WAIRARAPA.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3370, 13 December 1871, Page 3

WAIRARAPA.

(FIJOM OUR OWN COnitESPONDENT.) PROGRESS. From the abstracts of certain principal results of the lnst census issued by the Registrar-General, aud laid before Parliament during its recent session, I ' have been enabled to compare the present state and progress of the Wairarapa, as regards land, crops, and live stock, with th&t of the other electoral districts of the colony. There is nearly double the extent of freehold holdings in this district than in the whole of the other electoral districts of the province put together; and it has also the largest quautity of laud, not only devoted to grazing purposes, as was to be expected, but also to wheat, hay, and sown grasses. The Wairarapa has also the largest quantity of freehold land compared with any other electoral district in any single province in TS'ew Zealand. It has also a larger extent of land improved, and under crop. It has a larger extent of land fenced than any other electoral district of the province, and is superior in this respect to any other district in the North Island with the single exception of Clive in the Province of Hawke's Bay. What is still more remarkable, there are more cattle in the Wairarapa than in any electoral district in New Zealand ; and twice as many sheep as can be found in any other district in the province. It has also a larger quantity of milch cows, and probably, therefore, not only produces by far the most wool and meat, but also the largest amount of dairy produce. Unlike Wanganui, Rangitikei, and other important electoral districts of the province and colonj r , it has no port of its own for the shipment of its pioduce; and nearly the whole of which has consequently to be sent overland to Wei- i lington. When it is further borne in mind that the finest timber is sent to Wellington from this district, and also to Patea, and even to the Middle Island, I think that the payingcharacter of the Wairavapa railway, when it is considered that it will be subjected to no water-way competition, cannot be doubted ; and that it affords better prospects of financial success than any otber projected railway in New Zealand. This being the case, avy necessary delay, either in its commencement or completion, cannot fail to prove injurious alike to both district and colony. THE HATLWAY ROUTE. The memorial to the Government on this subject has been extensively signed by the settlers throughout the valley. The proportions of those who have signed it, compared with those who have refused to do so, is about ten to one. On this question of a deviation in the proposed line through the district, I have endeavored to arrive at a just and important opinion. lat once saw that all mere private and local interests would have to be sacrificed, if necessary, for the common good, and consequently the only question which presented itself for solution was, whether any such sacrifice was really necessary. I have the authority of surveyors intimately acquainted with the locality through which Mr Piochfort has taken his lino for the assertion that he would not have thought for a moment of taking it in such a direction had he bad more local knowledge, This remark has more particular reference to the line from the Waiohine to the Waingawa rivers. But it is not as regards its engineering defects that the proposed Jine is objected to. If practicable, it is felt that it ehoijldj^ake'a more central course, even s'- vtifi* o^ regarding local interests or '^P^mjssufc traflk ; and I should myself advocate such a route, if it made no enormous difference in the cost, if Grey town and Masterfcon had no existence. The few persons who support the proposed line are, with few exceptions, directly interested in the matter. One intelligent gentleman observed " that in so large an undertaking small local interests should be disregarded. Besides," he significantly added, " the present line comes within ten chains of my own property, so I don't see why I should oppose it." Until a more central route has been surveyed it cannot be ascertained whether the line already surveyed is the best that could be chosen, and for that reason alone I conceive the prayer of the memorialists should be complied with.

THE RAILWAY COP.TRACT. It has been stated here on pretty good authority that the railway between Wellington and the Hutt will be comtnenced at once ; and the question is asked why should this portion of the line be the first to be undertaken, seeing that between Wellington and Petoni there is already water communication. It is a difficult matter to please every- ! body, and it is not the province of a Government to try 1 specially to please anybody, but to adopt that course which they deem will most promote the common good. For my part I have always felt that until there was steam communication between Wellington and the Hutt any talk about the construction of a railway between the two places might be regarded as somewhat premature. But between Petoni or Lowry Bay and the Waira rnpa the case is very different ; and it is between those two places that a railway is really wanted. So costly a work as that between Wellington and Petoni should not, at all events, beundertaken, i until that between Petoni and Featherston is completed. "We should not look a gift horse in the mouth ;" but the proposed railway is not of this character, and those are the best friends of the Ministry who point out how evils may be avoided, not after, but before they happen. Let a temporary wharf be erected at Fetoni and the railway be commenced from thence to this district. This would prove the better course to adopt both for its financial merits and its public advantages. LOCAL NEWS. I have but little local news to communicate tins week. The Resident Magistrate's Court was purely occupied during Wednesday and Thursday with a number of cases which, however, scarcely possess even local interest. George Bent, alias " Hoppy," was fully committed to take his trial for sheep stealing at the next sitting of the Supreme Court at Wellington, and witnesses were bound over to attend and give evidence. The arrangements for holding the fete at Featherston are now completed. A grand stand has been erected capable of seating 100 people, and a brass band has been engrged for the occasion. The " Mercury" did not appear on Wednesday, and it had not made its appearance on Saturday when the post closed. A cricket club was organised on Saturday at Featherston, and preliminary arrangements were entered into for playing a match with the Masterton Club. The G-reytown Road Board was very busy on Saturday in opening and considering tenders for a very large quantity of road work. There were upwards of twenty contractors present at the time the tenders were opened ; but in the absonce of labor, and in the presence of the hay harvest, the competition was anything but active. A telegram was received from the Provincial Secretary to the effect that no arrangement had beenj'et arrived at by the General Government as to the distribution of the road board grant.