THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1889.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9325, 30 March 1889, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1889.

A very pretty little comedy was performed in tho drawing-room of tho Grand Hotol in Princes-street yesterday afternoon at four o'clock. The actors were well-known citizens, members of Parliament, and members of the Chamber of Commerce, with a Cabinet Minister to take the leading part. Every one of these gentlemen is satisfied in his own mind that the colony must stop borrowing. Every one of them is publicly pledged to stop it, and every one of them was seeking to reconcile his position with a strong desire not to be behind in gotting a share for the province in the new borrowing which does not appear to some of them to bo so far away.

The Otago Central Railway is the original cause of this new movement. It will be remembered that last session there was a large majority in the House in favour of this work being done by land grants to a company in the same way as the Manawatu railway. But there was a stronger opposition on the part of Borne of the Otago members and others against handing over the land and the railway to a company on any terms. They hold that the railway should either be constructed by Government in the usual way, or that the body to whom the land endowments and the railway were to be handed over should bo a public body working for the public interests, and not primarily for the interests of its own shareholders. _ The difficulty of course is in tho creation of such a body, deciding who shall be the electing constituency, and similar matters. The Otago Central .Railway Bill was eventually dropped, Ministers undertaking to put a sum on tho Estimates to carry it to a certain point during _ the year, and to inspect tho proposed line and decide during the recess as to the ultimate course they would pursue. This inspection has been made, and two Ministers are now here avowedly to make a similar inspection of our!. i talked-of Northern fixten

sion from Kaukapakapa, which is a through line, and not a new side line like the Otago Central. These are the circumstances tinder which a respectable deputation waited upon the Hon. Mr. Fergus yesterday, and laid before him the strong claims of the Northern Railway whenever active operations might be resumed. Of course they did not wish for new loans, and ought decidedly that hone should be attempted. But if Ministers, differing from them in this opinion, thought that a new loan should be obtained for the Otago Central or any other line or purpose, then they should very _ strongly object to being left with their long-promised and much-needed railway out in the cold. Mr. Fergus was very sympathetic, and assured them that he intended roost carefully to inspect the Northern Country, which ought to feel itself highly favoured by the numerous inspections of similar high personages, of which its railway and itself have been so often the subject, not to speak of the responsible heads of departments and railway officials who have lent their aid. But Mr. Fergus is cautious. He told the deputation that he was one of the committee who recommended the railway from Te Awarautu to Marton instead of to New Plymouth. They did so because it was said to pass through the best country, and was shown to be so far the cheaper of the two projected lines. Since that recommendation further investigation had quite altered the case, for it is found that the line will cost a million more than the estimates laid before the Commission, i.e., about double its then estimated cost. Who is responsible for this gross and misleading blunder Mr. Fergus did not say, but the facts will, we presume, be brought out some day. Meanwhile considerable light is thrown on the situation so far as the Great North Trunk Line is concerned, by a letter from Dr. Newman—a Wellington member—to one of the Wellington papers. A few months ago these papers were full of a careful exploration of the proposed lines to Auckland which had been made by some Wellington members of whom Dr. Newman was one. Marvellous were the broad colonial views taken by these gentlemen, and the broad colonial grounds adduced for carrying the line through the heart of the country and thus depriving Auckland of direct communication I with Taranaki. The Ministry however j are believed to be in favourof connecting the line with New Plymouth by a road, •and an almost frantic warning has been issued by Dr. Newman to his Wellington constituents. He is horror-struck at the gross breach of faith implied in the proposal to spend in any other I direction the million that was borrowed I expressly for the line from Marton to !Te Awamutu. He says nothing of the discovery that this million must be [ doubled if the line is to come that way, ' but exhorts the Wellington papers and the Wellington people to brace themselves for the battle sure to be fought in the coming session. If they fail in their duty to the colony—i.e. of course to Wellington—and allow this misappropriation to be made, " good-bye for many a long year to the real progress this city and the back country ought to make. Good-bye to that growth of buildings, that increase of trade, that expansion of shipping, that enlargement of the frozen meat trade, that widening of settlement, for which ellington so greatly longs." We give the Doctor's letter literally. Comment oil its " broad colonial character" would be superfluous, and we hope our Auck land members will be on the alert to see that their province is not once more sacrificed to Wellington. But as to borrowing generally, _ the deputation of yesterday is evidently to be regarded in the character rather of a danger signal than anything else. The members are unanimous that no borrowing should take place at all for a time ; to which we would add our hope that when it does take place a special tax of some kind will be levied at the same time to defray the interest. This is, perhaps, the only check against reckless borrowing that we could have' available. The deputation was evidently determined that if there is to be borrowing the neglected railways of Auckland shall not be left out any longer in the cold. Their position, in that respect, is indisputable, and the issue rests with the Government. If they do not propose borrowing, we shall all in Auckland be content. The question is, will their friends in other parts of the colony be so too, or will even Ministers themselves forego the chances of strengthening their position by "fooling" a few railways, and throwing in a few hundred thousand for roads and other side works with them. On Ministers, at all events, the responsibility will rest, and we shall watch their course with considerable interest during the coming session. Everything depends on whether they take the patriotic or the business view of their position. If the former, they will consider what is best for the country. If the latter, what is most likely to secure themselves.