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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 141, 19 June 1867, Page 2

/ Me. Stevens' proposal to procure the construction of a railway to the West Coast is. now fairly before the public, the Report of the Select Committee appointed to consider it having been brought up last night and laid on the table. The Committee consisted of the following members of the Council : — The Speaker, the Provincial Secretary, Messrs. Kinwdon, Parker, Wastney, F. Kelliug, Baiand DvejerJ Wo subjoin the Report":- — — -•'■'■'"''* "The Select Committee appointed by the Provincial Council to consider the proposal of Mr. Stevens relative to the formation of a railway to the Buller, be°to report as follows : — "That your Committee, having met and examined Mr. Stevens, a copy of°whose examination accompanies this Report, are of opinion, that the Superintendent should be authorised by Act cf this Council to enter into an engagement with Mr. Stevens for the construction of a railway to .the West Coast in terms ' similar in their main features to those just brought under the consideration of the Comraitree. ■ (signed) "Samuel KingiJon. " Chairman." As Mr. Kingdon will move this evening the adoption of the Report, we think it > expedient that the public should be placed in possession of all the information on this important subject which is at present at our disposal, with the least possible delay. We may, therefore, state that, in his examination before the Committee, Mr. Stevens expressed his confident expectation that he should be able to form a Company with the requisite capital to

make a liue of railway- from Nelson to Cobden' and Westport, if sufficient time be allowed him to proceed to England under contract with the Provincial Government, and at the same time laid great stress on the desirability of leaving Nelson on the Bth of July, via Panama. He will consent to be bound to release the Provincial Government from their contract in case he is unable to raise a company with funds sufficient to form the proposed railway, in twelve months from the Bth of July next. Mr. Stevens is of opinion that the railway might be completed in four years' time from the above date, and tha the Company should find their own eu gineers, the |\vork being contracted for ; though he at first thought that the Government might wish their own engineer to undertake it. He considers the appointment of a Provisional Committee of influential gentlemen in Nelson essential, iu order t6 confer with the Directors on all matters connected with the proposed railway. In reply to other questions put by the Committee, Mr. Stevens stated that he considered that the surveys, plans, sections, &c, of the proposed line should be prepared at the expeuse of the Compauy, but that he should expect that the Provincial Government would furnish the Compauy with a rough survey of the couutry through and over which the line must pass, aud with the evidence, if required, of persons who have travelled over the proposed line. He consents that the Compauy shall be bound not .to dispose of the line, stations, and working plane, &c. &c, without the con-" seut of the Government for the time being, aud he expects that the Superintendent will reserve from sale all such portions of the waste lands as his Honor and Mr Stevens may agree upon, after the signing of the contract. Mr Stevens stipulates that a lease of the land reserved shall be given to the Company, in order that they may be able to allow the shareholders to select and settle down upon such land as may eventually fall to their share when the line is completed; and he is willing that the Superintendent for the time being shall have power to reguiate the minimum number of times the trains shall run every week, and the maximum price to be charged for passengers, and also for goods at per ton; the miners' right fees to be paid to the Company from the time of the completion of the line. Such are the principal features of Mr. Stevens' evidence before the Select Committee, and our readers will probably share our surprise that, on such loose and unbusinesslike data, the Committee should have determined upon reeommending the Council to authorise his Honor the Superintendent to enter into an engagement with this gentleman which involves such important considerations. We may be assured, however, that the entire subject, although the motion has been hurried ou with somewhat indecent haste, will be thoroughly ventilated tonight in the Council ; and we trust, for the honor of the province, that the anticipations of our correspondent " Stoker," to the effect that Mr. Stevens's proposed mission to England is intended as a mere political ruse to evade the performance of a very difficult and troublesome pledge, may not be verified.