THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1887.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 6007, 10 October 1887, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1887.

The West Coast people are so keenly sensitive regarding the Midland Railway that any rumor hinting at difficulties or misunderstanding regarding its speedy progress and ultimate completion naturally creates a deep feeling of uneasiness. And for Borne little time back the apparent want of go in pushing the work forward, together with the unsatisfactory, if somewhat undefined and shadowy rumors, that have been in the air have inspired a feeling akin to dread in the minds of those who wish success to the company and their undertaking, while to those who have been and are opposed to it in every shape and form, everything that threw doubt on the ultimate construction of the work has been received with a feeling of pleasure. It appears that all this smoke has not been without a little fire. A correspondent of a southern paper, who professes to have obtained his information from an indubitable source, says : — " They [the company] are willing to proceed with the line as originally proposed if, in addition to the concessions already authorised by law, the New Zealand Government will at once place them in possession of the area of land to which they would ultimately be entitled in respect of the £250,000 already spent or contracted to be spent. They want this in order to ba able to raise funds on the mortgage of the land for the further posecution of the work. When it comes to be a question of raising money on land, the lenders naturally inquire rather anxiously whether there is anything in the land or not. As it happens, the value of the land conceded, or to be conceded, to the Midland Railway Company, is an nnUnown quantity. What the syndicate a9k, therefore, as a condition of their signing the contract and going on with the railway, is that the New Zealand Government shall guarantee the valuation ; bo that (? or) upon the land being sold, to recoup the money borrowed upon it, if it should realise less than the valuation." In addition to this, we have the following telegram received from the Pre?s Association, which refers to certain proposed alterations in the contract as if they had already been public property : — " With reference to the proposed alterations in the Midland Railway contract, it is slated that the empany wish them in order to inspire confidence on the Stock Exchange. Their own representatives are quite satisfied with the valuable nature of the "concessions, Mr Brodie Hoare having stated that the fo-est block around Lake Brunner would in itself pay t!ie whole cost of the line. Half of this block the company get in alternate sectiwns, and the timbar royalty alone Is estimated to be worth £10 an acre. For other land the company have already been offered £1 per aore.'.' Up to the present

the Midland Railway Company cannot say that the Government of New Zealand \ have not met them In the frankest and t most liberal manner, and although there t has been practically a change of Govern- g ments, there is no reason to suppose that j all the honest obligations of the late t Government in regard to the Midland t Railway, whether i oal or implied, will not a be carried out to the very letter ; nor is it i at all likely that Major Atkinson's Govern- c ment will not show every reasonable con- £ sideratlon to this spirited company that ] their predecessors would do. . We should ] ibe exceedingly sorry to see any New Zea- ] land Government do otherwise. But it ia ] difficult to reconcile the sanguine tone of Mr T .Brodie Hoare— and he apparently speaks ] on behalf of the representatives of the j company— as to the valuable nature of the 1 concessions made to them with this new plea of a Government guarantee should < the estate not realise the valuation put upon it when handed over. There may be , no reason why Government should not without any danger give such a guarantee ; : but we submit that in asking for it the ■ company are seeking ; to draw the Government into a dangerous precedent, ani one that the new Government or any other might well pause to consider what such a concession might lead to. Anything in the nature of the guarantee asked for involves a complete change in the basis of the contract. The concession is no mere trifling detail not fraught with any serious consequence. It is a fundamental change in the basis of the contract that may open a way to endless trouble and embarrassment that all would try to avoid. Even the most ardent admirers and supporters of the scheme — and It mu3t not be forgotten that from the very fisst there has been influential opposition to it — would deprecate sanctioning any change from the arrangements already entered into, which would seem to them like, taking a leap in the dark. When the company expressed themselve3 satisfied with the land concessions, we had a right to assume that we had given all that they required. In doing so we were actuated mainly by this feeling : that the company, as practical men, thoroughly conversant with business in all its phases, and perfectly familiar with all the ins and outs of the great finance market of the world, would know better how to realise on their landed estate than the New Zealand Government. It is therefore somewhat of a surprise to now learn that the company require a guarantee from the Government that if the land will not realise the value put upon it that Government will make up the difference. We shall be extremely sorry to learn that the company really feel that for the safe launching of their venture such guarantee is necessary Mr BrodJe-Hoare has not exaggerated the value of the forest land about Lake Brunner. Hundreds and thousands of acres of land in New Zealand, much of it notably in this district, some of it contiguous to Gr-eymouth, of which the royalty on the timber has paid the purchasing price of the land twice over, besides the advantage of having the heaviest part of the clearing performed at no cost to the owner. As timber gets scarcer day by day so it becomes more valuable. Professor Kirk reckons that the<kanri forests north of Auckland will be exhausted inside of ten years ; the bush in the Sounds is : about done ; in Canterbury timber there is none ; and in the ordinary course of events, providing the Midland railway goes on, the forests in the Grey district must necessarily be in great, demand. As far as placing the company in possession of the area of land to which they would ultimately bo entitled in respect of their expenditure, there ought to be no difficulty about that. That should be dou« at once for them. In fact the work should bo facilitated in every possible way compatible with the interests of the colony ; we should not be inclined to grumble even if Governments went a little further in order to facilitate this great work ; but let us always see where we are going. Wo have given an estate to the company for certain specific services. It is their business to turn that to the best account. It is not our place to first of all appraise its value, which they accept it at, and then, to oblige them, become the broker to manipulate it and make a profit out of it for them. If we had been willing to undertake (".hat duty in the first instance there would have been no necessity for the intervention of ihe Midland Railway Company; and this is precisely what the opponents of the scheme contended for.