Tokoinairiro Branch Railway.

Bruce Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 714, 2 July 1875, Page 6

Tokoinairiro Branch Railway.

A public meeting of the residents of Milton, and. the Tokoinairiro district generally, ■was held at St. George's Hall, on Wednesday hight,xfor the purpose of considering the propriety, of- establishing a public company to construct a branch railway line to the down--the river coal pits. A prospectus of " The Tokomairiro Valley Kailway Company," to be registered under l } The Joint Stock Companies' Act,- 1 860," had previously been printed and circulated . for the information of those likely to attend the meeting. It was proposed in this prospectus that the Company should have a capital of £15,000, in 3000 shares of .£5 each ;5s per share to *be paid on application, 5s on allotment, a call of 5s per share 30 days' after allotment, and a call of 5s per share 60 days after allotment. If o further call to .exceed ys per share, or to be payable at less intervals than three months between each call. The. prospectus contained a?long list of Provisional Directors, including the names of most of the leading residents of Milton, and also fcave a full statement of the prospects of the Company and the advantages that would accrue* to; the district from the construction; of the (line. The Hall was well filled, and Mr James Goodall, May»r of Milton, took the chair. ';<" ■ i'\ , The Chairman, in opening the meeting, ■Stated that, itsobject wasjto take steps for- the foriDation of a branch, line of railway from •the maiTV line at the, Milton railway -station to the ; coalpit down jthe^ Tokomairiro. Oliver. j The distance iwas about: ;four and a half miles,! and the line could -be constructed at a cost of ■from £10,000 to £14,660. This^was a most important work, and one; that concerned every one in Milton,; There were jnihes of Avealth 4own the. river, andftf 7 could liotiibrm tbe railway i» order ; to be f)h)? to make use ; of tlieui,vit would >bej very discr^djteble^toi them a».^ CpIQUWt?; It ; was; impossible ilwss.'

the value of these mines, but as far as had been seen there was ja supple pf .coal there. -aißea^-He was glad to?see such a large meeting, and he 1 f;niight say that the- promoters of ibis line had' met with a great deal of encourageirient from : folks residing a distance away/r/Mr Mackay: .had o iSeem \ Mr o DiolProudtoofc i } and other' directors, who were willing' to undertake the iwork,>and; also: to • take 'shares in the enter- ; prise to the amount of nearly half the cost. The formation of this line had ; been delayed: because they thought that the Provincial [Government would have taken the matter up, but the Government had not been able to do bo, although he jbelieyed they would give the promoters' of the present scheme, every assistance in their, power, and all the'encburagement r; thfey could. He' hoped that; the residents' of the- Tokomairirp district would sho# that' they were at leaist'' as A g66d as \ the people of the.- Clutha, and let .it be seen that they were not' entirely dependent upon: the Government, or anyone else. Tjtee Company it wi^ now proposed to form wojild/ be ientirelyihdependeiitof the Bruce Coal Company,* and anyone whoJliked to take shares m it could. dp .so. .-, Xher,e r w,aß;n j o.4o,ubtj,that every one would benefit by the construction "pf this ..railway., :The Bruce, Ppal:CQmpany;had four hundred acres of splendid coal under: a twjeutyone years' lease fQrf ? a ; mere-t rifle, and then thereV were the. mines owned by Messrs Mackay, Noble, Wayne, and- ; Chapmari; all able to send coal into .the market better : than any that could be produced in the ■ Provinces He hoped , that the .i residents of the district, would determine ,toj carry /out this -railway, .for -the i share's could .'"be taken up: by those Who had lib t a great deal of capital, asi would •■ be spen from the terms .stated in the prospectus. Every resident iof the : place should take shares to, whatever extent he .could; If he had the mbneyi : -,he;.,W;puld.gq into ( this matter and do all the work •himself, forjhe; opening of the line, audthe development, of. : the coalfields j would be the means of starting : niahy new industries, and it was upon the; establishment of these industries that the progress of the district depended. He would , now; leave others ;;to- speak ;on the question, and would call upon Mr Joseph Mackay to move the first resolution. ; Mr Jbseph Mackay said that lie would presume that the prospectus had been read by every one present, so Ihat he need not detain them by repeating what was contained in it. As had been stated by the Chairman, the matter they had come, to discuss was one of interest and importance