The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1756, 6 October 1883, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or pcisuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's riffh'- maintain, Unawcd by mflucm c and unbribcd by gain.

SATURDAY, OCT. G, 1883.

Up to the present no intimation lias been receivod from "Wellington regarding the amounts of moneys to be granted to tlio various councils and boards under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, which were applied for on tho fir.st of June last. This delay is on a par with everything emanating from, or passing through the Public Works o(Hce at Wellington of late, and it seems to us that the present Minister for Public Woi*ks has found out exactly how not to do it. He seems not even to have in- his office the cleric with £150 a year, who does all tho work, and whose services could not be dispensed with in the general re-organisation of the Civile Service. Certainly lie himself pays i little or no attention to the queries^ from public bodies sent to his office, and the disgraceful delays which have occurred of late in the matter of public works are nothing more o-r less than a scandal. The long time that elapsed; bet^een^ the re-

ceiving of tenders for drain works on tho deferred payment block at To Aroha, and the acceptanco of the same (throe mouths), the delay in calling tendors for the formation of the railway line from Morrinsville to the Thames, Avhioh is only now well under weigh ; tho length of time it took to call for tenders for Burd's drain at "Waihou after the survey was finished (sovon months), and for which no tender has yet boon signed, although they were received over six weeks since ; the unacconntablo waste of timo and the broken promises over the completion of tho line from Hamilton to Cambridge ; together with many other things of minor importance, such as the building of a bridge on thoTnupo road and tho bridgo over the Kanhvhaniwha, all sorve to show how we are served by a Ministerial servant to whom the tax payers of the colony pay £1200 a-year for sitting in his office and memo-ing works "to be postponed until something happens," &c. The evil is very great so far as our district is concerned, and if all other parts of the colony are served as we are, the sooner another distribution of portfolios takes place the better, when we hope to see the Public Works mantle fall on shoulders more suited to show it off to advantage. The members for Waipa and Waikato have been well interviewed and deputationised on public matters since their return, but nothing has given them greater trouble than Public Works affairs ; and although they have boon increasing in their exertions, they have as yet been nble to obtain no satisfactory information as to when anything is to be clone, except that "Tenders for platolaying on the Cambridge line will be called for in a few days." Wo wait patiently to see what a Public Works " few days " moans.