The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1499, 11 February 1882, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

SATURDAY, FEB. 11, 1882.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Ot whatsoever state 01 persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Un.iwed by influence and unbribed by gain.

The Hailway Department is apparently ever ready to assist, so far as it can, any enterprise having its origin in Auckland city, but when called on, it invariably turns a deaf ear to the prayers of Waikato. It has been the custom for years past to offer special inducements, in the shape of cheap fares, to country residents to visit the agricultural shows and race meetings held in the vicinity of the Northern metropolis ; a system of allowing the return journey to be made for the single fare, with a liberal extension of the time usually allowed for holders of return tickets, has been from time to time put in practice, and has ' answered very well. We do not desire to find fault with this, but it is a just cause for complaint that these facilities are not extended on the 'occasion of races, shows, and the like, held in this district. The refusal to make in our case concessions similar to those granted in the case of Auckland has been a source of irritation for a long time past. Applications made to the management of the line have been so invariably treated with neglect, that to r-epeat the experiment now almost necessitates the sacrifice of a certain amount of self-respect. Pocketing their own feelings, however, several residents of "Waikato have, during the last few days, been interesting themselves to get special train arrangements made on account of the approaching race meeting at Ohaupo. Taking advantage of the presence of the Premier in Auckland, an application was addressed to him, to which he replied that he had made enquiry, and had found that the present arrangement was a general one, and had been in operation for some time j also that the system under which special tickets (single fare return) had been issued involved considerable loss to the Department. He was sorry he could not make an exception in the case under notice,, bub promised that the time for which return tickets were ordinarily available should be extended one day. This means that the Promier has been hoodwinked. The arrangement which he says has been in operation for some time, was nob operating, or was suspended, so late as tho beginning of last month, since, which time no suspension has ., been necessary. The allegation about loss tq the revenue, is mere qaoonshiue, because the Department knows, perfectly- w.ell .tljajr -.the single

fare return system is taken advantage of by a large number of people who otherwise would not use the railway at all on these particular occasions. So long as tho ordinary trains only are called in requisition, the Department, on the principle that half a loaf is better than no bread, are positive gainers by these concessions. Of course, we know that the Paemier lias simply referred the matter to the management (wherever that may be located) and has merely returned for answer what the wisdom of that mysterious power has conceived. It seems almost hopeless to urge the point, but will the Government never see that the surest way to build up a traffic is to place the means within the reach of ail sections of the community? If any members of the renowed Titb Barnacle family ever emigrated, assuredly they came to this colony, and entered en masse (in disguise, of course) our railway service.

It is very difficult to disabuse the minds of some of our kinsmen at the other side of the globe of the idea that the primary xise of these colonies is to receive the refuse of the old world. Acting on. this benignant assumption, they ' have bestowed many delicate little favors upon us, and they have probably put down our neglect to thank them as colonial boorishness. Hitherto, these undesirable additions to our population have come only at odd intervals, but now it appears we are threatened with a systematic influx of criminals to be despatched under the most respectable auspices. A certain Mr Merrick a clergyman, and chaplain to H.M. gaol at Westminster, has been lately airing a little scheme of his for affording women who have lost their characters in London an opportunity of recovering them in another land and amid new associations. He has appealed to the ladies of England, through the press, to assist him in forwarding a detachment to some British colony. He thus writes to the Queen :—": — " We have in Westminster Gaol a great number of women who, when they are discharged, will have neither character, money, employment, friends, nor home to fall back upon, and who, either from their repeated convictions, the nature of their offences, or from the fact, perhaps, of their being deserted wives, are eligible for the homes that abound in the metropolis and elsewhere." We have no desire to call in question Mr Merrick's argument, that in another land these unfortunate outcasts might regain to some extent their lost status in society, nor do we doubt the honesty of the reverend gentleman's purpose. our obj ections to the carrying out of this benevolent plan, so far as New Zealand is concerned, are on another account altogether. Onr population is as yet extremely small, and a shipload of such people as Mr Merrick describes means, therefore, the addition of a large percentege to our criminal or quasi criminal classes. For it cannot be admitted that the whole, or even a respectable majority of presumably reformed gaol birds will, immediately on arrival, renounce all their former habits. Mr Merrick supposes there is a great demand in the colonies for female labor, and he is right so far. There is a demand for the proper sort of labor, male and female : Wo better field can be found for the steady and industrious : But the demand does not extend to all kinds of labor. Of a certain class we have enough, and to spare already.