OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY. TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9132, 14 August 1888, Page 3

OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —Pray permit to me correct a few errors which appeared in your article on the Otago Central Railway, under date August 3. You say that the Bill proposed "to take nearly half a million acres of Crown land yielding £48,000 per annum at the present time to the State." In the first place, the most exaggerated estimate of the area is 374,000 acres. In the second place, the estimated revenue of that area by Mr. McKerrow — a hostile witness —is £5000 per annum. Such is his printed evidence. Your mistake originates, I presume, after this fashion : the total area to be benefited by the construction of the railway is 2,250,000 acres, yielding at present £48,000 to the State, of which immense territory only 374,000 acres maximum calculation, and yielding only £5000 per annum to the State, was asked for in my Bill. In compensation, it was proposed to purchase the completed and uncompleted portions of the line valued at £500,000, thereby placing that amount in the public treasury, and freeing the Government from further obligations in connection with the line. Now the interest annually paid upon the incomplete line is about equal to the increase of the tea duty, £30,000 per annum, which might have been dispensed with if the offer made by the Bill had been accepted, so that every householder in all New Zealand is paying the increased tea duty, because the Government will not allow a syndicate to construct the Otago Central Railway, and nearly half a million of money would have been recouped to the public Treasury. Was there ever such idiotic blindness as was displayed by Parliament and the Government in refusing such an offer In private life such an offei would have been jumped at. Then, again, you are pleased to say that " elated with his victory Mr. Pyke retired from the floor of the. House and allowed Mr. Hobbs to be defeated by the narrow majority of 2." Here again you are entirely wrong. I waited until the final moment— voted with Mr. Hobbs for his Kamo-Kawakawa Railwayl even lobbied for him (God forgive me !)—and I take it that Mr. Hobbs and Mr. R. Thompson are the two most ungrateful and ungenerous men I have ever luid the misfortune to meet with in any Parliament during my whole experience. Pray, sir, do not pervert facts. The position is this : Let the Government make the line, or let us make it ourselves. That is all we ask ; and, despite of traitors in Parliament and treacherous Ministers, the line we will have.— am, &c., Vincent Pyke. Wellington, August S, 1888. [Mr. Pyke says that the position is, " Let the Government make the line, or let us make it." It is clear that the Government cannot make the line, and ought not to make it. The other alternative is not for "us" to make the line, but the passing of a Bill to enable a syndicate to gc on the London market with a large endowment of land to form a company which would devote itself to forcing further concessions out of the Government. As to Mr. Pyke's log-rolling with Mr. Hobbs, and then walking out of the House, that took place last session. Mr. Pyke seems to think that he requires forgiveness (not from his constituents) for voting for the Kamo-Kawakawa line. We think that Mr. Hobbs requires forgiveness from all parties for voting for the Otayo Central line.—Ed.] HOW THE SANITARY ACT IS WORKED IN AUCKLAND. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Auckland is unquestionably the dirtiest town in New Zealand. I do not grumble at that, as it was on that account that I settled here. But the following specimen of how the Sanitary Act is worked by Mr. Goldie will show, I think, how it is that accumulations of refuse are allowed to be deposited in every gully without anyone making official complaint. A few days ago I sent a memo, to the Sanitary Inspector, calling attention to the filthy condition of a public yard behind Fallon's buildings, to which all the inhabitants of these buildings have • common access. The yard has no pavement or gravel, and during the wet weather has become ploughed up by carts and horses and human beings going in and out. Mr. Goldie, I believe, came and inspected the yard, and without any notice has summoned one of the inhabitants, who has no more power over the yard than I have, for neglecting to clean "his private yard." In his playful way Mr. Goldie also summons another neighbour of mine for a very trifling affair, and then serves me with a subpoena as a witness. Now, my only object was to get. a few loads of gravel or scoria thrown over the yard, and I gave a hint to theSanitarylnspector. Had I had the smallest idea that he carried on the business of his office in such a way I should never have applied to him. I have been head of a sanitary department dealing with a whole colony, and my sanitary inspectors never on any occasion, however urgent, summoned persons for breach of tiie sanitary laws without first giving them full time to remove the nuisance or discontinue the act complained of. If Mr. Goldie's object is to reduce his work to a minimum by preventing the public from making use of the Sanitary Act, then such proceedings as these are likely to bo successful.—l am, Ac., R. H. Bakewell, M.D. Hobson-street, August 13.