TO THE EDITOR OF THE REGISTER - 23 December 1859.
Sir— Knowing that your valuable columns are always open to discuss public grievances, I have penned these few lines in the hope that they may draw the attention of the "authorities" who have the oversight of these things, and of the inhabitants of Strathalbyn generally, to the great inconvenience about to be perpetuated upon us in the proposed site of the Telegraph Station and Post-Office, which seems to have been selected with a view to annoy and inconvenience the bulk of the residents in this township as much as possible.
As an illustration, you may imagine the General Post-Office in King William Street closed, and new offices opened for the convenience of the city somewhere, close to the West- Terrace Mill. The site selected for our Station is on a vacant acre, the property of Mr. Gollan; and to reach it, the telegraph poles are diverted from the main line to Wellington, carried through the township past the present Post-Office (so convenient to all), across the Angas River to the remote spot which is to be the site of the Station; from thence, to get back into the main line, another line of posts is to be put up, striking off at an angle to meet the main line near the lower end of the township; and, should we at some future day get our tramway to the Goolwa, another line from the Terminus to the Station will be necessary, thus making the ill-chosen site about as awkward a looking affair as can be imagined; but we are told it was a free gift to the Government.
What is the convenience of the residents not to be consulted in the choice of a site for a public building of this kind? Are they to be sacrificed to make some person's ??. I cannot think that our Government would do such a thing as this. It must have been an oversight, and if so, what a glaring one; and besides, if the Government had advertised for sites, there are, I am sure, persons owning land in the centre of the township who would willingly give a site; but I think this giving of sites is bad in principle altogether. The Officer appointed by the Government should select the best site for business to be had in the place, and if the owner would not give it, they should purchase it from him — in fact, in our case the cost of the three extra lines of telegraph, to get into the Murray-road again, &c., would purchase the best site in the township.
It appears to me that this township presents, in a high degree, an illustration of official oversight or perversity, I don't know which to call it. We were to have a Police Station and Court House. Some one offers a very distant and secluded spot as a site for it. The Government accept it, in spite of offers of sites much more eligible, and it is built. A stranger coming into the town-ship at night especially, would require some of the exploring qualities of a Babbage or Stuart to find it out. The same with our bridge. On crossing it, where does it lead you to? "And echo answers where?" If you want to get into the township, you must retrace your steps, or it will soon lead you into the scrub.
In the case under discussion, I believe the inhabitants are bestirring themselves. A memorial has been numerously signed and presented, and the choice of several first-rate sites in the best parts of the township offered to the Government gratuitously, which we hope will induce the authorities to reconsider the question of the site for a Telegraph Station, and that it may be placed in a position more suitable to the business and traffic of the town.
In conclusion, I would remark that the site as now chosen would have been much earlier and more strenuously opposed had the intention been sooner known, but the "poles" were only laid down as far as the present Post- Office on Friday last and that misled the people.
I am, Sir,
JUSTICE.
Strathalbyn, December 20, l859.