The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 22,1885.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1577, 22 July 1885, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1885.

The information contained in our Wellington telegrams this morning will, we are sure, be read with a thrill of pleasure throughout the district The Eaßt and West Coast and Nelson railway scheme has been successfully floated in London, the contracting firm undertaking to have the whole of the lines completed in from three to five years. It will be seen this information reaches the Colony through the official channel of the Agent-General's department at Home, and there is, therefore, no room to doubt the authenticity of the announcement, which has since been communicated to tha House by Sir Julius Yogel. But one additional stipulation has been made by the contractors, which is that upon the completion of the lines the Colony, will in addition im the land grants provided in the Act shall pay to the contractors annually for a period of twenty years a further snm of £97,000 in excess of the working expenses of the lines. It will be seen that this is suhstantinlly asking the Colony to guarantee interest on the capital expended at the rate at 2£ per cent. At the time the Act was passed a pretty general feeling exist<#d iv the House' that the Colony should guarantee one or two per cent., so that the demand having lwen in a measure anticipated in the Colony, it is hardly likely that any opposition will b^ offered to it now that no other obstacle stands in the way of the a,co:nplish» ment of the undertaking, Thr- Colonial Treasurer proposes that the guarantee shall be halved, the Colony paying half the other half to be levied in the provincial districts immediately benefited by the railways. It is hardly likely that any serious objection will be taken to the proposal though as the construction of the railways would undoubtedly- relieve the Colonial Government in the future nf a heavy expenditure on main roads and bridges a more equitable adjustment of I the burden would he possible. However, without going at any length into the subject upon the meagre information yet to hand, we can only express our warmest congratulations that success has crowned the spirited action taken by the people of the districts affected.