The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1169, 23 December 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1879.

Equal and exact jub * ice *o all wett > , Of whatever state or rehgious or political. Here shall the Press th'« Peopwss right maintain, Unawedby influence andun^Vbed by gain

The Cambridge people, in the tor of the branch railway, have no. f# belted their usual reputation for action. The trovernment has de. dined to undertake the responsibility of constructing this line, giving as a reason the want of means, while, almost with the smne breath, it has voted a large sum.of money for the purchase of railways in the South, which, for ita own reputations' sake, it had far/better have left alone. To have wasted further time ill petitioning the Government or parliament to gee the necessity of

constructing the Cambridge branch line would Imvo been utterly useless, and Cambridge haa pursued the wiser course of taking the mutter into its own hands. A company will be formed under the District JRailways Act, 1877, and in the present temper of the Canibvidge settier.-* there will be little difficulty in getting through with the" preliminaries necessary to setting the work in motion. The land itself required for the line ia already pro. raised, and in most cases as a free gift, and the votes of the ratepayers who will come within the area pro. posed to be constituted a railway district, and whose lands will be responsible for 5 per cent, out of the 7 per cent, guaranteed to the com. pany on the oust oi construction, will be almost, if not entirely unanimous in the matter. The advantage will be great, the risk little; for the guarantee of 7 per cent., 2 pec cent, pf which has to come out of the consolidated fund, is only payable so far as is needed to make up any deficiency up to that amount of which the profits of working the line may fall short. Unlike so many lines, made merely lb enable the owners of the land through which they run to place their lands upon the market and leave the responsibilities to the next purchasers* the Cambridge line will be undertaken for purely traffic purposes, and with a present amount of traffic that will leave, certainly after the first ! year, a very small profit to be ! made good from any guarantee, it is not like a line to be run thionph a scarcely settled distriot, though it has the same prospective advantages as such an one, for it has at the same time a present settled traffic to rely upon. Beyond Cambridge lies a rich tract of country which must soon come under the hands of the European cultivator, and which will then largely swell the traffic of the line. , The work, therefore, has a present certainty and a prospect of increasing future success which should render, it to any company a desirable investment, but beyond this it has the guarantee of 7 per cent, on capital expended provided for by the Act, and as the whole cost ot the Una cannot much exceed, rolling-stock included, a sum of .£20,000, it should be in every respect a commercial success. It is satisfactory to find that the Government, though deprecating every pro. posal to assist with money, are prepared to aid the settlers in any other way, and have already consented to allow Mr Gwynneth, as the first preliminary work, to lay out the course of the line. That the Govern, ment will further assist the settlers in their undertaking is sincerely to be hoped. They can materially do so in more ways than one. They have, for instance, some thousands of tons of rails too light for the traffic of main lines. These rails might be supplied to the company, the latter paying interest for the cost, sfod a fair allowance for wear and tear. Again with the rolling-stock. This would cost the company possibly some £6OOO or £7OOO, but the Government has also much roll* ing-stock upon its hands which could be supplied on similar terms. If this were done, the cost of the line between Cambridge and Rukuhia would, not, we believe, exceed £IO,OOO or '.£12,000, and would be easily raised in the district. The shares in the company, it is said, will be alloted as widely as possible so as to make the number of sharenolders and consequently the number of people interested in the profitable working of the line« as large as possible. That is a sure way to secure success, and will prevent the looking up of capital in larger sums which might be an injury to the district. Altogether, we may congratulate the Cambridge settlers on the spirited action which they have taken in the matter, and which of all things is the best calculated to ensure success, for Heaven helps those most who help themselves.