The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1894.
F«r the cause that lacks assistants, For ths wrong that needs resistance, For the fntnre in the distance. And the good that we can at.
The House of Representatives last night rejected the Midland Railway Bill, which empowers the, Government to cancel the existing contract with the New Zealand Midland; Railway Company, and to enter into a new contract on the basis of the report of the Special Committee which was appointed this session to consider th<? correspondence that has passed between the Government and the. Company during the recess. ' It may be remembered that Parliament last session adopted a resolution authorising the issue of 3^2 per cent, debentures in lieu of land grant upon the Company releasing the 5,600,000 acres of land reserved for their selections, and giving satisfactory guarantees that they were in a position to carry out the work. The Company, following the course they have pursued ever since the original agreement was signed in January, 1885, wanted'further concessions. They wished to abandon the line from Reef ton to Nelson altogether, asked for exemption of their lines from local taxation, and further proposed that: "In exchange for the land at present locked up within the authorised area (not including lands still-to be selected by the Company) the Company to receive New Zealand Government 3^ per cent, bonds amounting in value to which bonds shall be placed in the hands of the Public Trustee of the colony, and will, form a fund, together with the annual 3^ per cent, interest accruing thereon, out of which interest only will be paid to the holders of the new issue of capital, The Pubiic Trustee to pay to the Company in London each six months, until the iund is exhausted, a sum equal to the interest at 4 per cent, on £1,250,000, or, say, halfyearly. All such interest payable to the Company to be free from taxation."
To this extravagant demand the Government demurred, insisting that the debentures should be paid in three instalments—^2oo,ooo one year after the signing of. the contract, two years from the same date,, a'hd the balance upon completion of the line— and also refusing" to remit taxation. The whole of the'proppsaisarid counterproposals were submitted to a special committee, this s^siQty o.( w.hich■ Cap/ fvun'<^uißs^n i;Ws t''GhWj^»Pi;Bftj? *n'ls Committee reported .in favour of making a new contract, ' under which the Company would be allowed to drop the Nelson line and receive irt lieu of their land grant worth of 3^ per cent, debentures, payable in instalments, for .the construction of the 57 miles 44 ci/ains of railway which will connect Pat 'erson's Creek, the present terminus of tinnr line on the Christch'urch side, with Jackson's on the West Coast, so furnishing through railway communication between Cbristchurch and the West Coast. We are glad that Parliament has rejected these proposals and held the Company to the original contract. This Midland Railway, which was forced upon the colony by the CanterburyWest Coast phalanx under Sir Julius Vogel, at the time of the Stout-Vogel coalition, is one that should never have been entered into, but when the colony was committed to it, the Company ought to have been held rigidly to the conditions of the bargain which the promoters were supposed to have made. Instead of that, one concession after another has been made to them, until finally they have the impudence to ask the Government to release them from the most difficult portions of their undertaking, and to pay as a subsidy for constructing 57 miles 44 chains of railway, which will remain the property of the Company when made. That even with the payment of this gigantic sum the liabilities of the colony for the line would end, we do not believe for a single moment. It needs no gift of divination to foresee that the completion of the railway would be followed by agitation and intrigue, to force the colony to buy up the line at the Company's own figures. There is only one right and safe course to pursue in dealing with this matter. The Government must insist upon the fulfilment of the Company's agreement within a reasonable time. If they fail to comply, then the land will fall back into the hands of the Government to be dealt with as Parliament may deem advisable. The question of continuing the line between Christchurch and the West Coast can then be dealt with upon its merits.
We hope the Government will accept the resolution of the House last night as expressing the final and irrevocable opinion of Parliament and the country upon this question. The division list is a singular one, Messrs Mitchelson, George Hutchison and Bell, three of the most prominent members of the Opposition, being in favour of the proposed new concession to the Company, while many staunch Government supporters, including both the Government whips and all the Auckland members, voted against it. The Canterbury and West Coast members are acting unwisely in clinging to this Company for the construction of the work they desire. Nothing has been more
[clearly demonstrated by the history of the Midland; Railway than that, if the line is a desirable one at all, it can be constructed cheaper by the Government than by any private company. The very first step,to a fair consideration of the claims of the railways that were embraced in the Company's contract, is to bring them in line with the North Island Trunk Railway, the Otago Central and other railways which still claim the attention of the Government for future construction when "the finances of the colon/ permit. Mr Seddon was an opponent of the Midland Railway Company from the beginning, and in bringing down the present proposals he has no doubt been desirous of extricating the colony from the' difficulties .in which the action of 'previous Governments .has landed it, and to release for settlement the : vast estate that has been locked up for the last nine years. Having now, hovveyer,,, exhausted all the' methods of negotiation, he will not, we imagine, be slow in giving effect to the will of Parliament _ by enforcing the' terms of the original agreement:. Why the costly machinery i> and finance of a private company should intervene between the Government and. any. necessary public work, we utterly fail to see.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 248, 17 October 1894, Page 4
Word Count
1,070The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1894. Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 248, 17 October 1894, Page 4
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