MIDLAND RAILWAY CONCESSIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 7356, 31 October 1887, Page 1

MIDLAND RAILWAY CONCESSIONS.

It will lie Temembered that , when Sir. Julius Voge'l spoke at Christchnrch he assured his hearers that the contract with the Midland Railway Company did not present any features of difficulty ; that, in fact, a few "trifling concessions" would satisfactorily settle affairs. There was always a doubt in our mind as to what snch a phrase as " trifling concessions" meant when uttered by. Sir Julius. Now we know. A few weeks ago the * Press' declared that what the Company ' demanded was that if -the land granted for the building of the railway did not fetch 10s an acre, then the Colony should be called upon to make up the balance of lvalue. From the papers laid upon the table of the House last night, and reproduced elsewhere, we glean that this is really the demand. The draft deed, prepared by the Company's engineer for the approval of the. New Zealand Government, contains the following clause, which is altogether beyond and in excess of anything proposed in the Act: — " That if the 2,304,000 acres of land; /to be " selected by the Company and granted by " the Queen does not, on sale by the Com- " pany, realise the sum of £1,250,000, the "Queen will, upon completion of the said "railway, grant such additional, lands as " may be necessary to bring ■ the* total " selling value of all the lands granted up "to the said sum of £1,250,000." This is one of the "trifling concessions" referred to by Sir Julius Vogel—the power to select lands anywhere in the Middle Island to make up the sum asked for as a land grant in the original Bill. That Ministers knew and concealed this from the public-during the recent elections is of a piece with their unwarrantable secrecy throughout. The date of the draft contract is not given, but4rom a letter signed by the Company's secretary we gather that it was communicated in'substance some months ago, after many cablegraphic notes had been exchanged ; and there are not wanting those who declare that the late Government have so far committed the Colony to this iniquitous bargain as to render it difficult for their successors to avoid giving effect to it. We, however, think that United Canterbury may howl to the moon a long time before the privilege is accorded to her of taking her neighbors' land to build a railway through her mountainous deserts.

The proposal of the Company is nothing less than dishonest and dishonorable. Acts of Parliament were passed defining the precise limits within which the lands might be selected, and Sir Robert Stout took credit for his Government that -they had insisted on the land selected being valued at not less than lOs an acre. At the time he did that he must hare known that the Company had demanded the privilege of taking over more lands to make up the valuation. If he did not, then he had been kept in the dark by his colleague, for whose sins he has suffered. This is hot the only difference sought by the Company. In a variety of ways as to the direction of the time and the terms of completion there are many variations from the original contract. One of the most important is that the Queen shall, at the request of the Company, work and carry on the traffic, paying to the Company 50 per cent, of the gross receipts, and a rebate of 10 per cent, on the receipts in respect to the traffic to and from the Company's railway passing over the Government lines. The Company must surely think the Government of New Zealand a, set of unbusinesslike idiots, or worse, or. they would never have proposed such absurd arrangements. Oar readers have an opportunity of perusing these documents, and when they have read them they will, we fancy, be inclined to offer ejaculations to Providence for having saved us from a continuation of the StoetVocel Administration.

In the House on Friday night Sir Julius Vogel made a feeble and confused statement respecting this matter; bat it does not seem to have amounted to anything, and Major Atkinson very prudently reserved what he had to say on the subject until Tuesday night. The- explanation of- Sir Julius is characteristic. In a memorandum -attaohsd "to the correspondence he says: "alterations proposed reached Wellington "on the 19th of September. Ifc-was impos"sible to submit- them to the GoyteHi- " ment before the elections took place, " and after the elections obviously Mine "Government could not deal with them; "therefore Mr Richardson and,myself "did not submit them for consideration. "The matter, therefore, must be left tov our "successors. In referring to it, I wish to " express the opinion (and Mr Richardson " concurs) that there should be no difficulty "now in putting the last proposal ofThe "Company into, a shape r that will bo " satisfactory alike to the Colony and the "Company." There are persons to whom J-he capacity of discriminating between-right and wrong hag not been granted; and:wten Sir Julil'S declares that be cannot disqpvpr any difficulty in putting the last dishonest proposals of the Company into a shape satisfactory to the Colony we cannot bnt suppose that he is a remarkable instance of such, incapacity. ••;.,