The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1869

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2045, 24 November 1869, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1869

When Miss Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia Skeggs described her experience in high life, the lowly Mr Burchell, as he sut quietly by tho tiro musing on her wonderful revelations, summed up his conclusions with a sigai%aut “ Fudge ! ” Now if after the manner of algebraists wo substitute

for the term Daily Times the name of Miss Carolina Wilhelmina Amelia Skeggs, and fancy a Burchell listening to her profundities on I'ailway policy and construction, we should in all probability hear him growl out his “ fudge, ■’ intensified in proportion to the nonsense uttered. First wo have a classification of countries according to their progress in the construction of public works, as related by Mr Tra- 1 VERS, and Miss Skeggs concludes New Zealand to be a sixth-rater. To this Mr Burchell might safely say “ Fudge ! ” Second we have Mr Travers, or somebody else, pointing to some imaginary dispute as the reason why the Waitaki has not been bridged. As that has been the consequence of want of means, instead of “ a miserable dispute,” an emphatic j“ fudge” might righteously dispose of 1 that me.tier. Miss Skeggs then coa- ! trusts the progress of railway enter* | prise in Australia with that in Otago, and bewails “ the failure of successive “ schemes for the construction of rail- “ ways in this Province.” This might very pertinently be met by Mr Burchell’s “ Fudge,” especially when wo arc discovered to “ have done no- “ thing but hatch schemes ” which could not result “ otherwise un- “ der the circumstances by which vail- “ way enterprise is surrounded hero.” But Miss Skeoq’s has not done with tall talk about high company. She learns from Mr Fitzheubebt that some people whose names are nameless, but who “ were persons of great expe- “ ricnce in the Mother Country,” had told him that, as " a general rule, ” guaranteeing interest on public works had proved a failure on account of “ difficulties with contractors.” Wo presume Miss Skeggs’s memory must bo at fault here, or that Mr Fitzherrert’s was. Certainly as far as the connection between cause and effect is concerned, it would have been quite as rational to say she only know he said “ Jemighan, Jernighan. bring “ me my garters,” Every one will imagine what a “ fudge ” would follow this .sage opinion. But if the humble Burchell were required to appear in his true character of the legislator Sir William Thornhill, and were asked to explain why he listened with such contempt to the statements of Miss Skeggs he would say because beneath them a purpose was apparent that revealed the intentions of the hidden prompter. It is impossible not to see that two ends are kept in view in the extraordinary salmagundi prepared by Miss Skeggs yesterday. It ; can have been written for no other j purpose than to bring provincial instii tutions into contempt, and to throw cold water upon every effort that is put forth for forwarding railway const] notion. The true way to view the progress of a country is not to compare it with countries differently circumstanced but to estimate its necessities, and see how far they have been met in a given period. To draw a comparison between Victoria or Ncav South Wales, colonised from one centre, and New Zealand colonised from more than half--1 a dozen, and to conclude that one j has not developed proportionately with the other can have no other effect than to deceive. To conclude that Provincialism has been the cause of the nonprosecution of public works, when none have been done excepting through ! its instrumentality while the central j government has been frittering away I provincial resources in useless Maori ! wars, is to draw a- directly opposite conclusion from that warranted by the premises. To lay down the doctrine that “ The system of guaranteeing the “ interest, for a certain number of “ years, on the capital necessary to “ contract a railway is not calculated to “attract private enterprise ” is contrary to fact and common sense. It was ! found that by no other means could a railway system be cairiod out in India. Invitations of the most tempting kinds failed nntil interest was guaranteed by the Government ; but that offered, plenty of capitalists were found to come forward We are not by any means impressed with the advantages of General Government supervision of public works. It has proved too costly in Victoria and wo are quite prepared to shew that its interference j can only lie beneficial in prescribing j such conditions as will tend to I render a railway system unique in I such matter?, as guage, or anything that ! will ultimately interfere with, or fncili--1 tite the working of lines into each j other. The trifling intercourse between i the various Provinces does not warrant the construction of expensive lines of railway, connecting the chief towns; and muoh greater advantage will accrue by forming lines connecting the interior with the ports of shipment, than by the adoption of grand trunk lines through districts without inhabitants, and which are not likely to bo remunerative for fifty years to come. Such schemes, when propounded during efforts put firth fur securing the immediate advantage derivable from a line of railway decided upon, can have but the sinister motive of defeating them. There an;

other fallacies in Miss Skeggs’s theories which require more extended notice, as thev indicate the pressure from behind of influences repressive of all progress. . I j