THE Marlborough Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1888.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 314, 20 August 1888, Page 2

THE Marlborough Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1888.

The large and representative attendance at the public meeting on Friday e-voning with a view to opening up the Marlborough goldfields, was evidonce of the amount of interest felt by our citizens in the subject. In a cortain sense tbe meeting was not a success, but in its broader aspect it was emphatically so, as witness tbe unanimity with which tho principal resolution was carried—that affirming the desirability of opening the ascertained auriferous country of Marlborough by means of tracks. The only difference of opinion that oxisted was in regard to what may be termed matters of dotail—or, in other words, tho best way of carrying out tlio object which tho meeting and, we venture to say, the diggers themselves, and all others interested, were so strongly in favor of. Undoubtedly it was a bad piece of management to prepare such a ponderous resolution, although doubtloss dono with cite host intentions. A simplo resolution of half-a-dozen linos affirming the desirability of a grant for onouing up tho held by tracks, would have been sufficient, and a cummittoo could have been appointed, if deemed necessary, to have drawn up a memorial embodying tbe full text of the resolution, lint it was not only the length of the resolution that fault was found with. By some people it was decried because it asked for an expenditure which it was variously asserted would amount to from £-1000 to £50,000. That is certainly a wide margin, and it shows the unreliability of tho estimates. When the agitation to call a public meeting was first started, a direct issue was advanced in tho shape of tho advisability of cutting a track up Speed’s Valley from. Ivoromiko, with a view to bringing the Mahakipawa field nearer (Blenheim. A very laudable proposal, and one that has had our hearty support. But the motion took a broader view of the question and affirmed the desirability of tracks being cut in various directions leading to the Mahak'pawa and other auriferous localities in Marlborough. No one disputes that the main tracks loading to the Mahakipawa, whore the population is at present centred, should first receive attention, but the motion was so framed as to include other and possibly just as equally deserving localities; and, in our opinion, wisely so. We believe that the (Marlborough goldfields are, to use the words of one of the speakers, only in their infancy. While hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money have been expended in opening up and developing the auriferous resources of Otago, West Coast and Thames, poor little Marlborough has been left out in the cold, and lias never received one shilling for that purpose. The expensive water conservation and sludge channel schemes in Otago and West Coast, and the expenditure incurred in making tracks to the fields there, are worse than some of our political railways. Truly the residents of this district must have been “ asleep,” as Mr Earll put it, when they failed to secure a share of the plunder. Judging by remarks made since the meeting, it would appear that they are not yet alive to tbe importance of the subject and the equity of their claims to assistance in the direction required. The position is a very simple one, and is not obscured by any political ! complications, iix has been attempted to be made out, A sum of L IO,OOO has been voted for opening up tracks and roads to goldfields, either, we presume, as on former occasions, by whole vote or on the subsidy principle. The allocation of this money is practi-

cally in the bands of tho Minuter oE Mines, and leaving out of consideration altogether tbe merits of the ease, the fact that the two Marlborough representatives are staunch (j-urcrnincjif supporters should ensure favorable consideration of any application for the purpose named. There is but one ether feature of the meeting that

we would refer to. It was stated by one of the speakers that “if the matter were placed in the hands of the member for Picton, very little good could be expected to result to Blenheim.” We are not sufficiently in the confidence of the member for Picton to officially state Ins intention, but if rumor is not in this instance a “ lying jade,” ho will be a candidate at the next general election for tho new electoral district, -which practically means the whole of Marlborough. Assuming that to be the case, it follows that whoever is elected will represent, not a section, but the whole of Marlborough, and in that case even a prospective candidate will be wise enough to study tbe interests of tho district as a whole iustead of entering into a conflict with sectional concerns

Tiie Public Works Statement, which was delivered on Saturday forenoon, is necessarily in the present financial state of the Colony an uninteresting document. Works of only an immediate reproductive character are recommended,with the exception of tlie Woodville to Palmerston and Otayo Central Railways It is not proposed to continue the Blenheim-Awatere Railway, in the meantime, and a voto for existing liabilities to the amount of L(j,000 will be asked for, leaving L£1,340 for appropriation in succeeding years. Under the heading “ Roads and Bridges,” among tho principal items for which provision is being made, is the completion of tho road through the Pelorus District and Rai Valley, and continuation of road from Kaikoura to Clarence river. No jirovision has been made for subsidies to local bodies in the estimates for public works this session. Respecting roads on goldfields it is stated that the amounts required for the present and following year are L 3-5,000 and L 11,707 respectively, and this will exhaust the loan fund at present available for this class of works. The L 35,000 proposed to be expended this year required to cover liabilities at the end of March last amounting to .L 13,571, and to complete lO 'ds, on which a large sum of money had been expended, so that they might be utilised. The total length of railways open on tho 81st March last was, in the North Island 043 miles, and in the South Island 1108 miles; total, 1781 miles There were also at that date 101 miles in course of construction, of which 80 were in th» North Island and 81 in the South Island. The total expenditure on railways, including the cost of Provincial lines and the purchase of district railways up to 31st March last was L 14,400,705, and tho liabilities on the 31st March wore L 201,577, making in all LI 1,728,282. For railways in courso of construction a* a whole tho amount voted last year vrns L4fio,ooo, of which L3G5,449 was expended, and for this year, with liabilities at the end of March last amounting to L 247,911, it was proposd to ask for votes to tho extent of L 388,900, leaving L 529,518 for future appropriation. There is some satisfaction in tho fact that, notlnvithsiauding the outcry to the contrary, the gross charge per ton of traffic on N.Z. lines is the lowest in tho Australasian colonies, being only 0s lOd. This fact is duo not so much to our mileage rates being low as to the average distance carried being shorter in New Zealand than in tho other colonies, in conscqucnco of our numerous chief towns and ports.