The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1862.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1013, 26 July 1862, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1862.

Extravagant expectations as a rule result in disappointment. Men of sanguine temperament, who look upon things with a hopeful aspect, generally find, sooner or later, that the habit, like virtue, is its own reward, and that their satisfaction must be found not in the realization of their expectations so much as in the genial, kindly frame of mind engendered by a hopeful disposition. That there are exceptions to this rule both in public and private affairs is sometimes true. One of thiese it is our pleasing duty to notice. Only one short year since had anyone ventured to prophecy that a third part of the sum authorised to be raised by loan for the Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway would be paid out of the revenues of the province within that period, he would have been looked upon as a madman. Yet so it is. Without stinting the country;jn any respect—with a liberal outlay for.all public wants, and a more than usually lieavy expbnditdfe on ordinary public works, the province isMn a position to. vote a second Sdiii of within the short space of nine months, for carrying on the Railway works.;; Considering the short time that has elapsed; since: the; settlement of Canterbury and its comparatively small' population, and

bearing; in mind that no exceptional causes have been at work to produce this result we do not hesitate to say that the prosperous state of the settlement, as evinced by our rapidly-increasing revenue, is unexampled in the history of colonies, and speaks strongly in favor of the general belief in the stability of our future career. The financial history of our railway will bear favorable comparison with that of any of the thousand similar schemes introduced either in England or elsewhere during the'last five and twenty years. With a tolerably intimate knowledge of the history of most of these undertakings we can remember no instance of any railway, whether public or private property, which, having obtained the authority to raise capital by loan, has been enabled to dispense with that most seductive method of raising funds, by providing the capital from independent resources. We believe this instance to be altogether exceptional and only requiring to be sufficiently known to place the credit of the province on a par with that of the most wealthy countries of the world. The Council meets on Tuesday next, principally for the purpose of considering the advisability of voting a second sum of £50,000, for railway purposes. As the balance now standing to the credit of the Government is little less than £100,000, and the revenue still shows symptoms of keeping up its recent rate of increase, we imagine there will be little difference of opinion aboilt .devoting that sum to so useful a work. Whether any, or what .further business will be brought before the members, we are unable to state. We trust, however, that some effort j will be made during the present session, to expedite the passing of such measures as are necessary for carrying out the public works contemplated during the coming year. It must be fresh in the memory of many of our readers, that, owing to the late period at which the last council met and the length of the session, many of the most important public works were delayed till the approach of the winter season. From this cause some ; were unavoidably postponed altogether, to the great detriment of the public interests, ! while the cost of those which were carried on was needlessly enhanced. If it is possible, we hope that members may at once be supplied with the necessary information as to the plans of the Government for the coming financial year, so that, during the interval between the two sessions, they may be enabled to consider the proposed scheme of public works, and come prepared at the commencement of the long session to enter upon the question, and dismiss the Chief Engineer and Serveyor to their offices, in a position to commence their duties and put their several works in hand at once. By such a course of proceeding a great saving will be effected by the province, both in money and time. With the reasonable prospect of a revenue considerably larger than at any former period, the public will be disappointed if they do not find the Government ready to initiate a scheme of public works equal to the occasion. It has never yet fallen to the lot of any Government in this settlement to deal with sums of such magnitude, and we have a right to expect that the authorities will exhibit a proper sense of their responsibility. Much of the existing prosperity for which we feel proud as well as thankful is owing without doubt to the bold policy which has successfully inaugurated the greatest public work in New Zealand—the railway which will connect the port with the plains. Nothing is so likely to perpetuate that prosperity as a continuance -of the same line of policy. Canterbury enjoys an opportunity of carrying out public works on a scale which is quite out of the reach of any other province of New Zealand. With the means at the command of the present Government it would be an act of mere folly to neglect such an opportunity by suffering our ample revenues to be frittered away in works of a semi-private character which will leave no results at all worthy of their cost. It is not our intention to point out what should be done or what left undone. Of the many desirable public works some are of more pressing need than others, and of this no one can be so impartial a judge as the Provincial Engineer. Every one who knows him is aware that his heart is in his profession, and that his whole energies are devoted to developing the resources of the country. Nothing would be so likely to satisfy him as the power of spending an unlimited sum of money on these objects. With bridges to provide for our rivers, tramways for our forests and mines, telegraphs for completing the communication of the province, jetties for our harbour and railways looming in the distance, the difficulty for him will not be how to spend the £150,000 that may be calculated upon, but how to avoid spending twice as much. One thing we strongly urge upon the Council: let them take care that we have something to shew for our money. It is j allowed on all sides that the time has come j when the funds derived from the sale j of waste lands should be devoted to strictly j public purposes. That portion allotted to

road making must be confined to extending the main lines of communication through the country, ltoads already constructed and put into repair must be kept in a fit state for traffic by the people of the districts benefitted thereby. If this principle is not recognised at once, and acted upon, it will be idle to hope that any great public works of general utility can be carried out. Year by year the revenue will be absorbed in keeping roads in repair which have no longer any proper claim upon funds derived from the sale of lands requiring to be opened up. The passing of the Municipal Council Ordinance was a tacit recognition that the towns no longer have a just claim on this fund. We trust that during the next session a Road Ordinance will declare in equally plain terms the opinion of the Council that rural districts already provided with roads have had all . that they have a right to expect as their share of the same fund;