THE HUTT RIVER BOARD.

Evening Post, Volume LVII, Issue 33, 9 February 1899, Page 4

THE HUTT RIVER BOARD.

The pernicious tendency of the Government to subordinate the affairs of the community to the personal interests of sections of the " right colour," which is one of the most insidious and demoralising forms of political corruption, appears to he again "in evidence. Of late we have had to write with almost brutal plainness of the meaning of the obstruction to the Nelson movement for creation of a National Park, and now it looks as though we have a somewhat similar instance close at hand in the case of the Hutt River Board. The importance and value of the fertile and beautiful valley of the Hutt as a great outlet in the near future for the crowded city cannot be over-estimated. At present, of course, the district is practically inaccessible to city people who would otherwise reside there, because of the slow train service and prohibitory fares ; but some day, when Seddonism can find vote? in it, or, better still, when it has cea?ed to rule this country, the Hutt will be made easily and cheaply accessible, and become a splendid suburb, as populous as beautiful. Chonp and easy access will mean, of course, the straightening of the railway, and through express trains. It has been already showr in these columns that the reclaimed land which would result from this work, together with the expansion of traffic that must follow, would make the undertaking profitable, but until there are visible voices or " spoils " in it, or the present Government is deprived of office, nothing will be done. Meanwhile, it is hardly too much to say that the most valuable part of the Hutt Valley is being washed into the sea, and for some inscrutable reason the Premier bars the way of the people most concerned who would prevent this devastation. The story of the Hutt River Trust, or rather the attempt to create it, had prominent place in our columns last year when the movement took shape, and later was endorsed by the Government. What happened then and since is very trenchantly described in the letter of Mr. Robert Stevens, published in our issue of yesterday. That gentleman declares the contents of his letter to be true in every particular, and if so, it is not to be wondered at that he writes of the Premier that " we are being bestridden by a Colossus to whom nothing is too small or too great to be controlled or ' bossed,' from the billeting of charwomen and telegraph message boys to the ' burking' of a Banking Bill or River Board." Why is it that the Premier bars the way to the legitimate request of the people of Hutt Valley to be invested with the legal right to tax themselves to save the district from devastation? On the face of it, and Avith knowledge of his arbitrary and tortuous methods, we should say he is prepared, if it can be done with impunity, to inflict a public wrong in order to reward political hangers-on, or to punish political opponents. " The tyranny of the ticket" must be maintained, and if the Hutt ratepayers can give satisfactory assurance^ of their fealty to the Premier, they will be permitted to tax themselves that they may protect their homes and property. We trust, however, that they will instead demand their rights and compel them, and when they are won, as they wilhbe, remember when the time comes how they can best reward the man who now apparently withholds them.