FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21765, 3 April 1934, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO

EXTRACTS FROM THE HERALD The following are extracts from the New Zealand Herald of April 3, 1884: We hear that the well-known peninsula of land immediately opposite Queen Street wharf, known as O'Neill's Point, has been purchased by a few enterprising Auckland citizens, who intend, at an early date, to place it in the market for select villa residence sites. The price, which is a large one, has not transpired. Our cable messages to-day state that a small British force will be left at Khartoum to defend the place and preserve order. Admiral Hewett has on a secret mission to the King of Abyssinia. In his letters Gordon Pasha describes the situation at Khartoum as very gloomy and says he is hoping against hope. In several quarters in the south there is a growing disposition in favour of leasing our railways. There has always been a belief, entertained by persons all over the colony, that an economical and profitable management of the traffic would never be realised so long as it was retained in the hands of the Government. There are acknowledged difficulties attending the leasing of the lines, however, arising out of the ract that, owing to the. unpayable nature of certain portions of them, it would be impossible to reduca the leasing to system, and it is questionable whether any company could be induced to lease the railways en bloc.