The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1868.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2481, 15 December 1868, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1868.

The recent session of the Canterbury Provincial Council affords a most favourable contrast to that of the General Assembly. In the latter confusion was the predominantelement! Three-fourths of the session were wasted in party fighting and personal recrimination. The residue was occupied in hurrying through a large mass of legislation in such a careless, hap-hazard manner as to render it certain that further time will be required to amend or repeal much of what has been passed. The Couacil, on the other hand, having met for business, addressed itself to the purpose, and carried it successfully to a conclusion. Had the Government been more fully prepared, there is no reason to doubt that all the pressing work of the province would have beeu successfully completed. Iu that case we should not have had to wait another six months to be advised how best to % out that portion of the loan available for improving the means of communication between Christchurch and the north. If a reasonable plan had been submitted to the Council, it would, iu all probability, have been adopted, and so completed the work of the session.

In spite of this important omission the session has been satisfactory. After years of talk, after the disposal of many extravagant notions, and the waste of large sums of money in useless plans, it has come to be understood that the Eakaia can be bridged in a practicable and useful manner for a sum of £20,000 or even less. The Government has brought in a bill for the work, and the Council has voted a

large part of the money. At last, then, we may hope to see the Eakaia bridged, and a serious stoppage to the settlement of the country removed. It is needless to say that the sooner the work is completed the better it will be for the Government aud the public. "When the work is recognised as a fact, the outlay will begin to return in the shape, of land sales. It is therefore clearly the interest of the Government to proceed with it at once. The public gain must be commensurate with the speedy execution of the work. For the bridging of the river is altogether a public advantage. The next great work which will occupy the attention of'the Government is that already alluded to—the improvement of communication with

the north. The instructions given by. the Council to the Government appear to amount to this: To invest the sum of £30,000 in trust, and to use this as an inducement to capitalists to construct a railway from Christchurch to the Kowai. The representatives of the northern districts seem to have made up their minds that they will have nothing less than a railway for their money. And no doubt they are right if they can get it. But the cheapoit known railway would cost four times as much as is available for the work, and where is the money to come from ? We believe that a 3 feet 0 in. gauge railway.can be made in Europe, uuder favourable circuinatances, at a cost, including rolling stock, of £3OOO a mile. Add onefourth for the difference in the cost of material and labour in Now Zealand, and then add the cost of the laud aud other incidental expenses, und it will be found that the cheapest kiud of railway to the Kowai would cost at least £130,000. Will capitalists be induced to advance, or contractors to undertake such an outlay on the guarantee of a sum less than one-fourth of I that rsquired ? While we hope the effort to obtain the capital will be successful, and that a railway will be obtained, we think it would be as well for the public to consider whether, iu the event of failure, it might not bo wise to accept the alternative and invest the money in the next best mode of improving the communication—a tramway. A recent article from the Hallway Gazette, which will be found in our column*, declares that a strong reaction is taking place in England in lavour of laying down tramways on common roads. Imitating the eiample of New York, Pans, Geneva, aud other large cities, the corporation of Liverpool has deter-1

wined to adopt the system of tramways , in that city. The Railway Gazette anticipates that the new lines will extend beyond the suburbs, and that before long a tramway may be made from London to Birmingham. It points ont the advantages that will result from the use of the public roads for the purposes of tramways, both in an engineering and economical point of view, and declares that it will result in an increase of public accommodation and decrease of public taxation. The question deserves our gravest consideration. An enormous mistake has been made in the construction of the Southern- Bail way. When the Government decided "on malting that line they virtually stopped all further railway making in Canterbury for years to come. To meet a traffic scarcely sufficient for a tramway, they decided upon making a first, class railway after the most approved English fashion. The consequence is, that we can make no more railways. What now is the wisest course to pursue ? To accept the position and be content with a system which has been found of the greatest use in Europe and America, and is at last coming into vogue in England, or to go on crying for railways which we cannot obtain? We have no doubt whatever that by a system of tramways, judiciously carried out, the trade of the province and the convenience of the public would be materially assisted. And, what is of equal concern, the money invested in tramways, whether public or private, would, instead of being sunk, yield an ample return.,