The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 25TH JANUARY, 1886.

Southland Times, Issue 90124, 25 January 1886, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 25TH JANUARY, 1886.

The opposition to thoj^ew Zealand raiU ways oo. the part of the settlers still goes; OD. It is indeed Biisperiderl for the pre-' sent between the Bluff and lovercargill, but tbja suspensiou, a.* the publio knows, has: been ca»»eil softly by the state of, the.road. But for thut the wraggons wouldj still have b>eu plying to and fro between; the port and the > town. ■> ." It -13 not that the Oftiilway^D fpartinent- has beaten the lo"vefcafgillv'nierchants ; v if is simply because the Qourity ppapcil "'wdtild; pot 'agree, to put the road in a proper state of repair. The iwaggouers could easily have contended, nxi<] not only- easily but profitably, witji the rail way, buv^hey^ooald not possibly contend with a fpad which ;; a good sbp«rer<of raio turns jp some plflces iotp a alongh, It rhkyy does geew a pjt^

that a^ jtavrn; o£-,ttie^imporiance-of Jafer-y cargill shoald b© thus placed at the mercy of an . incoinpetent andVpragmatical'Departrnent. Tlie)peo:ple/?oMhe district ciaglit a|^ny Vatd tb'iknow^tiat Invero^rgiU's Jjsjji& "-"Us" B^ediny gain, and that t]b|p sort .injqstical^we mean -the favparing of the large towns, such as Duoedin «ni Chnstchurch, at the expense of the smaUer onePj.intheirJroepective districts— obtains throughout the colony, no doubt in consequence of political influence being brought to bear on the Government. If: : euthv things as honeet, independent nohtpolitical boards are possible, the sooner tro get them established the better. Nothing could be much worse, to be actually tolerablej than the present Management. •It is- little wonder then that the opposition, not merely to the Management, but also, oh we have said, to the railways, got. s on. From the Waiwera and Warepadist riots this season's clip of ' wool is beiiur carted to Danedin, a dietance roughly speaking, of about SBverity miles ! The game thing is '; taking place, and has indeed taken place every season, insom^ partß of Canterbury, much of the^wdpl from the Mackenzie country, for instance; being carried down, alongside the railway from Fairly Creek to Timaru in waggon^ We notice from a letter in a contemporary that ths farmers in the former districts (Waiwera and Warepa), even those through whose farms the railway runsj are proposing, or rather making arrangements to have their grain also carted to Dunedin. .It would thus seem as if it Were the purpose of the Department to dißguat the colonidts with their railways, and prepare the public for- Borne possible and,* as we have heani gay, not improbable j.ropoßal to sell or lease them. It is at least highly preposteious for the government to talk of completing all main lines without further delay, as well as of beginning new lines, as Jong as the exißtiDg lines are practically unavailable for the traffic of the country^— nay, to propose making railways where there wbuld.be no traffic to speak of perhaps for centuries, and at the same time compel the farmers and flockownprs along the main trunk line of the Middle Island to cart their jorod rice; tb port or market. We wonder bow much longer the people will stand euoh a Government.