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MR TRAVERS' PALMERSTON SPEECH.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MAN AW ATP HERALD Sir, — It is ex<:eediagly unsatisfactory to find that a gentleman holding the position Mr T ravers does should find it necessary, in order to further a company's ends, to make unfair and untrue statements about tho lower portion of this county, as he did when he stated that it was not at all likely " that a line would be constructed through--30 miles of unproductive sandhills." This rash statement draws attention to others made by the same gentleman, as in noticing the concessions made by the Govern* ment, he admits the company intend to use the survey prepared, which nust take the line through 20 miles Of the country designated as nnproduotive sandhills, as the distance from Paiaka to Foxton, the portion he intended to ridicule, is only 7 miles. I Yet as the most important of 'the provi* ' sional directors, their authorised mouth; piece, he, after this exhibition of his know* ledge of the country, is prepared to assert that " the company were in possession of sufficient data to warrant them in going before the English market and proving to it that it was a sound commercial invest* ment." It appears that the same savoring »>f Jesuitism which prompted the directors to avoid in their prospectus the mention of the actual point of contact at Manawatu, has also warned them of the iiudviaability of publishing in the same print any of the data which would warrant the scheme being pronounced in the colony a sound commercial investment, and I challenge the directors to attempt to do so. How* ever necessary it is, a* a colonial under* taking, this work is only one which a Government should undertake. With a large proportion of waste lands in their possession, witb the best oppoHunity of acquiring further large areas, this work, though doubtfully remunerative in itself, would -^ indirectly be repaid in the enhanced value of their property ; and, besides, they owe the capital and this coast a road, and have obtained possession of an old provincial aaset in the Wellington reclaimed land, the value of which should have been devoted to this purpose. Therefore for these and other reasons the Government should be ooatiauftUy urged to nak« this list; m 4

on the contrary there are many reasons "why this compauy should, not receive the. support of the West Coast settlers. Mr Travers told his audience that they Bhould prove to the Government that thii. was no political railway, and that they were asked to take up shares, because (we must suppose they were asked to view it »s a speculation) they were convinced in their own minds that the project is thoroughly soMTkd, How were his hearers to be convinced of this, when in neither the prospectus nor in his address was any cUta produced to prove it so ? He repeats at intervals : "It would be an utter farce to imagine that the Government could leave 78 miles of line, particularly a main lint? starting from the capital, in the hands of a private company. The thing would be an absurdity ;" and further, that his " belief, however, is that the company will not be called upon to complete the line ; that the Government and the colony itself recognise the absurdity of the situation, and the inevitable result, will be [that it will be] taken over. We must, however, throw such a supposition aside, act as if there were no likelihood of such a contingency, &c," and thus, still using his own words, bring "the strongest screw " on the Government. This language seems fully \f> show, that it is the true intent to use this company as a political dodge to force the hands of the Government. Taking this to be so, and as it certainly is so understood by most of the settlers appealed to, it is then manifest that we have all to be careful of the Jesuitical statements made by the mouthpiece of not only the provisional directors of the company, but probably also of the contractor. If it is not at all probable that the company will complete the line, how Mr Travers can promise the Palmerston townsmen that the line sliall junction there, seems a difficulty, as should the Government take the line over, they have decided upon some othor point. If the company had left the junction in abeyance it is probable that the Bettlera in Sanson, Rangitikei and Wanganui would have favorably entertained the matter, but strong opposition is now courted, when it has been so clearly declared that shares are only desired to be applied for, not for the bona fide carrying out of a great work, but merely to be used as a means of bounce and to "screw " the Government. The applications for shares;, after Mr Travers', speech on Saturday last, will no more represent' the earnestness of the applicants to carry out the work, nor their conviction of the soundness of the venture as a eoirmercial investment, but will represent a lottery, the amount of the application on each share to " screw " the Government to take the railway to a point the most inconvenient to all the West Coast except Feilding and Palmerston. lam, &c, Ernest S. Thynke. Foxton, February 23, 1881. ■

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH18810225.2.23

Bibliographic details

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 51, 25 February 1881, Page 2

Word Count
883

MR TRAVERS' PALMERSTON SPEECH. Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 51, 25 February 1881, Page 2

MR TRAVERS' PALMERSTON SPEECH. Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 51, 25 February 1881, Page 2

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