The Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1880. THE HON. MR. OLIVER'S VISIT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 2, 17 April 1880, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1880. THE HON. MR. OLIVER'S VISIT.

At length there appears to be a prospect of getting the railway line from Wanganui to New Plymouth pushed on with something like vigor. The visit of the Hon. the Minister of Public Works to the district has been received with general satisfaction by the settlers, who have got weary of waiting, and have suffered through " hope deferred." Mr. Oliver is a shrewd business man. He has come to the district, and seen with his own eyes the different routes and sites for stations, lie has listened patiently to all that has heen urged on hoth sides, and his courteous bearing has been a subject of general commendation. The Engineer in Charge of the North Island, Mr. John Blackett, accompanied his chief on his tour of inspection : so that there will now be no further excuse for delaying tho completion of a line of railway, which is a work, as the Hon. Mr. Oliver admitted, not alone of local, but also of colonial, importance. We are not going to discuss tho merits or demerits of the rival sites for stations : we are not yet sufficiently acquainted with the district to give any pronounced opinion one way or the other. The public good, and the convenience of the greatest number of people, should be the paramount consideration in determining sites. The Hon. Mr. Oliver has promised that he will be guided by these considerations alone, and we have no doubt that he will be faithful to his word. What the great majority of the settlers will look for is the speedy construction of the line, and the fact that some individuals here, and some more there, want this or that station on a particular piece of ground, should no longer serve as an excuse for delaying the construction of the line, and pushing on ahead with the work with the greatest possible amount of speed. We are well aware that the Government have no very easy task before them. The finances of the colony are not in a particularly flourishing state; and the London money market cannot be looked to for some time to come.

Therefore, we think the Ministryshould not be harassed by those who have the welfare, of the colony at heart ; and were we not fully satisfied that the Wanganui-New Plymouth Railway will be one of the best paying lines in the colony, that it will be the means of opening up and settling a splendid tract of country, and that it will ensure the peace of this part of New Zealand, we should not feel so strongly as we do upon the matter. The promise made by the Hon. the Minister for Public Works ought not to remain a dead letter, and we shall anxiously watch for its fulfilment. The line from Stratford to Hawera should be completed in considerably less than twelve months, and the work ought to be pushed on from this side as well as fi*om the Mangawhero. The coming winter will put settlers to great inconvenience, and they will not be able to get their cattle and produce to market as speedily as they were led to expect. However, we look hopefully to the future, feeling confident that the promise of the Minister of Public Works will be speedily fulfilled.