EAST AND WEST COAST RAIL WAY.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1584, 7 August 1885, Page 2

EAST AND WEST COAST RAIL WAY.

Wellington, August 4. In the House to-night the East and West Coast railway question came on for discussion. Sir Julius Yogel moved that a Select Committee be appointed to consider the question of the East and West Coast and Nelson Railway, and to make a recommend Uion regarding the same, with power to call forpeisons and papers, three to He a quorum, to report in ten days ; the Committee to consist of the Hon. Major Atkinson, Mr Cowan, Colonel Fraser, Mr Garrick, Mr Hursthonsp, Mr Macandrew, Mr Menteath, Mr Mitchelson, Major Steward, and the mover. In moving the motion, he said he wonld ask hon, member to consider the question apart from the impression left on their minds by themisstatements industriously circulated. Within the last few weeks dosp^rate. efforts had been made to surround the subject with gross imputations. He did not for a moment think that Mr Bryce, Mr Rolleston, and Major Atkinson would be a party to such statements, ;ind he knew that Major Atkinson was well aware that there had been no improper eondnct in the matter. Those imputations had been madt against all and everyone connected with the railway. He was at a los* I to account for or to the motives | for those utterly groundless ami men j daeious statements. Last year tht ' Act authorising tlie construction o the work had l>een pessad. That Acl was an amended form of a previous Act, and he was not aware thai I either Ai-t, had the advantage over the ' other. When the Bill c;ii:ie down ! from the Legislative Council it bar ' been Rineiidtd to sn<-h an extent tha i it would be difficult to carry on tli« j work, and the Government would pro ! bably have to com<? to the House foi further assistance next session. Thref ' gentlemen of unquestionable charactei had been sent home, and against th -se 1 us well as the persons concerned i: theactna! contract, had ihcse imputa tions beon levelled. TJie deiejjaLes, ; after working hard for a period, , telegraphed -"t rliat tiiey f.>:ni A that they wm'i.l rc(j!iireinoi"!iHcat..'Msi;i tiic ; original pro^.osiii.-?. These m •diti.-a ! tions w^re in the shw of a guarantee lof uot less tli ti! {V.i* \\\y. king j expenses for 20 years. Recognising ; that it was unfair that the colony shonl I bear tliis burden, the Governj ment had decided to specially rate t-ht ! districts interested, and to consider j that proposal, a meeting was heM iat his ho.,- \ This meeting wis so j favorable to this proposal that it ! was deciiiod to submit: the matter to ! Parliament. Tlihi ensued A most J extraordinary movement, ai-.d on the oue side there were a irniib-r of persons, to whom he did not like to j impute private motives, which made i the statements he had referred to. i There was on the other side an a>»so- ' lute desire and eagerness on the part jof those who were most materially ! interested, and who were to be taxed jto have the work undertaken. To his mind he thought the latter sign should be sufficient to show that these j railways ought to be made. With | regard to opposition from other disj tricts, it w»s a very shortsighted oue. When be came to think of the country j to l«e opened by these railways he could not help thinking that, take the West Coast of this island, it could scarcely benefit less than the actual districts through which the railway would prtss, because of the market which it would get for its produce. One course adopted to discredit the proposal was to bring misleading figures to bear upon it, and the old fashioned argu* inents of the amount of compound interest ; and in his opinion these figures wore looked at through the ! wrong end of the telescope. In this case compound interest had to be J reversed. What were the concessions |to be given ? It had been said that j one halfpenny invested before the j Christian era would have brought more at compound interest than the value of the treasure of the whole world. Compound interest might be applied very absurdly. What was the vnhte of the. guarantee to >»c given ? Taking it at the most, it was almost impossible that the whole amount would have to be paid ; and if the railway were constructed by the colony the amount of interest at 4 per cent, wonld he £1 ,680.000, or a larger amount than was now propoae.l to be paid. He contrasted the position of the colony in connection with this work with its position in regard to the Wellington Mauawatu railway, and asked whether when donations in excess of the ordinary land grant amounting to f 125.000, were giving to one company, it was to much to give £348,000 to a line five times the size. The estimated cost of their line was €3.130.000, and the estimate of the tniffic w;i" that a net profit of | £59,518 would be given on the two lines. Therefore, that amount wa< to be saved. If the Government wrre liable only for £3.000,000 the pavm nt would be reduced to about £120.000 annually; but that estimate was O'i'y for the first year, and the time woui.i shortly show that no payments would

lKMiiadp. It might I* asked why, when Government had such a clear idea of the matter, was it necessary to appoint a committee. The Govern ment were prepared with several ways of giving effect to the outline of the original proposals, and in regard to Sir George Grey's suggestion, it meant, he said, a reconsideration of the whole matter. He felt himself personally hound to reflect that but for the solemn pledge that the the trunk system should be completed throughout the colony, several parts of the colony would never have given support to the efforts made in that direction. The Province of Nelson was an example of that. The committee would also be able to consider the development of the trunk system. The Government, upon reflection as to the machinery required, had come to the conclusion that if the districts were to be made liable for the cost of this work the districts would be made into a sort of corporation to make the necessary guarantee. It cnnld 1w incorporated as lie would incorporate a Harbor Board or any other board, and Government had also come to the conclusion that a vote of persons to be made responsible should be taken. A hoard would *«c elected by that district. These were all the questions that should be considered by the Cora* mittee. It had also been said — Why should these districts be bound to give the work to any contractors ? Why should they not take th« land and make the works ? While expressing no final opinion on the matter, he would say that the proposal appeared well worthy of consideration. Here, he might say, that Government knew nothing whatever of the proposed contractors. It was quite open to \ | tl>cm to deal with any other firm, and J any other contractors. Whatever power the House might give to the [ Government, or to the local l>odies, j would liave to be increased with ( greater discretion. Another suggestion was, th.it instead of carrying out ' the arrangement about the guarantee, the works should be constructed as a . harbor board or any other body comt petent to carry it out— in other words, ,I to give powers to the local bodies * I interested in the work to cany it out. I Several advantages were to h» gained Iby making the work locally. The , | profits would bo retained iv the colony, t ; and a hiiid- amount of rolling stock would be made in the colony As regarded allowing the three districts to give a guarantee, he fonnd, on reference to the Stock Exchange lists that looil holde s in the colony were responsible for the payment of £230, ' 000 a year, and if ihey took up this work th a y wniM be responsible only ' ! for £ 34.000 a year. When ho looked ' ! at other parts of the colony, and siw ' ; how thry had been allowed to l»orrow ' t I he was at a loss to understand the cry ' ! raised against this proposal. Look at | New Plymouth, for instance, which ' was liable to £120.000 a year on account of its hai-bo", while the amount ' t jof the property tax annually was £12.000. Pate;i was another examplrt. 1 1 He could nnt understand, therefore, ; I the attitude assumed against this . I work. The city of Wellington was j liable to au annual charge of £9,500. The point was that it had been wid ' that it would not pay to carry coal one hundred miles. He instanced the ' t carriage of Westphalian coal into Italy as an argument against this statement.