THE NELSON WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1484, 17 December 1884, Page 2

THE NELSON WEST COAST RAILWAY.

(Xelsnn Mail). A well attended meeting of the Inland Communication Committee was held in the Council Chamber yesterday ufteviioon. His Worship the Mayor, who wtsiii the chair, said that having had several conversations within the List f.-w days with Sir Julius Yogel and Mr :ivhardson, he had become so convinced of the necessity of taking immediate action in the muter of the railway that he had eal ed them together without delay to consider what should he done by Nelson. O;hers we.ro Wurkm.-C actively and energetically, ami lv fdlt sure that unless they too bestirred themselves they might give up all hop" of the railway, on which so many had set their hearts, for ever, After hearing what Sir Julius Yogel had to say he at Oiice telegraphed to Mi Harper who was the moving spirit i.i Christchurch and he had replied that the Canterbury people were, willing to act with Nelson. This seemed to hi v a great step in advance, as hitherto he had been doubtful on his head. H.was then told by Sir Julius Vo^el that the draft of a contract had been sent up from Ciiristchurch to Wellington which would probably bi» signed, and that two gentlemen (Messrs Scott and A.D. Dobson) were to leave for England this month with the view of in rliuring English capitalists to einb.uk i in the undertaking, and Sir .Juiius' advice, to him was to go back to Nelsor at once and draft articles of agreement somewhat similar to thr>s**. proposed in CuristclKii-oh. (M Fill then explained the con ILions under which the Art provided that d Company might take up the work.) What thfy. had to do now whs to fnrm a Company with a nominal capital, and get ib registered. Of course there w.mld not be the sligost pretence of this Company doing tho work, but, they would hand it over to an English Company. In fact, it was somewhat similar to taking out a prospecting license, which meant a license to go and get a bigger man to take up t;ie work. This was what the Canterbury people had done with regard to the line from Ciiristchurch to the West Coast, and as they had expressed a willingness for the Nelson people to come in with them, by all moans let the Nelson people seize the opportunity Iv Canterbury tile preferred the Arthur's Pass oute, while in Nelson we were in favor of that by Cannibal Gorge, but there must be no quart-tiling about routes, and as the principal reason in Nelson for giving the. preference to the Cannibal Gorge was that it was more likely to be extended to Nelson, that consideration would no longer have any weight if the line in its entirety were to be '-ak^n up a' o • time. If the Syndicate o- Com ia;iy \ or whoever went in for" it, p.etVred | the Arthur's Pass route, it whs no' for us to differ from, but rather to wo k with them. Mr Scott, who was to be the Can erbury delegates was to be. Wellington next Monday, audit would be well if the Nelson ppople appointed one or more delegates to meet and confer with him there. The had raised a sum of £3000 in Canterbury towards the preliminary expenses and would have no difficulty getting five times as much for there everybody was enthusiastic on the subject, and it had been suggested that the subject the Nelsou people should gurantee a sum of £100 towards the expense of floating the Company so that whoever the.y sent to Wellington should be in a position to say that tho money was forth-coming if necessary. The Government showed a disposition to cordially help and encourage those who were willing to help themselves, and if we were to stir in the matter at all it must be done earnestly and energetically, otherwise j we must be content henceforward to be, designed as Sleepy Hollow, and to feel that the reproachful name, had been well earned. The Cantebury people would beyond all doubt got their railway, for they were determined to do so, and when a determined man Set his Heart on anything he generally succeeded, in obtaining it, ' and for this same reason he felt sure that Nelson might be eqially successful if ie were equally determined to command success. Further than this, it must be remembered that if Canterbury <;ot its line without Nelson going in with thorn, Nelson would nevei afterwards have a chance of obtaining railway communication because tho land would he taken njrht up the Lyell and we should have absolutely ; nothing to offer. Nor could we com- j plain if this were done for if we did not ' care to avail ourelves of the land we could scarcely object to others doing so. Never before had tiiis railway for which they had been longirg and striving for years past been nearer their grasp than now, and more than that it should be remembered that it was positively their last chance, and ! the consequences of neglecting their j opportunity would be very serious : indeed ; therefore he was inclined to say that never befor had a more important meeting been held in Nelson than that at which they were, then present. What they were now asked to do was to put their iiauds in their pecketsand provide perhaps one-thiid of the amount they find it easy to pay to a U-oupu of travelling tnmblers, and he s : )ike of it in that way because ho regarded ib usiiis duty which devolved j not merely upon a dozen or so> of people

