THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XII, Issue 588, 15 February 1881, Page 7

THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY.

(Evening Star, Bth hist.)

The Vincent County Council have taken the initiative in again bringing prominently before the public mind the question of the construction of |thc Otago Central Railway. If the Otago Central line is not to be burked altogether, or, which amounts to the same, relegated to the limbo of indefinite postponement, there is no doubt that action is necessary, and that such action should be intelligent, vigorous, and determined. It will be fresh in the memory of our readers that the Railway Commission of last year did not report favorably with regard to this line. They expressed the opinion that the circumstances and requirements of the Colony did not warrant the construction, and stated as facts that “a very small proportion of the land through which the route has been surveyed is at all tit for agricultural purposes, and the population spread over the district is far too limited to afford encouragement for an expenditure so large as that proposed.” The opinion of the Commissioners on what is a matter of policy is of course to be estimated at what it may be worth. This value we are not prepared to assess ; but statements of fact are clearly open to investigation, and we need hardly say that those we have quoted above have been challenged and contradicted in both Houses of the Legislature, and generally throughout this Provincial district, both on the platform and in the columns of the Press, Mr Vincent Pyke. in moving a resolution last session to the effect that the report Of the Commission, in so far as it condemns lines, the construction of which has, after due consideration and careful enquiry, been sanctioned by the House; “ has no sufficient foundation, and should be regarded as a mere expression of individual opinion hastily formed, without any special knowledge or experience of the subject,” gave an analysis of the principal evidence with regard to the quality of the land. The hon. gentleman, we think, proved to demonstration that this evidence was distinctly opposed to the conclusions arrived at. The Taieri County Council, by no means a demonstrative body, or addicted to upcountry “ blow,” at once, on learning the purport of the report of the Commission, passed a series of resolutions most strongly condemning the statements and recommendations with regard to the Otago Central. 'l'hese resolutions, which are too long to quote, say in effect that the inspection by the Commissioners was so extremely “superficial and hurried” that the Council could not admit that they were justified in stating that a very small proportion of the land was suitable for agriculture, and that they appear altogether to have lost sight of the benefit this railway would prove in developing the goldfields and other mineral resources of the interior. We take it in truth as a self-evident proposition that presuming the Government to have accepted the statements of the Commission, they have been most egregiously misled. The action of the Vincent County Council seems therefore to be exactly in the right direction, since a statement of actual facts is the only possible antidote to the poison of misrepresentation. A • thoroughly leliable report such as it is proposed to obtain will put the construction of this line, we believe, in quite a different light, and satisfy Ministers and the House of Representatives that not only will the direct and indirect benefits involved in the close settlement of the interior country be material and immediate, but that economically :he work will pay for itself in the increased value of the land which will become available tor disposal. The financial aspect of the question, however, is one to which we do not close our eyes. We quite realise that bricks cannot be made without straw, and that the Colonial Treasurer cannot coin money without the necessary bullion, or issue negotiable “greenbacks” on the security of loans already hypothecated. As we have frequently insisted, the Otago Central stands in a different position to that of other projected lines. It has an endowment, sn to speak, of 400,000 acres of land, at present held under pastoral licenses, which determine, we believe in 1882-3. This land has been specifically set aside for the purpose of meeting the expense of the construction of the line, with the full approval of Parliament. We conceive that there can be no reasonable doubt that the estimated cost—Ll, 100,000—of completing the line to the Wanaka would be more than recouped by the sale of the 400,000 acres, leaving out of consideration the largely-enhanced value of the millions of acres of Grown lands which would be opened up.