EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1587, 14 August 1885, Page 2

EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

; The Canterbury, Westland, and Nelson nn in ers were buiitp lotted on Satnidr.y nii.-hi. A pleasant evening ' was spent :»:id the greatest unnidmity existed in reiraru to the East and West | Co-isfc iinl.vay. T.'-re wisag*n*ral I detci min-dtiou sliown to try agaiu, and I light it out inch by inch. I A meeting of tiie Cantetburv, Nel- | son aud West Coast numbers was j hold yesterday with tcion-nee to the j East, and West Coast railway question, 'at which Mr Holmes presided, ll i was resolved to demaud tbat Govern j ment should iv ■■cr.gni.se that railway as I n colonial work, and place a sub-tan- ! tial vote for it on the Public Works ! E>iimates. One sum mentioned was ! £2.0,000. It is rumored that the Government have acceded to this demand so far as to agreeing to the placing of £1.50,000 on tiie Estimates. This morning there was another meeting hold and it is rumored that the result arrived at- was that the Government should be requested to hru.g on _ Li ■•an Bill siskins to borrow one million for the construction of the East and West Coast railway. It is further ru.!. red th it thost* pie-sent were unanimous in this recommendation. The Canterbury papers are exceedI ing wrath at the result of the recent division in the House. Originally it j was intended to call public meetings : at on jo lo protest against the action of the North Island members, bat this was deemed inadvisable pending the decision of the House upon some fresh proptisa's about to be submitted. It seems the question has not dropped, j tor the original motion for going into Committee to consider what concessions, if any, may be made to further the line, is still on the Order Paper. " Whether " (says a correspondent) the initiative will be taken through that motion, or some other way, one thing is certain, the railway will be heard of again, and soon, and iv a manner I believe likely to succeed. The mcmlier for Inangahua seems to have scored a decided point over the railway question, Nearly all the papers assert that his so-ecli was the best of the debate, if uot the only one, worth listening to. The Christchurch Press says : — Mr Menteath spoke logically iv favour of the Committee, pointing out what the Committee is really wanted for. It would, he said, I be irrational to refuse the Committee. ! He showed that all the leading men in ! the House not only thought that this i railway must be made, but have actually, in one way or other, begun to make it. lie was surptised to hear the tyros in politics denouncing the line as a project without hope and without honesty. Tbe scheme of Meiggs and Company was only one branch of tbe whole subject into which the Committee should be asked to en-

quire. Ho contrasted tiie prospect. of the Hue with those of the Otago Central. He spoke for tho railway, and he d.f.nded th.' composition of the Committee. He p >i„t_d out that the West Coast hai-bo. s would sup olv the outside world, while the rail . ay would supply Canterbury and the E -i. * Coast with coal. It had been said coal conld not be carried by the lme. H* conld say, on the authority of a distinguished expert, that a land carriage of 1 7s was equal to water -carriage of 9s. this being made up by more ha;ids lifting harbour dues, and the waste of pulverisation caused by th- roughness of the handling. Lading politicians had fomented the agitation for fix railway. ihi was surprised that they denounced the consequence of their own acts, and he called npon them to support the Committee as the best method of making the nil way, in which he believed. The wish of great districts for privileges p!mt. Ed by other districts wbich revelled in luxury, should be re poeted.