Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1886.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7525, 27 August 1886, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1886.

THE WAIMEA PLAINS RAILWAY. The, debate on the purchase of tiie Waimea Plains railway, as recorded in Hansard, is instructive reading. The evidence of experts given beforo the Public Works Committee showed that the value of the railway was from £90,000 to £95,000; That was not its commercial value, but the stun it was estimated the work would cost. But it was urged that the colony could save £1000 a year by ■working the lino in connection with tho other Government railways, and making allowance for this the ontside value was put down at £102,000. Tho bill before the House proposed to give £33,000 in cash and £75,000 in debentures, or a total of £110,000 for the line. The House, it will be remembered, at first reduced the £35,000 casli to £27,000, thus bringing: the price to the highest possible estimate of the value of the line. Kut the present patriotic Ministry, who pose as economises, the opponents of jobbery and corruption, and the friends of the people, brought every pressure to bear to get the bill re-committed, and succeeded. What arts or arguments were used those immediately concerned alone can tell, and they are not likely to do so, but it was freely reported at the timo that if certain Southern members would support the re-committal, the Representation Bill, to which they were violently opposed, would be shelved. Whether this was so or riot, the bill for the purchase of Hie Waimea railway was committed, the £27,000 was increased to £31,000, and the Representation Bill was thrown out by the votes of three Ministers. But that is not all. Though the line is to cost £106,000 nominally, it will in reality cost considerably more, as pointed out by Mr Montgomery. Ho said, " The company has pledged debentures worth £40,000 to the Government Insurance Association. They aro 6 per cent, debentures, running for twenty- three years, and also debentures worth £35,000, boaring 61 per cent, interest, and running for ten and a, half years. It was given in evidence that • the lowest amount that would redeem these debentures, according to the calculation of an actuary, is £8000, while the highest amount would be £18,000." Taking the mean at £13,000 ihe line will cost £110,000. As the most favorable calculation estimated the profit at only 14 per cent, on £95,000, the line is likely to prove a costly bargain to the colony. To state the case fairly to all sides, however, it must be added that the Waimoii Plaius Company do not get all the £106,000 as purchase money. The lino was constructed under the District llnihvays Act, and the ratepayers of tho district wore rosponsible for two per cent, interest on the cost of construction. But the ratepnyors refused to pay, and in August last the rates due amounted to £17,000. The object of proposing that £110,000 should be given for the line was to relieve the ratepayers of the payment of half this money. But why should the colony be asked to do this ?" The ratepayers by thenvotes assented to the line being matlo and agreed to become responsible for part of the interest on its cost, and they had no more right to ask for relief tlmn the ratepayers of Napier have. to ask tho colony to relieve them of payment of interest on our municipal loan. An examination of who are the ratepayers only aggravates the coolness of the request. Had they been a number of small holders, struggling almost without hope of ever surmounting their tlillicuHies, somo sympathy might have been felt with the proposal, though its principle might have been condemned. But as a matter of fact the small holders are comparatively few in number, and tho sums they owe trilling in amount. The chief debtor is a wealthy land monopolist company, called the Agricultural Company, which owoh nearly £12,000 of Hip total of £17)000, wul several huge ran- I

holders owe most of the balance. Ihe Premier and the Colonial Treasurer are, or were, intimately connected with the Agricultural Company, which makes their action in regard to the bill all the more reprehensible. Bnt we expect to hear more yet.-- Tho success of the demand to the colony to purchase the lino will encourage the ratepayers to ask for further concessions. As Mr Montgomery pointed out in his speech, the first thing 'that will be done will be to got the rates of charges reduced to the level of the other Government railways, and when that is accomplished the cry will be raised by the ratepayers, " Why should we pay rates for what ia a Government line ?" and, judging from past experience the agitation will most likely bo" successful.