THE DISTRICT RAILWAYS PURCHASE.

Press, Volume XLIII, Issue 6491, 13 July 1886, Page 3

THE DISTRICT RAILWAYS PURCHASE.

EVIDENCE before the COMMITTEE. (now ora oo_aasroßDaiiT.] WELLINGTON, July 12. The evidence given before tbe District ; Bailways Committee has been circulated this evening. It occupit s twenty-four foe-rap pages cf small priat. It include* , a large number cf letters and telegrams. The gist of it is, however, that Mr Bteward stated positively that when he laboured so , hiixd to get the B_l passed be bad not the slightest idea that he wonld erer be per I so—_ly interested in tha sale of deben turee, but worked solely in the interests of hia constituents. He denied absolutely thai be bad shared bis commission with anyone, or agreed to do so, and expressed bis _tability to ase why a member of Parliament abould not be at liberty to sell property during the recess. The total amount of commission was about £1085. He admitted that tbe Government might possibly have purchased without his intervention, aad that they bad derived no advantage from such intervention, but he , did not think they could have purchased at a better figore excepting that bis ; commission might hat— been saved. He 1 did not know whether the Company would ' take bis commission into consideration ix_ j the site. It was only after tbe passing of . tbe Act that he became interested in the j sale of the debentures. He had no idea , that he should bs asked to act in that ] ct.aeity, and it was quite a surprise to him that be was asked. He declared that ■ the Government had nothing to do with j suggesting the matter. An important | —em in the correspondence is the following , tetter from Mr Frank Slee, Secretary of • the Waimate Bailway Company, to Mr j Bteward. dated 18th September, 1885 (the ( day after the passing cf the District Kail- j ways Pur—_sing Bill in the Lower Howe). - The blanks are as in the printed cvi- " Waimate, New Zealand, 18th September. 1385. Dear Sir—Private—ln congratulating you upon the succnesfulp—sage of the District Bailways Purchasing Bui through. Parliament it strikes both Mr ——- and Mr it would be an opportune time tor yourself, aad probably ——- interviewing the power* that be in oca—action with tne losuran—> Department with a view t> disposing ot tbe -33.000 oed debentures of this Company to be given by tbe Government re the pur-hase price far the railway. The money matk*t at the present time should Ye as favorable as any for effectingthis. You will notice by yesterday's cable m«s»g-s Oat money in the home market ia If In the event of yourself and ——• effecting this rale on favorable terms, the dmctors would of course treat it as a matter of business. Ton may remember my speaking of this to yon before. I perfectly remember what was aaid by mc. Although the loss to the Company wiU be a heavy one, thi) would Mi preclude their seeing and acknowledge lag your and —— -'a valuable aervioe—" Sir J* Vogel in —is evidence -hue explained the origin of tbe transaction :— "Tbe facts generally were these -. I bad it in my mind to try and get hold of these debentures because it would be undesirable four or five different companies should be offering debentures in London or here at the same time. Tbe Act gave the power of buying to the Government. As we had ■pare funds I brought it before my colleagues aa toon aa tne sea_on waa over to try and bay them at 93 or 95, with 2 per cent. iatereat accrued. I waa about to write making an t—er, when Mr Steward -iH-Ht .od and be was authorised to act for tbe Wni__ato Company. It was much easier to wrbaUy.» I arranged with him." Sir Julias added that the ttrst > intimation be bad that Mr Stewar* waa in I a position to negotiate was aft>r the aesaio—. Another important item in tie corres-po-de-eeistbe following letter from Mr Ota-ward to Mr Brodrick. official laudator of the Dontroon and Hakateramta B*aw*y Company, dated September *Bth, 1855t—"The agreement between tne Government ana yourself for the p*«o_ase by the Cro-n of tiie above railway baring been validated by the passing of the District B_ilwaja PurchasiDg Act, it remains only, I presume, to obtain an order from the Supreme Court an « er i article S ot said agreement to enable i effect to be given to same. Thereupon as I read the agreement, payment

i will be made to you of the agreed price, £61,000, in 4 per cent, debenture— As 1 > anticipate that, in order to enable yon to wind np the whole matter aa speedily as posnble, it will be your desire to convert tbe debentures into cash without loss of time, I write/to say that I think I can be of some assistance in that Abont two years ago (prior to the propood for the purchase of the line by the Government) the negotiation of the sale of the £70,000 debentures of tiie JDa_troon-__.katera_.ea Company and of 440,000 of the Waimate Company (7 per cents.) was placed in my hands and t ehould have succeeded in disposing of diem at or about the limit fixed, dug for the hitch that aroee through the Govern* ment guarantee of a part of the interest being limited to a term of years, and that term not even being concurrent with the currency of the debentures. The conditions are now greatly altered, the debentures now to be issued being colonial bonds, bearing 4 instead of 7 per cent, interest, if sold in the colony a discount would obviously have to be submitted to, and even if sold in London in the small parcels which the purchase prices of the lines respectively represent, I question whether more than 97 or 98 could be looked for. As a sale ia Lnidon would also involve a delay of at least b«x mouths, if say 95 could be immediately obtained here that would be a better financial result than 97 or even 98 in London six months hence is. Besides loss ot interest, there are considerable expenses in the way of advertising, exchange, &J, to be taken into account. Accordingly tne Waimate Company, immediately on receipt cf the news of the passing of tbe Act, wrote to mc asking mc agar_ to take np the matter of the sale of the debentures, 433 913 (which are payable to that Company), and have already entered upon the necessary negotiations, and hope shortly to be able to lay an offer before my clients for their acceptance. I have reason to think that I could also obtain an eff-.r for the DuntroonB—kateramea debentures, and wrote to know whether you will authorise mc to enter into negotiations to that end, as in that case I can make, mofct likely, one transaction of the matter. If so, please state (privately) what figures yon would be disposed to accept. A reply by wire would be expedient.—Tours very obediently, " W. J. St_—-BD." Other portions of evidence of chief interest I telegraphed to yon previously.