THE ROY'S HILL EMBANKMENT.

Hastings Standard, Issue 321, 13 May 1897, Page 2

THE ROY'S HILL EMBANKMENT.

Once upon a time the Napier Daily Telegraph took some little interest in the advancement of Hastings. That was when the proprietor of that journal held a vested interest in the town. All who have been in the district for any length of time will remember the celebrated purchase known as " Knowles's Folly." Aided by a friendly Borough Council, which allowed " lanes" to be formed through the property where streets should have been insisted upon, Mr Knowles successfully unloaded. After the sale the Telegraph gradually withdrew its interest in the place, until now it has the audacity to endeavor to compass its destruction altogether. When the railway between Hastings and Paki Paid was being constructed Government formed an embankment at Roy's Hill to keep back the waters of the Ngaruroro. What that embankment has been worth to Hastings cannot be put into figures, but it is known that as soon as there was a breach in the work our town was submerged in places as much as 10ft. Had the embankment never been built Hastings might have still been a struggling village instead of as now a flourishing town. Since the late floods an agitation has been afoot to strengthen the embankment at Roy's Hill, and Government has been approached in the direction of giving a subsidy towards the work. It is to the interest of every man, woman, and child in Hastings that the embankment should be strengthened at the earliest possible moment. The Telegraph has issued a decree warning the Government that " there are other than railway interests to consider, and that to consider those interests alone involves the infliction of much loss upon the community." What community ? we ask in all seriousness, certainly not that of Hastings or Fernhill. No, these places can be swept off the face of the earth so far as the Telegraph is concerned ; but Meanee, Clive, Korokipo, and Papakura should be taken into consideration at any price. Of course no one for an instant -imagines that this is prompted because certain Napier citizens own a great part of the four settlements mentioned ; but we would like to ask if it is not a fact that the proprietor of the Telegraph has " vested interests " in all the places mentioned. The article in the Napier paper is branded " written to order" in every particular, and naturally Hastings residents are disgusted with the attitude taken up. Talk of men being blinded by self-interests, can anything be more palpable than the inspired article in last night's Telegraph ?