The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JULY 27, 1874.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1736, 27 July 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JULY 27, 1874.

Ik reading the Statement of the Minister for Public Works it will hare been noticed that- the Thames has nothing further to hope for from the vast expenditure under the Immigration and Public Works-Act—at least not this session. The Thames Valley Bail way is not even mentioned, and the casual reference to the Water Supply does not afford any information except that the cost will considerably-exceed the estimate. Out of the £300,000 voted for works on goldfields, we, are told that nearly a hundred thousand pounds have been exprnded, but what proportion of this is debited to the Thames does not appear. We only know that a portion of the material for the water race has arrived, and that two contracts for sections of the work have been let. And if the same dilatoriness.is •hewn by the public works department in completing the preliminaries as has beon displayed in the past it will be years before the water scheme is an accomplished fact. In considering the treatment

\?hich the Thames has ..received at the hands of the Government, it is impossible to dissociate two prevailing ideas—the injustice done to the Thames in refusing to recognise its claim to have additional representatives in the Assembly, and the persistency with ■vrhich the Government ignore the reasonable requests of the inhabitants of tho district regarding the Thames Valley railway, the opening of the Upper Thames, the construction of Harbcr works and some other matters. If wo were fairly and adequately represented in the House of Representatives there is no doubt that more consideration would bo ihewn to this district. But being treated unjustly in the matter of representation, other injustices follow ; and there does not appoar to be any unanimity amongst Auckland members in coming to tho rescue of this district. When it is too late, it may be found that the goose that laid the golden eggs —if not killed, is so enfetbled that she is no longer equal to the parturient operation of such costly ovarium, owing to the shortsighted policy which denied to it that nourishment and fostering care to be expected from a paternal Government. While the Thames is studiously neglected, the same cannot be said of the Province. The extension of the Biverhead ,and Eaipara railway is contemplated, and tho House i 3 to be asked for the necessary authority this session, although it is not pretended that the line will pay. Herein we see an anomaly. It has been demonstrated very clearly that, constructed by the Government, a railway from the Thames to Waikato would pay well; but the Government have laid down an arbitrary rule of what they consider trunk lines of railway and branch lines ; the Thames valley line coming within the latttr category its construction cannot be undertaken, while the House is requested to authorise the construction of a line over a country which, in the estimation of competent judges, will never afford traffic enough to pty anything like interest on the money which the railway will cost. We have no wish to say a word against the Auckland and Elaipara extension. The section of the line already in course of building would be simply useless, we believe, without completing the connection with the metropolis ; but the line altogether is one which could have waited. The money would have been better spent in completing the communication to the south, and opening up the interior by making branch lines to the different ports on the east coast of the Province ; or even in making ordinary roads and bridges and facilitating communication between producing and consuming districts. To say that the people of the Thames feel disappointed at th« palpable neglect shown to the district in not even mentioning their pet scheme of a railway through the country to the Waikato would scarcely be true. The answer given by the Premier to the deputation from the Thames was unmistakeably plain. But in the Public Works Statement marked reference is made to the money expended on the construction of roads in the North Island, and we find that during the year £61,269 have been spent on the roads in the Province of Auckland. Where, we would ask, has this sum been laid out ? Certainly not in this district, for with tho exception of a trifling sum authorised by the Provincial Government towards making the road to Whangamafa passable not a penny has been spent other than by tho local bodies—the Borough Couucil and Highway Boards, whose expenditure has been chiefly confined to the ratepayers' money, as the goldfields traffic has absorbed every penny of the General and Provincial Government subsidies. So far * then, the Thames has neither roads nor railways from past expenditure, but out of the further vote promised for the former a road may possibly be made to Ohinemuri, or some place beyond. We have not space to further notice the points which suggest themselves from a first perusalofthe Public Works Statement. It possesses no immediate interest for Thames readers, and even general readers will require to have an uncommonly extensive knowledge of tho geogi'aphy of the colony to understand thn details which the Minister for Public Works has given. The Statement is necessarily of less interest than the Premier's.Budget. The latter dealt with the affairs of the colony particularly and generally; the other treats principally of the districts which from fortuitous or political circumstances are benefitfiiag by the operation of the public works scber.ie ;.less fortunate districts having no in!crest beyond the reflection that they r.ill have to sustain a fair proportion of, the' burden which the public works are accumulating. It is easy for those people who revel in the benefits which large expenditure confers to contend that the ultimate advantages resulting from such expenditure will be general In a nevr country people prefer present and "immediate results to prospective and indirect benefits;, and it cannot be won-

dered at if the Thames people .pronounce th? Statement unsatisfactory, knowing that tho burden of a largo indebtedness will fall equally heavy upon them in tho future as upon those who reap the harvest of the present.