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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7270, 7 March 1885, Page 4

At last we have the advertisements calling for tenders for the construction of the railway line whioh is to unite Auckland and Wellington, which is to penetrate through the King Country, which is to open up to settlement and cultivation the whole interior of the North Island. The liret is termed the Puriri contract, and extends from Te Awamutu 15 miles up the valley of the Waipa, passing through Xopua. The second contract at Marton, the Southern end, is about 12i ntiles in length, and is called the Parewa contract. To the older settlers amongst our readers the appearance of these advertisements must give rise to many reflections. Twenty years ago we scarcely dreamed of such a thing. The war was then dying out in Waikato, but it was thought that for many years to come we should have quite enough to do in defending the settlers who had been placed on the confiscated land. And so, indeed, we had. The military settlement scheme proved a failure to a great extent;. Europeans were occasionally murdered by Maori marauding parties, and we began to despond of ever getting beyond the aukati, or boundary line. The opening up of the fertile lands of the interior, the rendering accessible of the mineral wealth of the ranges, the adding of all this territory to the resources of the colony by peopling the land, seemed to be work whioh we must make up our minds to leave to a later generation. It was thought that Tawhiao, and Rewi, and Wahanui, who had been so greatly humiliated by the war, who had lost so many of their relatives in the battles, who had forfeited the land of their ancestors, would never consent to the admission of Europeans to the King Country, and that we should have to wait till the whole generation which had fought in the war had passed away before it could be made accessible to European settlement. And now all has come about gradually. The past has been forgiven, even to Tβ Kooti, who now lives on a piece of land given to him by the Government. Much of the past has also been forgotten. It is a "wretched past" in many respects, and all that side of it should be swept out of • memory ; but there is no need that we should forget the many acta of heroism and chivalry that were shown on both sides. Now we enter a new era, which has come upon us more swiftly than we anticipated. Time and circumstances have been the chief workers in the change. The Europeans have greatly increased. In 1863, the severest year of the war, the European population of the colony amounted to 1-14,930, now it is about 55D,0U0. It shows, however, the advantageous position which the natives have had fer resistance, that notwithstanding the vast increase of population between 1863 snd this time, representing a great pressure upon them, they have been able, up till now, to keep the King Country almost unbroken. The colony must acknowledge the services of the different Native Ministers who have endeavoured to solve "the Kingite question," but wo think that now, looking back from our present position, we must single out the administration of Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan, as these gentlemen first got the natives to meet with Ministers and face the question of the opening of the country. In entering that territory now, we pass into a country which is absolutely unoccupied. The project of making a railway from Tβ Awamutu to Marton differs from all the other railway projects the colony has engaged in. In these we connected centres of population and assisted in promoting settlement. Now we connect Auckland and Wellington, and almost the whole country that lies between is a terra incognita as far as settlement is concerned. Ucw that work of settlement is to be accomplished is the most important that lies before the Government, and to make the arrangements will be one of the tasks of the next Parliament.

Not only will the four millions of acres included in the King Country proper be opened up by the new line just about to be commenced, but large districts now in the occupation of Europeans or belonging to the Government will have the benefit cf railway communication. The fertile country in the interior from Napier will be made accessible, and ao will the large district between the central line and Mount Egmont. We must not be in too great haste, or expect any sudden revolution because of the opening of the country and the commencement of the construction of the line. Years will elapse before the two sections now about to be commenced are joined. But the effect will be, without doubt, a grand one for the colony. We are adding to New Zealand what will probably prove the most fertile and the richest portion of it, and, taking all things into account, it may be said that we are doubling the available area of the North Island.