The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1036, 13 February 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, _ Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. » • « *■ *■ « Eero shall the Press the People's right maintain, Onawed by infl'ronoo and onbrihed by gain.

Wa KATO n-ver ivcMived ;uiy ' hmg im•i H-ei)Cinld.s’ ire hi meat at ib© bauds •if D; P o 1 *n, whether as- Colouial Sioi’H.ttry or Native Minis er,.and, bo e ire ra.-iona why there should li ;a lore 1 >at between the-ex• lister and the Thames. We are not surprise}, therefore, to'fin-l tha the *0(1 of the ‘ New Zealand Times’ which has replaced the portfolio of Native Minister in the hand of that gentleman is bitterly wielded against the construction, of the ThamesWaikato Kailway. Opposition to the present Government adds fuel to the flame, and th©Thames- Waikato Kail way is selected as a point, of Attack, from which the Government may be successfully assailed, and a private pique bo at the same time gratified. In a recent article, the ‘New Zealand Times,’ which professes to be a colonial journal, makes a violent attack upon the Government for its action in respect with this railway. It denounces the railway as a new line projected specially by the honorable member for Thames for the convenience and advantage of his constituents,’and for the restoring of their political confidence in him and in the present Government. “ One hundred and sixty op seventy thousand pounds," it says, 11 is, perhaps, a larger sum than the men, and the women,. and the .little children in other parts of the colony would, if they were consulted, like to pay to the Thames people for such an intangible or perishable article as faith in Sir George Grey and his colleagues ” lb says, moreover, that not only is there a want of reasonable, or any evidence that the railway will pay, but the project has, also, the additional defect that it has never received the sanction of parlia-ment—-has never, in fact, been heard of there at all. Of course, if the ‘Times ’ could prove, as it assumes, that “ the Thames-Waikato Railway is nob a work which - has been authorised by the Railway Construction Act of last session, and that no„ money has been voted for it in the Appropriation Act of the year/' there is an end to the matter. But

this id not so. The second clause of the Railways Construction Act, 1878, says, "This Act shall be deemed to be a special Act, authorising the construction or extension of all or any of the railways mentioned iu the first schedule hereto." And when we turn to the first schedule referred to, we fiod, amongst the North I4and lines ea-unerated, that <S " Wi kato to the Thames.;" Clause 3,. >f the Railway Construction \ct, em towers the Governor to «ner into c mtrac s foi* the c )ustruc tion of all such lines mentioned-in the first sche a'e, with certain provisos to which w»? shall presently ailule. So much, therefore, for the statement, tha' the work is not authorised by the R-ti I ways Construe tion Act. Bit the l Times ' goes on to say, that neither is provision made for the cost of its construction in the Appropriation Act—to use the words of the article, that "no money has been voted for it in the Appropriation Act of the year." Now, the 2nd clause of the Appropriation Act, gives to the Government a vote of £2,010,921 3s 7d, to be taken from ceitaiu wava an 3 mfwns

referred to in tho 4th bc >udule of the Aut, and clause o* of the Act provi Ins that " all sums so isdaod shall be "votes "sob- forth ou the sth schedule of this Act, towards defraying so much of the expenses iticurrcii or to in the several works and services in the snid schedule men-; tioned a? shall come in tho course of; payii»eiifc during- the financial year ending the 30th June 1879, and to no other purpose whatsoever." The sth schedule, it is true, ..contains no speci6c mention of any particular railway, but simply mentions under head of railways a lump sum of £1,703,500, but-there is another s'chedu'e of the Act which seems to have escaped the notice of« the ' Times,' namely, tho 3rd schedule, which, professing to be the of the sth| sdjfedule to this Act," contaius the several items of the vote of £2,910,921, 3s 7d referred to in clause 2, and which mentions a sum of £500,000,, as appropriated for '•' lines authorised by the Railway Construction Act, 1878," and therefore for the Waikato-rhames Hue as contained in tho first schedule of that Act. We have gone to so much, trouble to disprove the assertions made by the 'New Zealand Times' as to tho legality of the Government entering at all ou the construction of the railway because such a" point is necessary to be cleared up as underlying the whole matter. We have now to oorae to another point raised by our contemporary—that of the conditions under which clause 3 of tho Railways Construction Act empowers the Governor to enter info contracts for the construction of railways. The proviso to the clause is as follows :—*< Provided always that no contract shall be entered into for the construction of any railway or any portion thereof, unless (1) in the case of each line to bo constructed, plans and estimates shall be laid before the Governor in Council, with a certificate from the Chief Engineer, that the route chosen for the railway is the best available one. (2) Such plans 'and estimates be approved by the Governor in Council." The ' Times' argues, that the Government has acted illegally in calling for tender?, while these conditions remain unoomplied with, and says, "The colony may thus be subjected to ail" unlawful pecuniary charge of great for :an ahthoris/ed work without having' I 'the'advantage of •iuy of the safeguards with whioh the representative of the people in Parliament, have : thoughtgit necessary- to : surround' undertakings of .which they formally appiorel." The 'Times.' however, jumps too hastily to a conclusion. No contracts have bejM entered into. ft is one thing to calj for tenders, another to enter into contracts, ancj as yet the first act isall that the Government has done. It is cle.a.r enough, from the telegrams which have passed between the member for' and, the Minister for Works, published elsewhere- in our publication of to day, that the Government are fully aware of thoir responsibility in this matter, and that the " great many preliminary operations to ...be got over before works can be Actually commenced" are just those very obligations contained in the proviso quoted above, the observance of which the Times would take for certain Ministers have ignored. So far we have replied to the statement of facts as alleged by our contemporary. The article in question deals largely in statements of opinion —that-the line will not pay, that it is not needed since some considerable portion of it runs through country already possessing ample means for water carriage, and that | there;were but'vei?yf few settlers to be benefitted. Tt has been a favorite axiom of the editor of the Neav Zealand Times that this line would not pay tho grease for the wheels of the carriages, but none who have seen and know the country would accept any such statement for a moment. 1 n the country .to be traversed by the Waikato-Thames i railway we have a district as extensive, as fertile and as suitable for settlement as the settled district of Waikato of the present day, an 3 wanting- nothing but such means of communication as a railway will afford to cause it to rapidly fill up withan industrious, population and thus create a payjng and continually increasing traffic. Dr Pollen bslougs to the old .school of political economists who believe that railways must follow traffic, not create it, As to the' argument 'that a railway is not needed where water communication already exists wo have/but to refer to Waikato experience to refute any such assertion. Our settlers and traders have & lively recollection of that experience, and the rapid strides it) progress made, in all parts of ( ifi by the discrict since the heavy bau-diq-ip of water freight has been taken off its back and railway communication h«d been enjoyed is testimony enough of the correctness of what we say. "

