RE CANALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12856, 3 May 1905, Page 7

RE CANALS.

TO tut: editor. Sir,—Many letters have appeared in thi Herald in favour of canals connecting the' Waitemata and the Manukau and the) ; Manukau and the Waikato, but I have nod; seen a single letter objecting to the proposals. The matter of route is in dispute, but that is a subject for experts to decide. The question is: Who shall .construct them, the Government, the Harbour Board, or a, , company? I think Mr. J. E. Taylor, when. presiding at. a meeting of local board dele- • gates some mouths ago, provided the solution of the. difficulty. He is reported to have said the spending of £50,000 (I think' that was the figure, but the amount does not alter argument) on the construction of ii canal from the Manukau to the Waikato would add more than £50,000 to- the value of the lands in the Waikato watershed. Is not this increased land value .the natural fund that should lie drawn upon to pay, interest on the money borrowed to construct this canal? and charge users only the actual cost of upkeep and working? If this is so then the Government isi the body who should take in hand tho construction. Does not this also apply to all new railways, , roads, bridges, etc.? Do they not all add to land value almost exactly the amount spent; in their construction, and if the in- j terest on that; money were colleoted front that increased land value, could we not have all our projected railways, viz., Holensville northward, Kaihu-Hokianga, Whangarei-; Kawakawa, Auckland-Avondale direct.-Pukekoho-Waiuku. Drury or Mercer acrossl Piako swamp to Paeroa, thence via' Waihil. to Tauranga, Opotiki and Gisborne, Hamilton to Kawhia, Main Trunk, Taranala connection, etc., constructed at once, and at a rapid rate? and would not the building of all these railways give this colony a magnificent shove ahead?— am, etc., ' » Auckland, April 30, 1905. PROGRESS. ,