hut upon all who possessed even the 1 smallest bit of property in the place i Oi course he could not say positively < what wonld be ihe n c ption accorded I to the pi'oposul by the London capita- i lists but he fult inch iu-d to think that ( it would be jumped at. All in Nelson, . uierciiauts, lawyers, doctors, ai-tizaus, I shopkeepers, and laborers were in one j ! way or another interested in this mat- < < ter, and he hoped thier would be no '< difficulty experienced in ohtaiuing a guarantee for at. lea.-a £1000 towards the expenses of forming a Ministry. In reply to a question from Mr Co^k, the. Ci:ii:-'iia.j said thai !»e thought it vi. v i . -i'-iihlo Lliar. tinScheme S : iOilid i>; put O.) ihc London market as a \vii>>!e and tinit it should not by? iitteini> ! .'Hl to doat two Cum pa:nes as th*-y uuld probably cut each other s throats. In answer to another question, the Chairman stated that the sum authorised for the connection between Nelson and Reeftun was a million, hut that it j would cost £1,200,000, hut he thought ! there would he no difficulty about the additional £200,000. Then Beef ton to Brnnnertou (30 miles) would cost £300,000, and he did not douLt that j the Government would complete this ; if the other two lines were constructed, j hut still he did not think it was ad- ! visible to ask the Company to cou-\; struct the two long lines with tins gap between them. It was for this reason principally that he advocated the C-umihal Gorge line, althojgh, as he hud said before-, i.o questiou of routes must be allowed to interfere, with the sn-.Nv-ss of the scheme as a whole. i Mr Sclanders pointed out that full ; power would have to he gi\en to the delegates who were sent to Wellington to deal with the £1000. Of course they wi c ii -t to go io the Ca-iter!>ury | delegate -i and say, ' Here's £1000 for ' for yon, do tho. be*? you a... \'ov us," ' hut there would have to lie an agreement entered between thorn, and an understanding nn-ivwd at that the | money was not to he paid merely for j obtaining communication between j Chvistchurch and Bruuimrtou. j Mr Levestuin said it was claarly to the interest of the firm of Harper and Co. that the large contract should be carried out, Tiie c was a Syndicate. formed ill England with eleven millions of money at their disposal, >i id if a profitable. i;ive-.t.-n-iit in N w Zealand >Vi j ,re show,) t) them they wjukl readily take it up, T.ie Ohiiiman said that tb • Syndicate had broken up, a:irl that everything had to he started with a Company ; yet to be formed. Some further discussion ensued, and a proposal was made to hold a public meeting, but this was deemed unnecessary. The Bishop of Nelson said he felt a great deal of interest in the matter, and very thankful to Mr Fell for having put the matter so concisely before them. This was a time for action and not for talking, and the puhlic had already been satiated ad nauseam with meetings and railway discussions. Now they had a practical proposition made to them, and he felt sure that th". proper thing to do was to send a delegate to Wellington with authority to guarantee 4*looo towards the expenses of floating the Company in Lonilo ■!. Th:i people of Nelson must such a .;nur.nitee individually as he would undertake to be responsible for £50. Mr Sclanders said it must be clearly understood that the. present meeting had not been called for the purpose of making the railway, but merely to take advantage of the Act, and the delegates must be in a position to say that they were prepared to find preliminary expenses up to, say, £1000. On be half of his firm he would guarantee £50. ' Mr Pell said he would do the same, and others present put then names down for various sums. It was then resolved to ask Mr Fell and Mr Sclanders to proceed to Wellington on Saturday which they consented to do, and a Committee was formed to obtain guarantees or subscriptions from those not present at the meeting. I Mr Si-landers said that Mr Shepherd ! had always taken a great interest in the matter, and as soon as he was aware that there was to be a meeting he had written to him on the subject. A cordial vote, of thanks to the Mayor for the interest he had displayed and the action he had taken, was proposed by Mr Levestam, and carried by ' acclamation, and the meeting then broke up.