FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 147, 24 June 1933, Page 17

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FEOM " THE POST'

MANAWATU GORGE LINE

'.'The Manawatu Gorge railway line has often been represented as an impracticable, and costly project," remarks "The Post" of this date fifty years ago, "But it is now well known that the Government is in possession of reports from its own engineers, which1 prove that such is not the case. It " is affirmed that these reports show that the four miles of lino in tho Gorge could be made at a cost not in excess of £.10,000 per mile, and the portions pn the cast towards Woodvillo and on tho west towards the junction with the Taranaki line, making together a further length of ten miles, at an average cost of £6000 per mile. There is reason to believe that tho surveys are in such a forward state that the lino might bo constructed within fifteen months. If the connection with tho Taranaki lino wero made at Palmerston it would certainly be a profitable line, as it would pass through level country thickly populated. Without doubt the facilities it would give to tho increasing settlement of the Forty Mile Bush would develop a large trade for tho Government West Coast line, and assist "in raising it from being the third \in -' position of tho lines yielding highest returns to a par with tho first. Should tho Railway Company continue to push their line as they are now doing, and we are assured it is their intention to do Soj by the beginning of the summer they will havo their line laid from tho bridge at Fitzhcrbert to Otaki; and as the country is level and formation easy, in all probability trains will be running from Palmerston to Otaki in eighteen months' time. /These facts how stated, and tho indication of progress of the Napier lino by the contractor, recently let by the Government, and what we have said of the -Railway Company's line, sufficiently demonstrate what the position is. It is to be hoped that the Government will direct its early attention to the Manawatu Gorge lino. Few of tho public works will prove so reproductive, and no other line provided for in the schedule of the recent Loan Act will promote settlement and open up .available country to an equal extent." ( PACIFIC ISLANDS. "Next week the Colonial Treasurer is to move: —'That this House approves of the steps taken by tho Government, in conjunction with other of the Australasian colonies, to promote the establishment of British rule in certain islands of tho Pacific. That.this House undertakes, for its part, to'give effect to any assurance that may be required by the Imperial Government that this colony will, in conjunction with the other colonies of Australasia, bear a fair share of the necessary expenses.' -An interesting debate is likely to follow." ABSTAINERS DISCONTENTED. "The total abstainers are much discontented, and it seems to us with good reason, at.the refusal of the Government Insurance Department to transfer to the temperance branch those abstainers who had been insured in the ordinary branch prior to the establishment of the temperance section.. The Department, wo believe, alleges that such a transfer would bo unfair to the temperance branch, 'because the benefit of the medical examination in the selection of lives has worn off by the process of time.' This does not appear to us a valid ground of refusal, and if space permitted its unsoundness could easily and "conclusively be demonstrated. The reasons given by claimants for transfer are very cogent. They contend that unless this is dono the comparison between the ordinary and temperance sections will not be so favourable to the latter ns it ought to be, because the ordinary branch will be bolstered up with the good lives of temperance men. Moreover, the moral effect of total abstinence being accredited with the result which is claimed for it, tho promotion of longevity will be lost. We hope the Department will see its way to accede to the reasonable wish of the abstainers. The difficulty apparently is mainly one of accounts, but this ought not to stand in the way of an act of justice.'' INCIDENT IN PARLIAMENT. "An unrehearsed incident which took place in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon was alike amusing and unprecedented. The Colonial Treasurer had the attention of the House, and was in paroxysms of eloquence in defence of his conduct in regard to certain imprest matters ou account of which he had been taken vigorously to task by the Leader of the Opposition. Just as the Treasurer's eloquence had reached its climax and the gallant major had given utterance to a sentence which, from its telling character, was expected to completely annihilate his opponents, there arose on the air a series of sounds in a shrill voice for all the world resembling the 'Hear, hear!. Hear, hear!' of a Ministerial supporter. The interruption came, of all unlikely places, from the Ladies' Gallery, the occupants of which included a small regiment of children, who had .evidently been brought along to see the Parliamentary 'show.' The culprit was a youngster of* three or four years, who, with its head leaning on its little hands, and with tho air of a •philosopher, was stolidly regarding the proceedings below. The causo of this infantile demonstration in favour of the present Ministry is not easy to discover, but the sudden descent which it brought about from the sublime to the ridiculous caused, the grave and reverend seigneurs* in tho House to fairly roll with convulsions of laughter, while the Colonial Treasurer, in spite of himself, was obliged to join in the merriment, and found it impossible to proceed with his speech for some moments. Meanwhile, the noisy youngster remained immovable, all unconscious of the notoriety he had achieved." MAORI MUMMIES. "A few weeks ago, it is reported, a ateamer visited the south side of. Kawhia Harbour, near where there are limestone caves containing mummies, but who' has secured them we do not know. The first intimation of the existence of these mummies or petrifactions was made by a man who was in the habit of purchasing cattle from the Natives in the district. The matter came to the ears of Sir George Grey, who offered a considerable sum of money to him if he would fetch the bodies away. This, however, was not to be done very easily, and the outbreak of war prevented any attempt being made. The cave where tho six or seven mummies are or were enters from the bank of a river. There is no possibility of scaling the cliff from the river, and tho only means of access in former times was by getting into the branches of a tree which grew on a ledge close to the mouth of the cave and where branches reached to neaT the top of the cliff. This tree, however, has now been cut down by the Natives, so the only means of reaching the cave is by means of a rope from the top of the cliff. Whether tho mummies are the remains of Maoris or of a prior race remains to be seen when the bodies are produced by anyone who has had the temerity to take them away.