TE AWAMUTU. The Taupo Road.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1757, 9 October 1883, Page 2

TE A WAMUTU. The Taupo Road.

I would again urge upon the Vfcip» County Council the necessity of tikin^jfimecliatc action in the matter of a road from Kihikihi to Taupo. Now the fine weather is sotting in, the constabulary could be profitably employed on that work. The whole of the native land from Orakau to the Waikato liver is gazetted for adjudication at the ne\t land couit, and when titles *re issued it will .soon become the property of iiuropeaiih, so that there need be no apprehension of any obsti action being offcied to the construction of a road to Waotu. Even if the land were likely to remain the propeity of the natives, veiy little objection wouid be made to a road being taken through their counti y. Tlie love of money ho eh iractoi istic of Europeans, is also a ]>iouiiuent trait in the Maoii character. This it, pai ticuUrly the case with tho owneiH of the, land in question ; they have had more intoicour.se with the pakohasthan natives li\ ing farther up the country, and aie peculuuly amenable to the influence of tin* almighty dolLu. Any i>lan, therefore, which would enhance tin 1 value of their land would be very favourably received by them. The whole of the native-, round the disti ict are very bittir against Wahanui's petition. They are indignant that he should arrogate to himself the position of tho loading chief of the country, a position which belong-, only to Tawhiao ; they contend that if his right is acknowledged by the (Tovernment, and any negotiations for the purchase or lease of lands bo conducted through him, those natives who have no lank, but who have a claim on the land, will derive very little benefit from the disposal of it ; they forget that every man can have his title to the land made clear by means of the court,«in institution which is now looked upon with ledH distrust by the natives, than formerly,

THK CHEEiE FACmiIT. Contrary to expectation tKj factory VfM not icadv for woik on tho fir.it of this mouth. The directors are blamed by the majority of paoplu for the delay. A little lufiection, however, would show they at a not uutu uly to blame m the matter. Contr.icts wero entered into to have everything completed by the Ist ; the carpenters completed their poition of the contract to time, but the plant wjs not ready, owing, I believo, to .some mishap in making mmiio of the casting.-! at the foundry. A telogiam, however, has been received fio.n Mr Crawford, stating that the plant will be here by Monday's tr.un, and that it will be erected in two days, so that we may expect operations to bugm on Thunday or Friday at latent. Tlu; diiectois, I think, mode <i> mistake in not calling for tsndeis for the work a little eailier than they did, Imt they certainly rlid what they thought was for the best. The position of a duector is no sinecure. They have to nut up with .ill the abu.se and odium if anything goes wrong, and attend meeting.-, in all weatheis, which is of itself no slight inconvenience. The supply of milk will bo very large this year, fully fivo hunched gallons will be delivered the first day. Hundieds of gallons aie wasted daily, the settleis not wishing to go to the expense of buying milk pans for using for only a week or two. Large numbers of dairy cows have been purchased in Auckland, and more are coming. The time is not very distant when factories will ba established within radii of five or six miles, for they will asauiedly prove an unmixed blessing to men of small menus, whether they be established on the co-operative or purchase system. The dark cloud of depression which has hung over the district so long has at last shown a silver living, for with the cheese making and fi eezing induatries being developed, the farmers may reasonably look forward to moie prosperous times. Since writing the above, the reason of the apparent delay in making the necessary additions to the factory and plant has been explained to me. According to the terms of the articles of association, no further calla above ten shilling-, per shaie could bo made without the consent of the majority of the shaieholders, and without making 1 more calls the dhectors weie unable to carry out the nece-isary work, as only a few of the shareholders attended the general meeting, obtaining the consent of two-thirds of tho number was a work of time and troubleJ^ut the moment their consent wok obfajA •!» tenders were called for. It is as wUWLje public should know this, as the directory are blamed through people not knowing the facts of the case. Genera] indignation is eipressed throughout the district at the^ action of the Government in not giving one of the Auckland members a seat in the Cabinet. It is a studied Blight to the piovince. The Ministry may plead as an excuse that they legislate for the colony as a whole and not for any particular district ; such an excuse w ill not gain credence ; we have not arrived at that happy stage of patriotism yet. ' This is the last despairing effort of the South to keep Auckland down, but in spite of them she holds > the proud position of premier city of New Zealand. This is the. natural result of, her geographical position, magnificent harbour, splendid climate and fertile back country. The southern members in their disire for insular separation, could not adopt a better plan to bring (Auckland members to 'this way of thinking than by .imposing iuch slights upon "the province., It was for better the North Island should have the administration of its own revenue than that, tho majority of it should bo diverted t<) the Middle Island. l i Our public work? ■at a. standstill, our 'petition's unheeded. As a gentleman here ;very .happily expressed it, "any petitions fifpm Auckland are laid aside, and finally are smothered, in the dust of the Wellington pigeon' holes,"— (Own Cor* $ejpon.d,e,ut); " ">' •