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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5544, 4 January 1879, Page 2

Provision will be made for a passenger station only on the Thorndon reclamation. This, in so many words, is the answer given by Mr. Macandrew to the deputation that waited upon him yesterday. Even half a loaf is better than no bread, and in those days it behoves Wellington people to be thankful for small mercies. Gratitude has been defined as a lively expectation of future favors, and in this spirit we think the gratitude of our fellow-citizens may fairly be offered to the Minister of Public Works. It is undeniable that ic was perfectly understood that a site for a railway station was to be reserved by the Government on the reclaimed land. Now, after an attempt to ignore this unwritten part of the contract altogether, the pressure of public opinion has compelled the Government to make an unwilling concession, which after all is but half of what was tacitly agreed upon. In Auckland, where a railway wharf is already an accomplished fact, the business carried on at the Queen’s Wharf was sufficiently great to cause the public to clamor for an extension of the railway to the latter also. This will shortly be done, and then no doubt our Northern rival will bo able to sneer at the want of dispatch displayed by Wellington people in loading and unloading the shipping that comes into their port. Even the passenger station that has been promised is nothing grand, it may prove to be only a^ small shed, with no more accommodation than is now supplied at Pipitea Point. The fact seems to be that the title to the estate left by the late Provincial Council has been in dispute. The possession, which is generally supposed to be nine points of the law, rests with the Ministry, and they seem fully inclined to take every advantage of it. The idea of considering what the original objects of the promoters of the undertaking were does not seem to have entered the heads of the Ministers; the wishes of the defunct Council are not deemed worthy of notice. On the contrary, the one idea present in the mind of Mr. Macandrew is plainly how to make the most political capital out of the windfall that has accrued to him, Sell as much, of the land as possible he says in effect. His words are “ I don’t think the colony is in a position to afford it” (i.t. to grant a sufficient area for a goods station), “and I don’t think it is absolutely necessary. As I said before, the passenger station will be brought as near the centre of the city as possible, and ultimately perhaps to the other end ; but the goods station, I think, with all deference, is better where it is.” Possibly Mr. Macandrew may think so, but then he is not a merchant in Wellington ; if he were, he might very possibly be more inclined to agree with Mr. Nathan that those who have to provide for the transport of goods within the city know best what arrangements would suit their convenience. The present “personal”, Government seems to extend even to the Public Works department, as Mr. Macandrew in reference to this very point, assumes quite a paternal attitude towards the citizens of Wellington, He informs them that “ Sometimes people do not know what is best for themselves.” We have hitherto been of the opinion that “ no one knows so well where the shoe pinches as the wearer,” but Mr. Macandrew is indined to dispute this proverb. Even the two sections demanded are not promised. “Ifit is necessary,” says he, “ they will be reserved." It will be a station of some sort or other, and if these two sections are necessary they will be withdrawn from sale. The right that the whole colony has to share in the proceeds of this sale, which was due to the foresight of the Wellington Provincial Council, has not yet been made clear. If the saying of Rochefoucault be true, “ that in the misfortunes of others there is always something over which one rejoices,” we may expect that Mr. Macandrew’s blindness to the claims which the city has to be consulted as to the use to which this reclamation shall be put will cause some malicious satisfaction in the breasts of dwellers in other New Zealand cities.