DEPUTATION TO THE HON. MR. FERGUS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9325, 30 March 1889, Page 6

DEPUTATION TO THE HON. MR. FERGUS.

ITOBTH AUCKLAND TRUNK!' RAIL-" WAY.

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE. iffKETiKO of members of the Chamber of Commerce and others was held yesterday afternoon at the rooms, New Zealand Insurance Buildings. Captain Colbeck presided, and there were also present: Messrs. C. V. Houghton, A. Porter, John Reid, R. Elobbs (M.H.R.), John Milne, W. P. Moat (M.H.R.), R. Monk (M.H.R.), and L. Nathan. Captain Comieck said they saw from the newspapers that the other colonies were considering the question of the San Francisco service, and it seemed to him that this service would be continued if the New Zealand Government, would make some attempt to help. It was, therefore, proposed to interview Mr. Fergus on the subject. They were all agreed that the ' service was a very desirable one. He bolieved the Ministers proposed to visit the route proposed for the X orth Auckland Trunk lino. He knew of nothing more likely to be to the advantage of Auckland interests than the construction of that line, and it •was, he thought, their duty to ask Minis ters if there was any intention of proceeding with the work. He had heard the opinion expressed that the Otago Central line would be pushed forward, and, if this was so, it- could not be done without further borrowing, or some other means, by which tho country would have to pay the piper. They should, he considered, protest against this being done without consideration for the works of this district. Individually, lie would prefer to be without the North Auckland Trunk line than that they should go into tho London market for another loan. Mr. Hor.ns pointed out that tho construction of only seven miles of the line had teen authorised, and the question was, w hat had Ministers come here for ? Were th.? Government now prepared to bring joivn any proj>er policy, and authorise the continuance of the line to say Lake Omapere, spending £500,000, for that was what it, would take—unless they were prepared to do that, what was the object of ministers in going over the route? Thtk-e present then went to the Grand Hotel, Princes-street, where they interviewed the Hon. Mr. Fergus, Minister for Defence. The deputation was here joined bv Messrs. F. J. Moss, M.H. A. H. Nathan, and J. M. Dargaville.

