THE EXPENDITURE ON RAILWAYS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2487, 19 June 1888, Page 3

THE EXPENDITURE ON RAILWAYS.

The feillrnviiiK letter hns appeared in one of the Southern papers:— Sill,—l was fflnd to see an extract from your .paper in the Auckland Evening Star uf March 14th, commenting on the construction of the North Island Trunk Railway. I entirely agree with your remarks thereon, in which you say the Government ought to set their faces firmly against the continuation of the line by any route whatever. Any unbiased person who has seen tho country, will agree with me, it is aliout maddest undertaking tho Government liavo taken in hand yet, and ye up to the present, they have done ft gront many foolish things. I think we have gone clean railway mad. 1 will now givo you a description of tho country as far as I went, that is to the top of the tunnel hill, about 50 milas a lie lino goes above Te Awamutu. You must know that the line has been constructed from Auckland to To Awanmtu for some years past. After passing through Te Awanintu, it strikes immediately into tho King Country ; for the first fifteen miles the land is open fern, fairly good, but after that to the tunnel, the country is broken, and comparatively speaking, unfit for settlement; but when I got to the t«p of the tunnel hill, and looked beyond. Well ! may the Lord deliver us, as far as the eye could see, nothing but broken ranges with poor soil and patches of bush here and there. (My brother who went thirty miles further, values the land at eighteen pence a mile.) And this, thought I, is the security to the landholder; and worse still, 1. thought of the interest wo would have to pay on making a railway through such a God forsaken country, and to crown their foilthe Government let the contract for the tunnel before the line was inado up to it, causing a loss of over £20,000. Oh! when will we have Reuse, wo live in the finest country on God's earth, but wo have cursed it by trying to civilise it too fast, We wero told if the money was not spent ' it would go down South, and that you Southern "follows would rob a chureli ; faith I think the Auckland boys are not much behind you. Bear in mind that not ono acre of this land through which the line .passes is in the hands of the Government, it 'is all native land/ Several times I have seen in the papers, resolutions passed by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, virgins; upon the Government tho necessity of pushing on the line through the King Country. . In the naino of God who are the Auckland Chamber of Commerce ? A par-, col of city men, that know nothing about tho country. Oh yes, I know those gentry, all they want is to get tho handling of the money, Jt is very easy for them at any time if they don't like the country, to pack up their traps and clear; paying their debts with the topsail sheet, but for a poor unfortunate farmer like me, I have to stop to weather the storm, which I mean to do; and I shall do my best, to stop this wanton cxpenditnro of public money, all of which the occupier of the soil is responsible for. But there aro other railways besides the Grand Trunk, that money has been wasted upon, Tlidre is the Piako railway ; you have heard of the great Piako Swamp. Of course you have. Well tho company managed to get a line through that swamp at the public expense, which enabled thoin t-i drain it, which they did, la,vim; it out in large square paddocks that looked well on paper, and, if rumour is correct, sown in grass painted Krccn to show tho intending purchasers, bu\ God help th°'poor fellow who is taken in by tho green. They did manage to nub one poor unfortunate flat, and he now can be seen at times standing on an island in the niiddlo of hi.-; swamp, watching the snorting of tho prcat iron horse, as it dashes past through the verdant paddocks of woods aud rushes. Occasionally ho lifts his voice and breathes a prayer, composed of sundry cuss words on tho evil day ho darkened the country with his eliadow. But thero iu turf iu that swamp, ({r Editor, H3 good m erer waa dug out

of the Bog of Allen, so when the coal mines are run out the trains can be em-

ployed carrying turf to the citizens of Auckland. Then again, there is another railway, n branch line to Rotorua, ostensibly to carry tourists to the Hot Lakes, but, in reality to enhance the value of the Patetero Company's land, as they were likewise lifting up their voice, but as they belong to the Army of Saints they don't use any cuss words. And yet again there is another; ye*, Mr Editor, there is another skeleton; a skeleton of a line between the Thames and Te Aroha—two small mining centres—with a good navigable river connecting the two, with very little agricultural land adjacent. That, too, is urgently required to be constructed. In tho name of all that's good, what does it all mean ? I see a large amount is to be spent on these railways within the next four years. What for ? Simply to give employment to labour, regardless whether the works are reproductive or not, lam staggered when I think of it, for it is nothing more nor less than borrowing money under false pretences. When is it going to end? Here we are staggering under a heavy load of debt, and still adding fuel to the fire. When I remonstrated with some of the leading men on the matter, the answer was, "What's the use of you talking, Ruche, the money is voted for it, and if we don't spend it the South will. Here have another drink, and let the next generation pay for it"—not the drink but the railways—and that is the way tho thing goes on. Now, I want you to clearly understand, I am only speaking of districts and railways that come under my own knowledge. I have born in this district 2"> years, and ought to know what I am talking about. I suppose the same sort of thing goes on in your province ; if so I hope, for tho good of the colony, you will use yosr powerful pen to expose this wanton expenditure of public money. Or, peradventure, you may be one of those who would shed the last drop of your brother's blood, but the divil a drop of your own. In that case, perhaps some worthy settler who has the welfare of the country at heart would write a letter on the subject. lam sure some of the Auckland papers would insert it, as you know they are always willing to do anything that would benefit tho south. I see by the Public Works Statement a sum of £430,208, is proposed to be expended on the railways I have mentioned, and in addition a further sum of £1-W,OOO at the south end of tho trunk line, making a grand total of £382,208, ail ou lines that are comparatively speaking worthless, and wont pay working expenses for the next fifty years ; the only paying point that over will be on some of them is the contractor's office. Tho reason

I bring this subject under your notice MiEditor. is that some of the southern members may be induced to take it up, as the northern members aro afraid to deal with it, but the south need have no such fear, for both north and south have to bear their share of the burden. Of course if any such wasteful expenditure takes place in your part of the country, and is brought under the notice of the northern members, thoy will most assuredly do their duty to the colony with a brotherly feeling towards the south. Now, in my opinion, a commission

ought to be appointed of practical honest men (it such can be got in the country), and let them examine and report on all railways under construction, as to what lines shall bo gono on with, and to what point they would consider a paying point, also what lines should be stopped forthwith. The Government to be guided by their report. That I think would bo the best way out of the difficult;-, and now Mr Editor in conclusion, what I have stated, I believe to bo substantially correct., 1 challenge contradiction. If you doubt my words send up a representative, a teetotaler if possible, as I cannot recommend the whisky in this part of the country, and ho can judge for himself.—l am, Sir, yourHetc.,

i'ohd Roche To Awainutu, April "ith, ISStf.