INTERIOR PROVINCIAL WORKS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4183, 17 August 1874, Page 2

INTERIOR PROVINCIAL WORKS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —“ Never look a gift horse in the mouth’ may be very good logic for those who are supremely indifferent, either to the antecedents of the donor, or whether the gift so obtained was honestly come by. But men of principle do not so easily reconcile their consciences* But what may be true of individuals, does not always apply to collective bodies, for what “ is everybody’s business is nobody’s business,”' and it is with this impression on my mind, that I venture to remind the good folks of Wellington that any exultation they may have felt from the lavish expenditure of public money in their town, would have been considerably less, had they been aware (and they ought to have been had they remembered certain antecedents) that this could only be due to som skilful manipulation of funds at the expense of some other part of the Province. Solomon has said, “ Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.” And again, “ Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry “ but if he be found he shall restore sevenfold ; he shall give all the substance of his house.” In the late session of the Provincial Council £IOOO was voted to form a road to Alfredton via the Upper Taueru, and we may be quite sure this would not have been granted had that part of the district not been justly and legally entitled to such an expenditure. But what is the result ? On. application by the Masterton Highway Board for this sum to be expended, the reply is, “no funds,” and this in the face of many thousands of pounds which have accrued to the Provincial chest from the sale of laud in that locality. If our members are incapable of resenting this contemptuous manner of treating their decisions, the sooner they cease to draw their honorariums and stay at home the better. It is not alone in the shape of public works or roads (or rather their absence) that we have good grounds for complaint, but also, and chiefly, as regards the survey of our properties; for though some settlers have been actually in possession for over nine years, up to the present moment they are unable to point out their boundaries. So unscrupulous have been the Provincial Executive in their greed for money that valuable Crown lands have been privately sold for ss. an acre, unsurveyed, though falsely declared to be otherwise. Sir, I trust you will publish this, for I think too highly of the people of Wellington to believe that they would care to thrive and profit one day longer on the miseries and misfortunes of others, and conclude by reminding the Government that whether in private or public life the simplest and most honorable method of getting out of a difficulty is sometimes if not always by Kestitutiox Masterton, August 16, 1874.