AUCKLAND, MONDAY, MAY 11, 1868.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1398, 11 May 1868, Page 2

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, MAY 11, 1868.

The Thames Advertiser is not quite satisfied with the views we have put forth respecting the difficult and vexed question of constructing roads and other public works at Shortland. The subject is a complicated and difficult one, and various opinions are, of course, held upon it, as upon many other subjects which are free from much difficulty. But although there may be differences of opinion, there need be no necessity for quarrelling, nor yet for anything approachiug misrepresentation. Calm discussion ought to

:aid in. devising the best practical remedy for the existingevils, and the wider the discussion, the sooner may we hope to have, some remedy applied,to.mitigate, if not to remove, the evils which we all admit to exist. We believe that a calm investigation of facts, and a careful consideration of all the circumstances of the case, will lead most men of moderate views to agree in the opinion we expressed as to the mode by which" the streets and roads could be formed, viz., by the residents, the natives, arid the Provincial Government each paying onethird of the cost of the work. It is no use repeating statements which are not correct, and arguing upon them as if they were true. The Provincial Government has not received the gold duty • it has received the license fees—it has kept these in a separate account, and devoted them to local purposes at Shortland. This it need not have done, but might have placed them to general Provincial revenue, and spent them on general Provincial purposes, exactly as is done in other cases. So far, then, the Provincial Government has not dealt harshly, but on the contrary very liberally toward Shortland, and if the general revenue of the Province had been such that the gold duty had been an addition to a sum which more than paid the General Government and the public creditor, there can be no doubt whatever but that the question of street and road-making and wharf construction would have been provided for as far as the gold duty receipts permitted. Had the Provincial Government been receiving money each month for gold duty, and declined,-to spend it upon the gold-fields, but used it wholly for other purposes, we should have most stoutly opposed and denounced it. But such is not the case, _and hence fair play demands that accusations of wrong-doiug should not be made against those who have done no wrong. Our Shortland contemporary states that we have stigmatised some of the supposed grievances at that place as the merest childishness, and among these the. road from Shortland to the Waiotahi. This is a grave error. Our argument was not that it was the merest childishness to seek to get a good road constructed between the two places, but to seek to have a Custom House establishment, with all the attendant expenses at the two places, being only so short a distance apart. The true policy, ia, not for each of these places, and the parties directly interested in them to seek to have this and that Government establishment located among them, to be paid for, not "by themselves solely, but by the general community, but to have one such establishment in a central position, accessible to the largest population. That centre undoubtedly appears to be Shortland. We have not a single pin's worth of interest either in Shortland or in Waiotahi, and therefore write simply for what appears to us to be the best for the public good. Those who know anything at all about the expenses of a Custom House staff, must see the uselessness of "multiplying it to an unnecessary extent. The more money that is so spent, the less there will be for the construction of roads. It is therefore to the real interests of the public at the Thames, whether at Shortland, at Waiotahi, or other adjacent places, that money should be economised and not squandered, that Government establishments should absorb as little of the public money as possible. The money spent on a second Custom House staff would do far more good if it were spent on making a good trunk road from Shortland to Waiotahi. If the fuaia were already at hand, and option was given to spend them on a duplicate set of officials, at a cost of several hundreds a-year, and on necessary buildings, or whether the bulk of the people would rather have a road made, we have no doubt whatever which would be preferred. But, we repeat, the making of roads will be the longer deferred, by so much as salaries to officials are increased. We should be heartily glad to see some plan adopted that will improve the streets and roads at the Thames before winter sets in. Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to see a tramway laid down from Shortland to the Kuranui, or better still to Tapu Creek. If th# inhabitants of these districts, the native land-owners, and the Provincial Government could agree to some fair means of effecting the object, we should like still better to have the rails and engine brought out for the Auckland and Drury Railway taken to the Thames for the Shortland and Tapu Railway, with its stations by the way. This would undoubtedly immediately pay, would be a vast boon to the districts mentioned, and will shortly become an absolute necessity. We are glad that the Provincial Government are already considering how best to utilise the now useless railway plant paid for by the Province, aud doing nothing. So far as we can see at present, this would'be to commence from Shortland and lay down a line of rails as soon as possible to the Waiotahi, to be extended as means would allow on to Tapu. .And, we think, cordial co-operation might effect this. The line would be on almost; if not. quite, a perfect level the whole way. There is not the slightest possible engineering difficulty about it. The expense of forming it would be exceedingly trifling, the traffic wonld. at once bring in an income. The most expensive portion of the plant is here, ballasting the ground and laying sleepers are the only expenses that would be incurred on the first branch of the work, that is to Waiotahi say. Hence our impression is that the Provincial Government should find the engine and rails, and the labour of some fifty or sixty of the prisoners at the Stockade as it's portion of theworkj; that arrangements should be made for the necessary land being given free, or at a merely nominal price ; that a loan should be obtained from the General Government of a few thousands on security of the plant aud works'and gold duty, while the residents on the diggings should do something by a subscription in money or labor to secure the desired object. We believe the plan we have sketched, though looked at by some perhaps as too comprehensive a scheme, is really a very simple aud effective one, aud easily attainable, if only all the parties interested would sink minor differences, aud come forth actuated with au earnest and liberal spirit, and with broad views, lookieg not at sectional but at general interests.