to every resident of Milton and the surrounding districts. In his opinion, if the line were made, there Svould not be much difficulty in floating the Water Company, while the Pottery Company and other companies necessary to their advancement as a community would be greatly benefited. Very likely some would say that this was a personal matter so far as he was concerned. It was a personal matter to him in one way, but it was not in a more important way. (Hear, hear.) If he or anyone else could turn out of the bosom of the earth the wealth that was' there, it was circulated to the benefit of the district. If he made money, he circulated it, and this was far better for the district than putting it into a stocking and looking at it day after day, as some men did. Every working man in the place Svas interested in this movement,, for if this line was started there was not a tradesman or other resident of Milton who would not benefit by it directly or indirectly. He only wished he was able to make this railway himself. When he went to Dunedin the folk there told him that he had. coal upon the brain, but he told them they would have coal upon the brain too if they had a property like his. He could not get the Dunedin people to go out and see the mine when they were here, and ho could not get a great many of the Tokomairiro people to go to see it either. He hoped, however, to induce them to go by giving a large pic-nic when the line was opened, He saw by the paper that one merchant had iust built another steamer for the Kaitangaia trade at a cost of £7000, and he might say that this was' the same gentleman who had already invested in three boats for the same trade. A priyate individual had invested more money in this way than would be required for this line. He was thoroughly convinced that the proposed line would be a success. He did not wish to repeat; all that was set forth in the prospectus, buVhe might sW tW hg.'.weQt. to Dunedin on Monday last, and saw .several, persons on this^jusinessy lie. had a conversation with a member of the Provincial Council, and he was '. told that the Proyjucial Government would , take the matter * up, provided the Company raised the money, He had been told that if a portion of the money required was raised, the Government would take the matter in hand, with the staff it had at its command, call for tenders, and do all that was required,. provided that the Company guaranteed payment of #}c whole amount when the work was completed. lie saw Mr Douald Reid first on Monday, and mentioned the matter to him, but Hv Held said that he was mistaken in this respect, Mjr Reid stated that the Executive were most anxious that this line- should be made, b^t that the action of the Council precluded the Government going on with it at present, lie also stated that if they were prepared to wait another year, the Government might make the Hue. He did not tbiuk they should wait, and he was of opinion that it was rather fortunate that the UoVgrnment did not take the matter up, as it was a good fo?£s(;inent for the people of the district. Even if this jyeve flot the case they could not depend upon the Government taking up the matte?. He next saw his Honor the Superintendent and ejfpjajqed to him how the thing lay, telling him that he understood b}' the motion that had been carried by Mr Clark, that if the Company provided the money the work could be taken up by the Government, and carried out with the Provincial staff, but that k§ hftcf since, segn Mr Reid, who told him that this was npt the case, but that 30 days' notice must be given of the intention to intpoduQe & BUI into, the Assembly, which . not.ice . could ... not naw be given. The Superintendent expressed it as his opinion that the .line could be made under* ihs jPramway Act of- 1872, and they weijt over £h& Agf together. His Honor ?aid that unde?? this Apt the wtjrk could be gone on with at once Without going to the Assembly, QV without a further delay of a year. He told both Mr lieid and ,t;h& Superinteadentr that he would lil^e to see .some of the contractors, aj^d asked if they knew anyone w&o was likely Jp take the :matter:up. They recommended him to see MrProudfoot, who wqsa man of enterprise and money, and jnore speculatiye fchan most sof the other, contractors. He then saw Mr Proudfoot arid stated the matter to him. Mr Proudfoot said be was afraid ithe work .-'■''■ could not be- taken in hand at ijonce>t under:, the Xranwav Act, unless an.:Act;of the Assembly was obtained, 'saying that they had tVied the-Teuiilßiiliiand Ocean Beach Railway I sunder the^Tramway> Act, ; but : hadmoti ßUQg«eaed; He told %i

