AUCKLAND MEMBERS AND THE RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11498, 9 October 1900, Page 7

AUCKLAND MEMBERS AND THE RAILWAYS.

TO THE EDITOR. ■ Sir,—The railway apportionment is shame- ' folly" unjust to Auckland. .Tho son of An&k who controls expenditure has made V; his : Auckland; supporters like grasshoppers Wjn their own sights, oven as they are to 1 him. So we. have spiritless representatives jv whose constituents ;are moaning in despair. Instead of a decided rebellion wo are adt: vised to accept tho offered crumbs, and to ' pray that these expectations will not, as t heretofore, be disappointed by non-expendi- . ture. What a change lias come over our • members! Compare their present quietudo with the spirited determination' of their candidature. One of the worst allotments of 'J,money is that to the Midland, a lino through : la country so truthfully described in your Friday's: issue. Having travelled over it I can corroborate the truthfulness of the description. In, no sonse is this a "trunk line, and tho lines on which it was proposed to construct it should bo adhered to, and no one would grumble. Largo blocks of land were set apart for this purpose, and why should there lie any money vote ? Lot the moneys earned by tho portions mado " and the revenue -from these lands be spent : in finishing this lino, which would have been the case had the British company continued, 'and then £100,000 of public moneys would he ,released—which both justly and advantageously could be spent in tho North The real trunk lines, as shown by tho member for Bruce, is connecting Christchurch to Blenheim, much r of which is done, and the , Aiickland'curn-Wellington. "When theso two gaps are filled then the line would run i from Invcreargill to Auckland, with only tho short distance by water from Picton to Wellington. This was James: Allen's idea of -completing the trunk lines. But as ho is in Opposition, parties will not allow that 'good can come out of Nazareth, and I fear that suoh are afraid' to bo indignant with . their leader.—l am, etc., Edwin Care.