SUPERINTENDENTS AND RAILWAYS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 35, 12 February 1867, Page 2

SUPERINTENDENTS AND RAILWAYS.

To the Editoe of tub 'Evening Mail.' Sir — As there has been a great deal said lately in praise of the abilities and lougheadedness of a late Superintendent, and very little against him, that I have beard, allow me just to make a passing remark, which I think he fully deserves for undervaluing, unasked for, the land on the proposed line of railway to the West Coast, and for saying before he goes, the ouly thing he could possibly say to prevent a company being formed to make a railway, and wliich he says honesty compelled hini to say. Now, I never knew that honesty compelled a man to tell untruths ; but, on the contrary, I always thought tbat honesty would prompt a man to hold his tongue oi. subjects that he knew nothing at all about, and tbe more so when those subjects were of such importance to a

community. But, supposing that the land is of that wretched character that he h'nts af, nobody asked him to say so, and he ought to know (and seems to in other things) that the truth should not at all times be spoken (see Dr. Vickernian's letters iv Examii.er lately). If he could do the railway question no good, he need not try to do it any harm, at any rate. Howevei', near the last, I think he felt .ashamed of what he had said, anil he smooths it over by honestly confessing that tlie land is rich in minerals, a fact which all authorities fully verify. Well, if the land is rich iv minerals, and onr late Superintendent says it is (no mean authority, I was going to say, but won't), why can't the people of Nelson have a railway on that ground alone, and chance how much ofthe land may turn out suitable for other purposes afterwards. In otlier countries railways have been made across hundreds of miles of Jand that was known to be worthless, in order to reach that which was good. In the United States of America, railways ii ive pierced primeval forests and passed over deserts and swamps, to reach fertile land for farming and suitable places for ports, carrying with it the population to till the soil and build the city created by the power of steam. It is as a colonist that railways bave played the greatest part in America, receiving and distributing the overflowing emigrant millions of Europe. Then if our proposed line passes through known rich mineral land, surely we have an advantage over those whose lines pass over worthless land to reach a cei'tain point, and the minei'al riches sliould be partly an inducement for somebody to form a line ; but, in my opinion, that somebody should be ourselves, as Punch says somewhere, "Whatever you want well done do it yourself." Again, we are better off than the Americans jnst mentioned, who cany along tbeir lines as they make them, the people to till the soil ; iv our case, the people are aire ad}' there in thousands, at the other end of the line, and we have not, either to seek for suitable sites for ports ; the ports are found and opened : we have tlie people, the ports, tlie coal, the limbei*, and the gold, besides other riches we as yet know nothing of, and we only want a ready way to get at them all ; and if all these blessings are uot a suffi ient incentive for us to make a railway at once to get theni more conveniently, then we must be the stupidest people out : riches close to us, and we too lazy to move. Poor Nelson ! The illustrious man whose name this province bears once ?aid, "England expects evei'y man will do bis duly." Now allow me to say that tbe electors of this province should take that sentiment as tbeir watchwoi'd on tbe day of the election for Superintendent, and let their duty be to put iv a man who fully intends to go iv "hammer and tongs" for a railway. We want no dummies, we want no nominees, but we want an energetic won't-he-said-no-to sort of man, one with his head screwed on the right way ; and such a man, backed up by the people, will save Nelson from the downright beggary which stares ifc in the face, by getting a railway to the golden shores of the West. Yours, &c, Pickles.