Proudfoot tha^.the iSaj^rin^d^dtfhadrprd^ mised-ta see, him upon the subject, and that : h^ (Mr^Mackay) v^ould calllagaln; y^hile he' was speaking a message came- from his AHonor .the and Mr- PrJoiidT Mfpot left; When that gentleman had seen the iSupenutendentt, he; appeared satisfied ; that this work ; 'could be i carried^ out; under the TramSvay Act, and said^ there was this difference between the Tbkomairirp branch line and the Ocean Beach Railway : the latter -wanted the Government to give- them land, ;and the •former did not. He might tell them that if the tradesmen of Tokbmairird did not take this-matter up the railway would be mada. That very evening a-.'-'faririer came through the mud and -wet andrtold him that hejwas prepared to invest largely in the undertaking/ Tins man hierely cairie to fell him so, apd to •encourage them to go pn; A tradesman of this ; place had also come td one of the promotets arid asked : why his name Was not on the list of Provisional Directors, as he [was prepared to take shares himself, and Urge; the matterupon all those he was acquainted with: With respect to the landholders he thought it ivery probable that the pepple through ;Whose land this live would- pasis; wpuld. give '''them J land for as the remainder would be ! so greatly enhanced in value,. When he next saw Mr Proudfooit, that gentleman seemed quite satisfied in. the matter, and was prepared to take a large interest in the company; Mr Proudfoot stated that when they were prepared, to; go on with the work the proper Way would be tocailfor tenders, aiid specify the interest they would like the contractors to take inithe enterprise. He might say that he also endeavored to see another contractor, who was now engaged in making the Harbor Board jetty upon a system of extended payments. He (Mr Mackay) urged Mr Proudfoot to visit this district, and go down the river in prder that he might judge for himself of ihe probable success of the line. • Mr Proudfoot promised to come up, if possible, on the tlay of r ;the meeting, but had not been able to do so. He would be up here soon, however,' and if he saw that it was a good, speculation! he would no doubt take the matter up independent of the Tokomairiro people. At the same time, he mightsay-that it would be a loss to the district ' to let anyone have this matter all to himself. It had not been his intention to take a prominent part in this meeting, and he had called Upon several persons with Mr Marshall, to get them to come forward to give the project their support, but as they appeared backward, he had done what he could himself. Very much would depend in the first place upon the manner in which the . Tokomairiro people came forward and subscribed towards the funds. On the day the new line was opened, he meant to have one hundred men employed at his coalpit, and he was sure that in twelve months there would be a pretty large township down there. He had taken about as much out of his mine as it was possible to take with drays, and in the summer time he had taken out as much as 150 tons a week. The, resolution he had to move was : — This meeting beinp of opinion that it is imperatively neceßsary for the advancement of the district, that the Tokomairiro Valley Railway be constructed without lo6s of time, approves of the prospectus issued by the promoters, urges upon the business men of Milton and residents generally, the advisability of subscribing for shares in the Company to the utmost extent in their power, and that a share list be opened this evening, und every effort made to render the Company an unqualified success. It would depend very much upon the business men of Milton whether this line was a success or not. If they came forward and subscribed well there was no doubt but that the Dunedin people would come forward and subscribe a similar amount. The whole amount required was not much, and he believed that Mr Proudfoot would take £7500 worth of shares, which would leave the sum of £7500 to be subscribed otherwise. Then he would put his own name down for 200 shares, and he thought it would pay him to do so. If others came forward in the same way, he did not think there would be much difficulty in raising £4000 in Tokomairiro. He looked upon this enterprise as one that would go on, and that speec'ily; and he might mention that it had been suggested in the prospectus that the Superintendent should be asked to turn the first sod before he went to Wellington. Companies were not generally got lip by calling a public meeting ; but he thought fhjs.'tl|e b,e<s and m,Qsi straightforward way. lie was very sanguine iv this matter ; and though he never expected to see ships at the Tokomairiro bridge (laughter), he e*p§cted before he died to see them at the mouth qf \\\q rlyer, IJe thought there would sqon be a township th ei> e, a port of