THE -NORTH AUCKLAND TRUNK LIKE. Captain Colbegk introduced the question of the North Auckland Trunk Railway, and said that so far as he was aware all the allocation of public money, whether for railways or any other subject had been made,'and nothing was now left in the hands of Government for the construction of the line. The Chamber wished to know the intentions of the Government upon the subject. Mr. A. H. Nathan aid that when Mr. Fergus visited the North the first thing that would strike him would be the utter want of direct and efficient internal communication. The people of the North were a peculiarly industrious and hardworking class, and though but a limited amount of public money had been spent in that part of the colony, the most had been made of it. They did not wish to urge upon the Government to press forward tlie construction of this line with hot haste, but. rather that small contracts, say for seven or eight miles at a time, would be let, until the lino was completed to junction with the Ivawatawa line. Mr. Darcavtllb pointed out that a population of from 25,000 to 30,000 people was settled in the stretch of country through which the line would pass, and but a very small proportion of public money had been expended in that district. On the basis of population, they considered that they were entitled to have the line extended to Lake Omapere ; but they were not asking for that—they only asked that the policy inaugurated three or four years ago, when the vote of £70,000 was passed for this work, should be carried out gradually and consistently. This would meet their views without in any way hampering the finances of the colony. When Mr. Fergus went over the north he would be satisfied that if such a tract of country existed in the South, and were left out in the cold, there would bo such an outcry as almost- to compel the granting of what they now asked. In extending the line by sections of ten or twelve miles, it would be found that each section would be payable as soon as it was completed, since the line would pass through large areas of kauri forests. Mr. Hobbs repeated the remarks which he had uttered at a preliminary meeting held in the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce. He .further pointed out that the Auckland members had been held up to ridicule becauso they had permitted public works in the North to be delayed because of the exigencies of the colony, whilst other works in the South had been proceeded with ; and there was then no wonder that the northern settler?, who had to pay the property tax, complained. The Hon. Mr. Fergus said that with respect to the railway to the north of Auckland, and to other railways which were forcing,'themselves upon the consideration of the Government, it would, ho thought, be patent to them, and to every thinking man in the colony, that it was utterly impossible for them to go on to the market to borrow money for the construction of railways for at least a considerable time to come That being the case, the question arose, How is it possible for us to meet the demand for settlement and railways, the conservation of forests, and so forth, in the absence of borrowed money ? A great deal had been said about the capability for population-carrying of the land in the North and South, and on the West Coast; but he must say that ho took with a considerable grain of salt those statements as to the suitability for population, adaptability for railways, and so on. He was one of those who advised upon, the Marton-To jVwamutu route, and since then they had found that the cost had been under-esti-mated by about £1,000,000; and of course there was very little probability of their getting that £1,000,000 to carry the work to a successful completion. In the second placo, the Government were not to he blamed for not pushing that railway on faster ; it was laid down in the report of the Commission that a considerable quantity of land would be acquired, the increased value of which would compensate the colony for the cost of the railway. There was considerable discussion in the House last year in respect of the North Auckland line, and considerable ignorance was displayed as to the character of the land to the north of Auckland. The question of the Otago Central line wa3 before the House, and it was deemed advisable by the Government to take also into consideration the extension of the railway to the north of Auckland, as it was considered that these works were on a par. Tjhe Premier was good enough to ask him (Mr. Fergus) to come up to Auckland—at the urgent request, he understood, of some of the members representing the Northern districts, — and go over the route, and report to the Government as to the capability of the land, the coat of the construction of the railway, and so forth. It was for this reason, pure and simple, that he was here. Mr. Fergus detailed the programme of his proposed visit to the North, and said that the Govern had every desire to carry out the work of making the line, if it was shown to be a desirable work, it was probable they would sec their way to carry it on, if nob with rapid strides, at least surely, and bring it to a completion at no very distant date. The North Auckland, the Otago Central, and Te Awamutu-Mar-ton lines hung very much together, and they would receive fair treatment from tho Government. Captain Colbeck hoped that tho Minister for Defence would consider the figures in respect of the lines, and he pointed out that a very large percentage of the goods carried upon the Helensville railway was consigned to places beyond that terminus. Mr. Fergus said that before anything else was done, an absolutely correct survey ■would be made, so that tho colony would know what ib was committed to. It was a notorious fact that the railways generally had cost 50 or 75 per cent, more in construction than they were estimated to cost. THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL service. Mr. Milne spoke on tho subject of the San Francisco mail service. He said that the Australian Governments seemed to bo taking up this question, and taking it up •probably because we were letting it drop. '\fc seemed to him that they were letting

drop a'service which not only paid its way, bat left an important profit, and to tlujow this out and go in for other services which so far had not paid their way appeared to him to be taking a step backward. Mr. Milne pointed oat that the steamer Mariposa would bring mails of 15 days' later data than those of the direct mail delivered in Auckland on Thursday, so that 11 days was gained in point of time. He thought the colony could not afford to throw away the value of what over the whole colony must be no less than a week, at least.

Mr. Ffinous said the matter of the San Francisco mail service and its continuation hncl been for some time before tho Government. Mr. Creighton was in Australia, and had been in communication with the Government on the question. The difficulty, however, as pointed out to him, was the atbitmde which the House took last year. The Government tried to indnco Parliament to take a certain course: but they were beaten by a substantial majority. The Southern members wore absolutely opposed to any continuance of the service. Personally, he thought it would be an extremely disastrous thing if the San Francisco service were closed ; he would bo extremely sorry for it. It was a good round tourist route ; it kept us in communication with America, and paid, if not directly, at least indirectly. All ho could say, however, was that he would lay the views of the deputation before his colleague, tho Postmaster General ; he could not, of course, commit tho Government to anything on the subject. Not long ago he received a communication from the South, in which a novel proposition was made. It was suggested that all subsidies should cease, and that those who carried on the service should be paid at the rate of so much per lb. He thought that a suggestion of this kind would be made in the House by some Southern members.