHis^Jri-its^gue of the 11th i..ssrit£-thsrt jjpni^p cleprocalesVtße pblsa^ble^ fielky%hafc mnv " arise at every stage~in~the acqmre- " inept of : the land, along the line of v railway, which has been : secured "by individuals or societies. We "need not go far for an example of " the way m. W/tiich, societies can "open thflir mouths. >[ For the pasJ "aage of the Water Race through " the Church Mission land at Para"wai, the agent, Mr F. C. Dean, °has made a demand for ££>,00Q, "Of course, this, is preposterous. " arid will be submitted to an atten- (< uatihg process of 'fifradual bat cerl< jtaiti. reauctibu. .^e have jieard of 1 V. equally ; ,extortionatie claims- which " hkvebeeh oi* are about to' be lodgedi " but we feel sure 5 tha't'tßey" 'Will be tl very much, reduced -they ".c eceiye consideration, . and the " proper disposal of these claims cani "not very much affect the Water ♦' Race, as that work isalreadycari;ie|l ( "out." It then goes on to say,: «' So far aa the Native land is com <( cerned we believa the Native' v Minister jwill be able to arrange "that'easil^ enough 1 } but whatever; " way the Thames and^aikato line ■" m^y certain p>mte|jlands will "haVeto be taken. v iW.imownei's go a on the stand with tlie.^CUurch " Mission. Spciety, or will they hail " the progress of public works as a li positive good, increasing the ya^i^ ",of their larid, and thereby im- " mediately .benefiting -themselves "and disfcribating a genial halo, of "prosperity over theirfellows ? The "real friends of progress will un- ; "doubtedly favor liberal dealings " with the Government. The grasp?<ing landowners may; sneceed m "embarrassing tho-mierabers of the " Government! ! postpone the "starting of tnafail^ay,'Jbntif they "succeed m dbiiig -so, they will "earn the lasting,. execration of the "peopleVK XI V We trust, f. r their own sake, and for- that of all of us^ this spirit of greed will 'not be shown as it has been to tlie public injury m the North. There are cases, doubtless, where a ; small section is positively injured, not merely by what is taken/ but, m what is left, by a railway passing through it, bat in. the case of large-holdings, the reverse holds goods, and compensation really means that the Government should pay a landowner to allow them to improve his property and increise its value. This, indeed, 19 the light m which Waikato sett'© s looked at the matter, the greater portion, of the land through which the main trunk line runs haying been given gratuitously for the railway purposes, even ta the ; extent Of blocks needed for station requirements.

Equal and exact justioe to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. » *•'*'•■♦ ♦ Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, ■ ' Unowed by influence and tmbribed by gain.

The people of the Thames have been 1 j sorely exercised about the commencement of the Thames- Waikato | line. Tile announcement th t, from an economical and . business-like point of view no doubt, the work was to be commenced at the Waikato end, seems to have starred the people of Grahamstowri; into ... oci. tivity, and the OhairmHh of the County .'. CouiiciV and Councillors Bagm 11 and, ; Brown, proceeded to Auckland and interviewed first Sir George Grey and then the Minster for Public WorkS/almbst as soon as the latter had set foot on shore. Of the result of.th.afc interview we fir.d tho following published m the ' Thames Advertiser ' : — "The s.s. "Tunpo has arrived. The Hoa the /'Miniate* for IVulic Works, J.; " Ci Macandrew, Esq., Mr Blaufcetr, " fcJugineer for the North Island, •'and Mr Robert Graham, were " passengers. The three Bs '*' (Councillors Brodie, Bugnal and "Brown) from theThatnes. Were on " the wharf to meet them when the "steamer arrived. Mr Robert ' (Jraham informed youc correspon"dent that he had a long talk with " Hon. Mr Macandrew, and he m.- -" formed him that the Railway is "Ix) be started from both ends, and "if he is pressed" it will be started " from fie Grahamstown end only. '•The question for you to consider is "whether it would be judicious tostart " from the ,Gruhams»own end only, " or to. , work with the Waikato and ' r Piako people. It sterns to be the "opinion that the latter plan wonLl " be iliore generally supported here." Cousidorlng that there are no surveys at the Grahamstown end of the line and that probably before those surveys are finally' made andHpproved the end of the financial year will have very nearly arrived/ it must be admitted that even m insisting that the line shall be commenced simultaneously from either end there is a certain amount of .selfishness, bub to a3k that it shall be started from the Graharastown end only would partake so much of the character of the " Dog m the Manger" that we shall be much surprised if it find open advocates at Grahamsfcown, at least amongst any large or influential sectidn of the inhabitants. , What Grahainstown probably fears is that, with some thirty miles nt the Waikato end — the distance between the Waikato and Thames rivers — m v state much of it ready for laying down the sleepers and bal lasting, we should be so far ahead, i; both ends were begunsimultaneously, that traffic would be commenced at this end- long before it could be' opened into Gruhijuistowu ; bu' thi could not really be the cas*\ There