shipment for coa], and that in the course of time the railway would be continued to the Ocean Beach. They could then send their coals away by sea as well as by railway. No arrangement had been ■ made for the seconding of any of the motions that had been brought forward. This was a matter it was thought better to leave £q fh§ ffieeting. Mr Pqqlc sgcQuded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr 11. Clark, M.P.C., rose tq mpve the secopd resolution, and was received with appliiiise.. l[e safd fch.a{; he had just arrived from town that evening, and was gji^d fq see that some action had bpen taken with regard to the railway. They must all be aware that this was a most important matter. He looked upon the scheme as oue of vast importance to the iufergste- pf Milton, and he hoped fo see the people gq into jt heartily. Kqthjng wquld help to advance the district mqre. I? hey were aware tb^t the action of the Council with regard \q ljne l}ad been, most unfortunate, and that lust session the motion that the Government should go on with the line was thrown out. He thought that Milton had been grievously wronged by the action taken by the Council last session r The sessjqn herV)i:e ? when \i M-'as prqpqsed $hai a company shquld tn-ike the li'ne,^ it was decided that it "YRS a work fqr the Government to do, and oqnse^qenj,|y the p,eqpje qf M||tqu took no action, believing that the Government would do the work. By a mere accident the proposition that the Government should make tho line was thrown out last session, the idea agpetyring; t° h t e then tha.t branch ljnes like thili? guotytl b,e made b,y. companies, and that the G. Qverument sbj'quld go m. for the extension of the main line, such as that from I^awrpncg \.q T^y? 0 *- By this he considered, as he h!j.d s<4d b,efop^ \\\ss ftg TqJfQinairiro district had b,eeu grievously wrQng-eU. But for the action of the Cqiincil a year ago he belieyed Jhiaf the Jine would have been passed, and the line nearly completed l)y th> time. They were thus throwu back a year, and when the motion for the construction of- the Jjue by the Gjovernment was thrown out, no time was left to give the notice required before (the introduction pf a bill into the "General Assembly; _ Seeing that there ; was; no time to give this notice, a resolution, -moved '■ by himself, was carried in the Council, ?to the eJKJct that the Provincial Grpvurntnent shpUW

be allowed to -go on with the line, provided believed thai "the"' : ~\''Gwerameni"''^TO^ff carry on : tfie Work, provided'; the funds Were supplied bv r the Cpmpatiy, ' though' the Company would have ; no power to do the* work themselves. Mr Mabkay had referred td the fact that the line could be made under the Tramways Act. This was true, but under this Act there was no provision for the compulsory taking of .lands, so that ! ttie (persons through whose property the line passed must give Up their 'land; yolun'tarily.. | He though t they should dq v all ' i&ey] could then*^ selves to have this line 'completed, for he was; sure that the coal that ! was raised 'down the, Valley had not been equalled for quality by; any coal that had been produced'in' the Province. When the i railway was bpened^these coal mines would be'a^very' paying speculation, for the cbal suppliea in .Bunedin jjust now' Was of a yery inferior quality, and yery : high in price. ' ' ' If this line were . inside, they would be able to supply the people of Dunedin with excellent coal at £l per ton,' and he was sure that there would be a large demand. It was not necessary to remind them of; the benefit Tpkpmairiro would derive from this. The resolution he had to move read as follows :—• " • That this meeting is of opinion that bo soon as £5000 worth of shares i 9 subscribed, the Prpvivisional Directors should call for tenders for the construction of the work as per plans and specifications prepared by the Provincial Government, payment of one-half, or one-third, of the cost of construction to be made in paid-up shares in: the company. He thought that if £5000 or even £3000 could be raised, contractors would be found who would be willing to take up the wojrk, and make up the rest of the required capital. There was no doubt; that if by any means they, could raise the capital required, it would be a paying speculation. Notwithstanding the numerous other works being, pushed forward in Milton, he did not think a very great effort would be required to raise £3000, and if they went into the matter heart and soul, the work could be done.