THE Marlborough Express. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1871. THE PICTON RAILWAY.

Marlborough Express, Volume VII, Issue 356, 3 January 1872, Page 1

THE Marlborough Express.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1871. THE PICTON RAILWAY.

“ Gits mo tbo liberty to know, to utter, and to rrgie freely according to conscience, above a!! other liberties. —MItTOK

His Honor Mr. Seymour returned from his mission to Wellington yesterday by the Phoebe, and by the same opportunity we have information confirming our telegrams of last week, with but little more to add on the subject. Upon his arrival in Wellington Mr. Seymour found the entire scheme literally shelved and set aside, and the Hon. Mr. Vogel, but waiting his arriva' at his request; prior to sailing to Auck- - land en route for Australia, However,

nothing daunted by the untoward aspect J (f iff i s, our Superintendent waited on i the M in : ster of Public Works the same day, and pertinaciously urge I the i o luction of the Estimate in-various ways, as making a lighter line, and fewer stations. But the Minister was obdui’ate to this kind of argument, as interfering with the prerogative of the Assembly. Mr. Seymour then offered on behalf of the Province, to take the responsibility of the £IO,OOO excess over the vote, and so made an impression that resulted in a meeting of the Cabinet o i he following day, when the proposal was accepted. The terms are to b the annual payment of £1,500 for five years, and the reservation of 25,000 acres of land somewhere in the Province as a security, and to cover the bal mcc. Of course the Provincial Council will shortly be called together and asked to ratify the bargain, which we have no doubt they will readily do. We have only to add that Mr. Seymour Saw the specifications commenced, which will occupy about a fortnight, after these are completed, certain legal documents and their signature will take perhaps another week, when His Excellency Governor Bowen will come over and turn the first sod at the Picton end, as we have before stated. We feel that it is our bounden duty to place on record the obligations the inhabitants of the Province are under to His Honor Mr. Seymour for his indefatigable exertions and promptitude of action in connection with the Railway question. For more than five months past we are aware that he has not been able to spend one week at his own home in consequence of his attention being required for public duties, and in this particular alone, did he possess no other good qualities, we believe t that he will make a worthy to our late mu h-esteemed Representative, W. H. Eyes, Esq., who has seconded His Honor’s efforts and assisted him in every possible way to secure the successful prosecution of the Picton Railway. TRANSFER OF LANDS. We have much pleasure in directing the attention of our veadeis to the lengthy advertisement which appears in another column with reference to the Laud Transfer Act. The advantages which this improvement in the law attords to the public are very great. The costly nature of all transactions connected with real estate has been for many years an evil which has pressed heavily on society, and especially on the poor man, and the costliness was not the only evil, estates frequently became involved, and in a few years the whole title was so obscured by mortgages, le is«aa, nd legal complications, that a suit in Chancery was very often the ultimate result. The present law will so simplify the sale, purchase, aud all other transactions affecting the leasing or mortgaging of real property, that imperfect titles will not exist in New Zealand, except in such cases where people refuse to register, and those, we presume, will be very few as the market value of any property will of course be regulated by the soundness of its title. „ The smallness of the fees and the tacihty with which the business of the Land Transfer Office will be conducted, will in reality render the buying or selling of a piece of land as easy and certain as that of a horse dr any other chattel, assuring to all paities concerned, the combined advantages of Security, Promptitude, and Economy. W. S. Moorhouse, Esq., the RegistrarGeneral of Land, is now in Blenheim, making the necessary arrangements for bringing the Act into operation iu this Province, which, wo are assured, will be done as speedily as possible. '