That the cotistrnctiori the Thames-Waikato line can or win ; lG made use of by the Opposition as a successful point of attack in the next Session of Parliament, we do not believe. We can only say that if the Opposition can find ho greater grievance, they will have discovered just such another political mire's nest for tho camnxencement of the session of 1879 as tho present Government party found in the opening of the session of IS7G, for the wast' of public timo, in the Piuko $-.v*ruo.

i he company of Auckland and local amateurs, tho announcement of whoso performance in selections from the " Merchant of Venice" broke out in an eruption of sensational advertisements in our issue of Tuesday, made thoir appearanco last night at Le (iuesne's Hall to a largo and fashionable'audionco The fourth and fifth acts ofijthe pieco torero well put /upon the stage, jnidced, tho-audienco were :fpleased and surprised with tho get up of the characters and of acting, : which; on the part of SHyloek, Antonio, andjitjie Advocate, wa#|far beyond that of amateur performers.' Mr R. W. Hammond's get up, as Shyloek, was excellent, and his rendering of tho part equally good, but to oiir mind the most finished performance was that of the lady who impersonated tho advocate. The performers, at the close of tho first part, were oalled before the curtain, and received a gonuinb and hearty round of commeudatoiy applause from the delighted audience. An • interlude jof ton minute intervened, whon tho musical part of tho performance was commenced, concluding with tho favorite duet of i Ciuderalla, by the Misses Cox, Avhioh brought a vory enjoyable evenings amusement to a close.

Me J. S. Bucki,a.n.d holds a special salo at the Cambridge Yards on, the 21st hist., to close a partnership account, when ho will offer the cattle, draught and stock horses, drays, carts, farm implements, &c, of Messrs C. &J. O'Brien. The sale | commences at 1 p.m.', sharp. Tendkub for keeping tho road hi ropair from Jolly's corner to the railway station, from March 1 to November 30, will be received by the Hamilton Highway Board till noon of Saturday, the 22nd inst. Mystery Cheek Bridge.—The public are cautioned to be careful in crossing this bridge, especially with heavy loads or at a quick pace. Tenders for reforming and gravelling Cook-street, Hamilton East, will be received by the Town Clerk of the Hamilton Borough, up,to Tuesday nest, the 18th inst. Tenders for the erection of a dwellinghouse, at Kihikihi, must be sent in to Mr Mandeno, of Te Awamutu, by Saturday next.

Messes Hunter and Nolan's next cattle sale, at Oliaupo, will be held this day week, the 20th inst. The Learned Pxo will tread tho boards this evening, which were last night occupied in tho impersonation of one of Shakespeare's master pieces. Such is life. His pigship, however, is a'Star in his own particular line, and we have no doubt that the novelty, of weeing a pig play ouohve, and play it well too, will attract quite as large an audience a3 the legitimate drama is capable of doing. This Race Ball takes place to-morrow (Friday) night—Thursday was inadvertently mentioned in a sub-leader, in Tuesday's issue-rand will wind up the sports and festivities of the race week. Assessment Cottbts sit for the Waip* Csunty as follows :—Hamilton Highway District, at Mr 0. Johnson's house, on February 25 ; for the Town of N<?aruawahia, at the Courthouse, February 26 ; for part of Newcastle Highway Board, at the Whasawhata Sohoolhouse, February 26; for ruhikaramea Highway Distrust, at the Ngahi&epouri Schoolhqtiso, February 27 ; for part of Alexandra District, at the Courthouse, February 27; for the Manjyapiko Highway Board, at Messrs Goodfellow's house, r February 28; for Raugiaonia District, at the Public Hall, Te Awamutu, February 28 ; for the Township of Kihikihl, at the Sohoolhouse, Kihi ihl, March 1; and for the Pukekura District, at the Pukerimu Sohoolhouse, Maroh 3.

There is glorious promiso of another £ne day, for the second day of the Waikatp Turf Olub Raoes, and our townships will, doubtless, again bo as empty and deserted as they yesterday were. To-morrow, the handicap pigeon niatoh will the entrances fcr which wore received last night, and the handicaps for which will be declared to-day. Then comes the race ball, tomorrow evening, and after that, weirust a return to the sober realities of lifts to work and bnsinoss avocations.