-^(Hear, hear.) He did not, see anything himself to prevent the railway being in working order in six months. — (Applause.) , Mr Nntsford seconded the motion. Mr Alfred Jones, who was received with, applause, said that he had great pleasure; in moving the following resolution, which had been placed in his hands : — , This meeting strongly urges upon the landholders over the surveyed line the propriety, on public and private grounds, of dealing liberally with the promoters of the Tokotnairiro Valley Railway Company, in conveying the necessary lands, say one-half chain wide, as a free gift, as already done by the Kaitangata settlers. There was no doubt, as Mr Clark had remarked, this was a most important matter for Tokomairiro. They had the coal, and they knew that there was a great demand for it in Dunedin, while it also might, to a large extent, be made an article of export. He hoped the Company would be formed and the line made, for if the coal deposits were once properly opened up, .other industries would go a head as well. He therefore strongly urged them all to take a few shares in this Company. He had not had time to look over the prospectus, which had been brought out in a hurry, and might, perhaps, require some reconsideration and alteration. He thought that Mr Joseph Mackay deserved great credit for the perseverance he had shown in bringing this matter, forward.— (Hear, hear.) If tnere were more men in the district like Mr Mackay, he thought they would go a head a good k doul faster than they were going now. He had great pleasure in moving the resolution he had read, and he hoped the land-holders would take it to heart. Mr Francis Grant seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr J. Mackay said that he held the junction section where the branch line would join the main line. This was a valuable section, and he would make it a present to the Company. — (Hear, hear.) He also held the frontage sections upon the Fairfax road, through which the railway was surveyed, and whatever the Company wanted it was welcome to them. If they would continue the line to the Coal Gully, which he would not recommend, they could have all his land free that they passed over. He might say tha^t he was prepared to. put a thousand pounds into this Company. Over and above this, he would have to form half a mile of railway from the branch line to his pit, and this work he would have to tackle individually. Let the Com;pany make the main branch line, and let each coal owner make the branch, to. his own pit, If the matter was taken up as he expected it would be, he would put the pottery hands on next week to make the line through his property.— (Plear, hear.) Over £200,000 worth of coal was imported into New Zealand in the year 1873 ; he bad not been able to get the statistics of 1874, but the amount was probably larger last year. Most of this coal came from Newcastle. Last winter he burned in his own house coal from Newcastle, Ka}tangata, a_u4 fro, 11 } h}9 qwu pit for the purpqse of testing them. The Newcastle coal, as every one knew, sent specks of black soot all over the room,, and smothered everything. The Kaitangata coal had a light ash, much lik.e that of woqd, which. pl§>V 4b,qu> The coal from his qw n pU, from, the Bruce Coal Company, and from. Elliqt Vale was, in his opinion, the best, as it burned with a, brown ash, and w-a.s far more suitable, fqr househqld purpqses,, Re had qeen told by a Duqedjn n^ercl^anV that, if th,e Tokqinajriro coal could be got tq market, there would be an extensive demand for it, as \t would suit the iuternrqyiqqial steamers. It would only be necessary to make some slight alteration iv the fire-bars to enable this coal to be made use of ou board ship. He thought it was ridiculous to send £200,000 or more ft-sJW W* °S f> the ftfilqny jvl P^vchase w.b.'4f we cquM prqduce qqrseiy.es h,ere. The demand that at present existed in town for the inferior (faeen, Island coaj sh'qw-ed $he demand $ha> might, be expected Job a much better article supplied at a reasonable price. He might say that hejwas answerable for the prospectus that had been issued, and of course if any alterations could be suggested he would be pleased, H^e w : o,u^d ; move " \hs any genfle.ma'n, present desirous of suppqiiting ' this company come forward and give his name to the Secretary, who will enter it upon the Provisional Directory." He thought also that if any person through whose land %\\e Jine wqujd. p(\s.s. \yer-p present, they might step forward a/nq prqmjse thejr land for'nqthing. Mr Butt secqnded the motion, saying that those who b»d hud through which the Une would pass should suppqrs the undertaking by giving it withqut cqin.pensation, while others should support it by taking shares, The motion was carried, Mr Mackay announced that his Worship the Mayor would take fifty shares. After several applications for shares had been made the meeting closed with a vote of thaoks to the Chairman,