Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY. JULY 15, 1879. THE RAILWAY OPPOSITIOIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 91, 15 July 1879, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY. JULY 15, 1879. THE RAILWAY OPPOSITIOIN.

» The opposition displayed by Mr A.. F. & alcouibe to the iSandon Railway scheme is certainly amusing. That gentleman, at the recent meeting of the County Council, declared his intention of opposing the railway " tooth and nail, " because the promoters hope it will eventually become the main line. 1 his is a humbling confession to make. A poor, wretched, puny spirit this, for an aspiring lU.H.K/lo exhibit. The promoters, as Mr Halcombe well knows, have not the power to say it shall be the main line. All they can do is to hope it "will be, and they may rest assured that it must be the main line, sooner or later. The country will not be able to afford to spend thousands of rounds each year, in order to force all the passengers and traffic upon the line to go past Feilditfg. Every ten miles saved means money to the public and the country. But Mr Halcombe care" nothing who sinks so long as Feilding swims. The opposition he displayed at ihe last meeting to the railway scheme was kumiliae- | ing to the Council as a whole, and to 1 himself in particular. On the one hand is an old-established district, ' which says, "We need a railway to be an outlet for our produce, and to > connect us with our port ; we are ! willing to make that ra Iway our- [ selves ; we are willing to tax ours , selves to obtain it ; we lie in the • route of the shortest line from Foxton to Greatford, and we expect the ! Government will recognise this fact, and rnako our line the main one." On the other hand is Mr Halcombe, who says, " I will oppose your railway tooth and nail, because when 1 it Is r, "=■ Feilding will be left on a \ % j." Well, what harm will , . j Feilding? Does Mr Hal- -...'..■ oppose that in the course of t ars Feilding will be d^pen- . non the stray sixpences of thvoug." . travellers for its existence ? how e^s will it be affected by the quasfci?.- ? So far as Foxton or Sando.. j;j2 concerned, the through 'te:ilj wi"l be of little importance to i -a, o- to Feilding either. The 7/ allington line running into Foxton i; an important matter, because it will connect Foxton with a large B district a lew miles south, capaj ble of carrying an extenrive population; also, because it will !■ connect Foxton and Sandon with L the capital, without depriving either Feilding or Palmoraton of the same advantage ; but the expenditure

o': a kt i!a.y \>y ■ ussen^ • •»•& ci fie woaki be a :\u o bug > '■ : 'e. -wlju.il Mr K-ueombo liiauJf ea ■ llv Uv,a for a b l.icl. 'Olieie svt L'rg-e !;o\rnb ay& smili onss on .vevv mnu I me. and their s"/;j mul n'ospdiifcy are r.ot dT.-cfe'l aiakrinil/ by fcl 1 ? fact iliab tir 'ii.c wiic'i '"us tlcoug-li fbir, i.-i - '"am one ' . :> af. v tew: or r.L;: •._•!■ :its isc ''D ci^m br re.W wilL iis . '.. It .'.iufctois .\ot uhe«,l.t,rth9 line is a ui-iiuci 1 . »r :aain, p-ovidedtijetlijtj.iice isnot inatouiill/ increased. Evei if tlie u.-ria iivie does not pass th-.ough Fsilding. th.it township will both have its present line and will be but little further from Wellington, thaait would be if itsl'ue were the main, and Palmerston were the point of junction. These things are well known to Mr Halcorabo, and bearing in mind the utter :.onsense of opposing the Sanclon railway on account of the mainline question, we are compelled to look deeper to discover his motives. Mr Ilalcombe hates Foxton, and ifc would noi be far out if we were to say that, the people of South Manawatu reciprocate '.he feeling cordially. Mr Halcombe knows this, and in view of a general election is endeavouring to knit the northern district (inducting Palnierston) to himself, by a mean and underhanded hostility to the South. His whole speech at the Council on the railway question, was full of bitter animus. His object was, by making the most daring and unscrupulous charges, to weaken public confidence in an undertaking of the utmost importance to Foxton, Sandon, and Carnarvon. If ho can by these means throw the railway scheme back until Parliament is well advanced, he fondly imagines he will smash one of the strongest arguments in favour of the Wellington line eonnsGting at Foxton. Then ho will turn round to the settlers of Palmerston and Feilding, and say, "0 ye poople, vote for me, as 1 have shown my zeal in your service by striving to kill your riva 1 ." Whether the means he has adopted will stand the scrutiny of honest and candid men, the public can judge. When Mr Ilalcombe brought on his motion re the Omatakapua Block, some of the southern men, galled by his petty action and hard sayings on the railway question, voted for a postponement of the matter for one month. Then, with a sardonic smile, Mr Halcombe applied to all who opposed him the epithet of " traitors." We do not defend the action of the southern men, beyond saying they were jaded into it. Hut why should Mr Halcombe expect all the charity to be sbiwn by this end of the district ? Was he not a traitor to the best interests of a large district in this County, - and one already settled, — when he so bitterly opposed the railway, and endeavoured to sacrifice the progress of South Manawatu to his own ambition? iMr Halcombe may be the future M.U.R. for Manawatu, but his elevation is by no means certain. Even in his own district the last County election showed that his iv fluence was comparatively small, and how low ho is estimated in South Manawatu, he will find when he goes to the poll. A man who aspires to represen' a large district in Parliament should have sufficient breadth of view to prevent him opposing " tooth and iic.il " works of para ruount importance to one- half of the electoral district, and which would tend to the good of the whole. Judging from his recent action, if Mr Halcombe were returned to Parliament, the whole South Manawatu would be worse than unrepresented. It would have a sworn foo appearing as its representative. That there have been mistakes regarding the floating of the scheme we admit ; but they have been venial,, and no one has suffered from them, nor would any injustice have been perpetrated. Certainly, nothing has been either done or left undoae, to warrant the ferocious attack of Mr Halcombe upon the promoters. His threat to oppose the scheme "tooth and nail, " will probably come home to roost. We shall see.