THE MAKOTUKU RAILWAY CROSSING. .

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 3, 12 May 1888, Page 2

THE MAKOTUKU RAILWAY CROSSING. .

. 4 Some considerable time ago our Makotuku friends obtained the pleasing promise, from certain high officials, that the long wanted and urgently needed railway crossing, from Forward-street to Pyke's-road, should be constructed without delay. The old proverb of the high road to a oertain place being paved with good indentions has again proved true. The crossing is still like a castle in the air, and, in consequence, the worthy inhabitants of one of our busiest Bush towns are very much in the air too, when they cross the railway fences on their errands of business or social intercourse. The well-known fame of the Makotuku boys for 'their efficiency in athietio sports is mainly owing to the necessity of having to vault the railway fence in crossing from the one side of the township to the other. Thus far it may be taken as a minor blessing; but then thero are othors than boys at Makotuku. The demure damsel with a certain fashionable apj)ondago, and tho dignified personage of sodato habits are equally well represented, and the crossing must be an unpleasant ordeal to both species. The onlookers, of course, enjoy the fun, nnd the boys, as a rule, watch with, great interest the performance, especially that of the damsel, who, however, sometimes through long practice, manages to get over without mishap or display, aud then the boys turn disgusted away, and murmur softly, "It is a " ; Well, never mind what thoy say. Many reasons have been adduced for the protracted delay in having the crossing put in order Some think it is for the purpose of initiating tho growing generation, i by way of practical illustration, in some such national pastime as "leaps and bounds," or "sitting on a rail ;" others explain the secret in a single word, " Maxwell," which we presume is a second and modern edition of tho old saj'ing, " Something rotten in tho state of Denmark." Theso conjectures, howeyer, do not alter the fact that the crossing is as yet non est, although very badly wanted ; how badly is only known to those who are in daily need of it. Tho demoralising effects of its non-exis-tence aro manifold, especially with the strained barbed wires in constant operation. In our ojrinion the strained feeling** among inhabitants on each side of the railway line have a great deal to do with these same strained wires, and for the following reason : If you wish to interview some one across the Jin,Q diu*i»g the evening you ejftW

crawl painfully over the said wires or painfully through them. As a rule you get caught in the barbs : at the expense of clothes or i skin. In general a strong expression is the next event, and , whTe thus giving vent to your angry feelings you naturally think of that individual across the , line, "whom you were obliged to go and see," and in consequence a wee bit of annoyance against him springs up in your heart. In places like Makotuku you often go to see the same individual, and, on account of the barbed wires you often 1 come to feel annoyance, with the ; same individual. The little animosity, originally trifling, increase.3 ' in volume aud strength till at last, 1 there is a steady bitter feeling in ' your heart against "the fellow across the line," — and — and all ! through the barbed wires. Nicht ' wtvhr ? Possibly our Makotuku friends ' think we are fooling them with all ' this about " barbed wires ?'' Be it . far from us ! We may, perhaps, be * " stretching " them a little to reach ; a certain good firm post, the post of ! union and good fellowship. We ■ are aware that a certain jealousy i exists between tho two parts of the i township on each side of the line, > aud this is not as it should be. We * cannot afford to be at variance with each other here in the Bush. In . reclaiming the . wilderness, and in i order to make our rough toil pay, , we must pull together, the mdi.- . vidual atoms of each settlement as [ much as the whole of the settlements themselves ; and if there are any real or imaginary "barbed wires " stopping the way, let us cut them and make a crossing of friendship and co-operation. And here we had better return , from our allegorical crossing to the ( real one, which we hope, when con- ■ structed, will serve the ends of both. Thisisoneof those instances ; where our member can make him*- * self very useful and, as Parliament » is now open, we expect soon to hear that the work has been taken in 1 hand.