The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, 23rd AUGUST, 1879.

Southland Times, Issue 3486, 23 August 1879, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, 23rd AUGUST, 1879.

No greater -blot than that of such a transaction as the Thaines-Waikato railway job, could rest upon the reputation of any Ministry. It was a fraud upon the Legislative Assembly deliberately perpetrated, and for no other purpose than to create political capital for the Premier out of the. electorate he re-' presented" in ." Parliament. ;i The history of this ,nefar.ious piece of business is now emblazoned in the archives of the. 'colony,' for the searching investigation of -. its 1 details] jby the committee/ appointed for the purpose by Parliament, has brought. "to light a. niass of facts, as damaging and incontrovertible as the bitterest opponent of the Ministry conld desire. A railway for Waikato to' connect with the Thames, goldfield, had long-been talked about, and was included "in the schedule of the Public Wprks Statement of the session of 1878:7; It was, an uh^rtakin^ snfficiently well recommended, by,,, possible results, but it was always understood that 'the' water carriage of the great Thames river should.be utilised in connection with , the rail way. -so as to lessen, as much as' possible, the coat of 'connecting the two places. This was a reasonable understanding, for the Thames is a good navigable highway- "for vessels of ■moderate ; size,., to Te rArpa, ; the site selected for the terminus of the line from Waikato. Of course the ; line was surveyed, and a plan was attached to the Public Works Statement above alluded to, showing the route of the line from Hamilton toTeAWa and rib further. The evidence of-Mr Blackett, Engineer-in-Chief of the jSforth Island, who was jone of the witnesses-examined by the ebmmittee, was particularly clear on the., p.oirjt.. ; Herb is question arid answer : — ■; you look at lie; map prepared for the Public- -Works Statement, and say whether, that line indicated the extension from Grahamstown ~to~Te Aroa ?— No, that shows it to Te Aroa; and stops there, and. that is the liiriedes&ibeiiinmjf amxaalsrepprjbiin detail as from Hamilton to Te AroaV' ; The estimated cost of this section was £168,000, and as such it appeared in the Public Works Statement, but not one word did that statement contain of a possible extension from Te Aroa to Grahamstown;- -The job, however, .had to be ; smuggled through v somehow, and it "was done" by experimenting upon the House. Subsequent to the delivery of the Public Works Statement, and before the passing of the Public lVorks "Appropriation Act and the Kailway Construction Act, another map, on a larger scale and more distinct ihan that attached to the Public Works Statement, was prepared at the instigation of one of the members, but instead of being a fac-" simile of the other, a line was added showing the extension of the railway from Te Aroa to Grahamstown, and it is tv be borne in , mind, was v tinted differently to the line indicating ihe pro-' posed railway - from' Hamilton to.'-Te^ Aroa, and not by," any means set distinctly.^ It appears that the map was not examined very closely by^t^e House, and in connection with it a vote of a£30,000 for .the -comriiencement \of a J line,, .supposed ' to be. the' original one of ike plan, was passed. " Ministers, however, knew differently. The line was not to be commenced -at tlie Hamilton end, as understood •„ by", 'the House, but, to suit the little g"ame of Ministers, at the Grahamstown end, where it was really not so much needed, because of the good,, water carriage to Te Aroa, the opportunity for political display not being neglected by the Pref mier' T,yhen he' turned - the-- first sod at Grahamstowrl'' last year', 'and then •amusejd- the , country .with .one of his customary 1 oration's.' "At" the same

time members of Parliament were made aware of the fact that a line of railway, which had not been sanctioned by the House, was in course of construction, and a great outcry resulted, ending in a -commission of inquiry, *it which, the Minister of Works, the Engineer-In-Chief of the North Island, and other .witnesses j\xerc_examiueil, the evidence throughout tending" to inculpate Ministry fin the perpetration, of — to .give it a-very mild/ desi^nation,-4a jemark_ably. shady transaction. This section of =faWif 'from ©rth'a^ was one of the' Premier's - ; p'ct schemes ; he was determined to gratify his Thames constituency, and so, in the face of straitsned finances and commercial depression, the country was deliberately pledged to the expenditure of another £160,000 to gratify the small community of the Thames, and make political capital for the Premier. All who know that part of the country are aware that the water carriage of the Thames RiVer to Te Aroa would be ample for the requirements of settlement for manjr !/yEararCtoT®ttfe t Beyond Te Aroa, however, the water carriage terminates. But the best of the joke is that some obstructive natives, who own -landLOh tJiejr l oute.(ofvi"PJway,-|i few miles from Grahamstown, have prohibited the construction of a line on their property, so that probabilitieb point to the new lineJbeginning at Grahamstown, and ending at nowhere until the recalcitrant natives are mollified. Altogether, this railway job wears a forbiddinVaspect, aiWis ! "prVof>s!iiWof the Jengths th j e.Pi:enij,ej- J i,s l iprepared,to go iv the prosecution of his), designs' upon the I colony. f