EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1588, 17 August 1885, Page 2

EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

The following is an extract from a lptter addiessed to the New Zealand Times l»y Mr Alexander Joyce of Lytteltou : — As the question will pro- . bably l»e before Parliament fot some time may I ask the favor of your insertion of the following scheme for constrnctini: t!ip railway. (1.) That it is advisable the railway be constructed by the colony. <2 % ) That the Parliament be asked to sanction a loan of three millions spread over a term of six years, the interest of such loan being provided for in the following manner:— (a). The Crown lands for a distance of twenty miles on each side of the line to lie reserved as an endowment for the railway, and to be nnder the control of a Board consisting of five members, two of whom should be elected l>y Government, and three by the elector* of North Canterbnry, Nelson, and Wentland. (b\ The Board to have power to lease the agricultural land upon the game terms as provided for the perpetnal leasing of agricultural land in mining districts, and to lfasfi the mineral and timber lnnds upon a system of royalties. ' ;). The funds acrruing from the leas- of j lands, and pII receipts of the railway in excess of working expenses and cost of maintenance, to be applied *»y the Board to the payment of the | interest on the loan. (A) All funds accruing from the lease of land, and all railway profits in excess of the amount required for payment of interest shall lie applied by the Board to the repurchase of debentures issued for the construction of the railway, (c) In the event of the annual revenue and railway profits being insufficient to pay the interest upon the loan, the deficiency shall be made, up one-half by an increase of the property tax in North Canterbury, Westland and Nelson, and one half by special rate to be levied by the various local bodies in those districts. (3) In event of an Act of Paliament being passed, it shall be subject to the approval of a I majority of the electors in the districts of North Canterbury, Westiand and Nelson. By the adoption of the above proposals the whole risks would fall upon the districts anxious for the line. If the diameter of the country is such i as to justify the construction the risk ! would be fl/7. If not. those who require the railway would snffer the loss. The following resolution was passed by the Canterbury Railway Committee. , on> Friday last and telegraphed by them to Mr glanders : — " The recent debate in the House having apparently ! iniiicrtted that a majority of the House j is in favor of the immeffiate constrtie- | tion of the East and West Coast and I Nelson Railway, thonjfh not agreed as ' to the manner in which ennstrnction | should proceed, this meeting would | respectfully urge the Government to ■ t;ike snob immediate action as they ! may deem necessary to secure the construction of the railway." I The Wellington eorrespondtnt of ; the PmiPtthi "tar gives* the following sketch of Sir George Grey's o'»jectio"S to the railway proposals : — After I had ! ascertained the effect that Sir G. , Grey's motion it was believed wonld j have on the Opposition plan I succeeded in having a chat with Sir George, and found that he was thorouglily in earnest respecting it, and as he informed me it was so worded that it conld be brought down at " the most fitting opportunity." He will oppose Si»* J. Vogel's motion to the uttermost, t>nt as he regards the construction of the East and West Coast railway as a great work, he will subsequently endeavor, and nse every means in his power to bind the Honse to the ultimate carrying /of the line. Immediately on the defeat of Vogel's motion he proposes sending a letter to the Chris t- | c 1 lurch Working Men's Political Society j stating fully his. views on the railway i question. He will point ont that the j land to be given to the contractors as I was proposed will f-ventnallv carry a j population of 600.000 or 800.000 ; tliat : the State's grant of 2.500,000 acres is i actually one half of the size of Wales, | !or one third of that of Switzerland, i which has v worse climate, » worse I soil, and no timber or minerals ; that j it is three times as large as Derbyshire, and its mineral riches exceed those of these English comities. He will further poiiit'otit that had the proposal been crrried ont the effect on all the residents wonld have been to make them the serfs of the Railway Company. He will then goon to say that lie had been in New Zealand during ' two generations, and had he be* n false to the fiist generation now passed away would he have been popular with the present generation, and should he prove false to the interests of the present generation, and a?t to the detriment of those who will follow, wonld he not be regarded with in«. fumy ?