MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7525, 15 April 1890, Page 5

MIDLAND RAILWAY.

SOME PLAIN SPEAKING.

It will bY remembered that one of the conditions of tbe Midland Hallway contract was th ac the railway should be carried to Nelson, and it was specified that, as a commencement, a sum of a£60,000 should be expend-d 1 at once in extending the Government line from Belgrove towards the point yof ultimate junction with the. main line. There has been some delay in carrying out the compact,, attd the Nelson papers have been grumbling that the Company has not yet commenced to spend its money there; This (says the Post?) has elicited a very and very sensible letter from Mr Wilson, the Company's chief engineer. §[c repudiates the idea thit the Company o not intend to fulfil their contract, and says the Directors have instructed him to go on with the Belgrove section, tenders for which will probably be called for ia a few months, but he expresses himself in the following forcible language respecting the nature of the Bargain forced upon the Company:— ** I consider the construction of the 'Nelson and Springfield sections at the present time a grave mistake from an engineer's point of -View.- The line to be made at Nelson will join the Govern-, ment line at a point near Belgrove, the' present terminus, and probably extend up Long Gully- -and terminate a snort distance into a tunnel at the summit of Spooner's Bange., The topographical features- of the country will unfortunately render this portion of line absolutely nnremunerative to the Company, and useless to either man or beast until the range is pierced and the line extended into the Motaeka Valley. This cannot be done with the present available capital, the' amount fixed in the conti_ct. y :So , show how adversely this -iM-* *af the contract, affects the interests of the Company, I confidently state that from a financial aspect it would be a gtilp. to. the shareholders to place the __K>,uOO s required to be expended on deposit, and hand the interest over to the people of Nelson to dispose of as they think best; because not only will these unremunerative works have to bear interest charges of about .33000 a year* .which they cannot earn, but will also be charged by the Government with property tax, as well as charged with local rates. With such an unbusinesslike, hot to use the stronger terms of unfair and unjust, arrangement attached to thiapawrt of. the contract. I am noi surprised, that the thinking public, knowing ci_«ttnista>nces, doubt the fact that thy directors have instructed mc to carry out the frerks at Nelson.**