The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1882. THE NORTH ISLAND LOAN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume III, Issue 290, 21 August 1882, Page 2

The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1882. THE NORTH ISLAND LOAN.

It is no doubt very difficult for any person not on tbe spot, correctly to estimate the value of political actions in Wellington. When Major Atkinson introduced a proviso in the North Island One Million Loan Bill, requiring the route to be surveyed and located and' the consent of Parliament obtained before the loan was raised, «a feeling of disappointment was caused, and a murmur of discontent at once arose; not because the proviso in itself was unreasonable, but because the North Island has learnt by bitter experience to distrust the parliamentary power of the South Island. The fact that the proviso requires the loan again to run the gauntlet through both Houses is a stubborn one. The bill has been passed once, but has to be passed again under perhaps far less favorable circumstances. If, for instance, it is brought on two years hence an excuse will be afforded to the Otago Central, the Middle Island West Coast railway projectors, or others to come forward and say, ! unless you give us an extra million also, we will throw this measure out, and you will have to do without your Northern trunk railway. The proviso added by the Major is a, practical confession of weakness : it would never have been conceded except on extreme .pressure, and those who attribute it to to the strength of Southern influences exercised during the no-confidence debate are probably right iv their conjecture. "Better half a loaf than ro bread" says the proverb, and even the bill as it is is better than none, though it is certainly a very small half loaf which has been promised rather than given. Ifc would have been infinitely wiser policy on •the part of tho Colonial Treasurer to take a vote for £100,000 or £150,000 to extend tho railway from Waitara to Mokau, so as to lessen the gap between New Plymouth and Waikato at once, than to. have gone blindly in for a big speculation, which has failed and stopped the progress of all except survey work for at least two years. We have no doubt that ample explanation will be forthcoming why this has been done ; and that the big fiasco will be smoothed over very adroitly. We regret sincerely that so bold an effort should have met with so little success ; but as the district has lost heavily by the failure of the venture, the electors naturally complain of a risk which they hold was needlessly incurred at a critical juncture. A small vote for the Mokau route could easily have been obtained, and would have ensured the line being continued in due course to Hamilton. As it is, the route is now left uudecided and the money also ; the only thing certain is that no contract on this line can be let for the next two years. Had the course suggested been adopted, the line to Mokau wight have been in, hand within six months from now. The Maoris are willing and the laud has passed through the court, but the business lias been bungled.