THE RAILWAY AGITATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10837, 22 August 1898, Page 6

THE RAILWAY AGITATION.

WORKERS' MASS MEETING. j ADVOCACY OP THE STRATFORD ROUTE. As open-air meeting of workers, organised by the Trades and Labour Council, was held on Saturday evening at the firebell, foot of Grey-street, to consider the question of railway communication with the South. Mr. John Fawcus, president of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, presided, and the crowd around the speakers' platform numbered well over 1000. Mr. Fawcus urged that the people of Auckland should not cease agitating till they had gained their end. At the meeting held in the City Council chambers there seemed to be the idea underlying some of the speeches that the present Government should not be allowed to handle the money which it was proposed should be borrowed for the railway. 'flat seemed to bo the only substantial reason put forward against the borrowing scheme. For himself, he was prepared to say that if the line was to be completed within the next 50 years it was absolutely necessary that there should be borrowing for the purpose. (Cries of "No, no," and "In the sweet byand by.") Mr."J. M. Shera moved, "That this meeting of workers, held under the auspices of the Auckland Trades and Labour Council, is of opinion that Parliament, as a measure of justice to Auckland, should authorise the construction of a railway from the Poro-o-tarao tunnel to Stratford, and that the Government should raise a loan to be strictly car-marked for that purpose; that Sir Maurice O'Rorke be requested to call a meeting of the Auckland and Tarunaki members, and place before them the views of this meeting, so that joint and united action may be taken in urging on the Government the claims of Auckland and Taranaki to the construction of this railway as matter of simple justice." He said he submitted the resolution under a deep sense of responsibility. He wanted the workers to consider and determine this question, for with them it rested to determine that Auckland should no longer remain isolated. The question of railway communication to Taranaki had exercised the minds of public men for many years. Twenty years ago Sir George Grey determined (hat he would use his influence to settle the native difficulty, and told him (Mr. Shera) that he would endeavour to get the natives to consent to a railway being made through their country to Taranaki. The results of Sir George Grey's proposals on the native question were well known, but it had never been made public that at that time Sir George Grey made a proposal to King Tawhiao, and told him that it would bj a good thing for the Maori people if a railway were constructed through their land to Taranaki. He explained that the railway would increase the value of their land, and told them that they ought to endow the railway with five miles of land on each side of the line, and stated that the young .Maoris, who were to some extent in idleness, would be greatly benefited by the work, which would be given them in constructing the line. Sir George Grey came back and said: " Shera, you will have your railway!" But what was the result? Before Sir George Grey could return to Parliament a number of the opponents of the Grey administration had interviewed the natives, and told them that the Grey party was going out of power, and that the party coming into power would give them better terms. In consequence of that, Sir George Grey was not only not able to settle the native difficulty, but the Auckland and Taranaki people were left without a railway. If they reflected on what took place in' the County Council chambers the other day they would see that history was repeating itself. On the first clause of the resolution there was practically no difference of opinion in the North. So far as he could judge the people with few exceptions were agreed that for economical reasons, for settlement reasons and for commercial reasons the connection with the South should be via Taranaki. But it had been mooted by speakers, and hinted at in the press that there was underlying this proposal a large scheme of borrowing—a scheme to borrow something like three, four, or five millions of money. The suggestion was false and unfounded.

Dr. Wallis : It is true and correct. Mr. Sliera said lie would not trouble himself with the doctor, but he wished them all to remember this, that the locomotive would forge its way through to Stratford, and if any man attempted to get in its way it would rim over him and grind him into political dust. They .mould make up their minds that any one who opposed this railway was an enemy of the people. It had been said that the agitation should be delayed till the general election. Well, he held that the time for tho people to show what they meant was when Parliament was assembled. But this idea of a lar/e scheme of borrowing was a trick of the enemy. All that it was necessary to insist upon for this year was that a sum of £300,0u0 be placed on the Estimates. (A voice : " Can't you make a start with Scddon's £500,000 surplus';") The sum cl £300,000 was as much as would he expended during the next 12 months, and it would probably construct from 30 to 35 miles ot the railway, and when that was done no power in New Zealand could stop the line. He trusted they would all unite in the cause, for they must unite unless tho people of Auckland were prepared to allow Southern greed, Southern aggrandisement, and Southern ambition to continue to be their masters. (Applause.).

Mr. P. E. Cheal seconded. He said this was no political or party question. Wellington would move Heaven and earth, and hell if necessary, to keen Auckland from being united with Taramiki. That liau been the , policy of the Wellington people ever since the attempt was made to get this line in ■ 1878. When Inglewood was sold, when ' Stratford was sold, when the Waimate plains were sold at high prices, it was given out ' that Stratford was to be the junction of the Auckland-Wellington line, and at that time lie pointed out that Hawera and Stratford would get into the hands of the Wellington storekeepers if Auckland did not push this railway. And what were the claims ot Auckland '; He was satisfied that if a census could be taken now it would be found that the North Island had a larger population than the South Island, exclusive of Maoris, and with the Maoris the North Island had a large majority. But Auckland was isolated. She was in the same position as England, The other countries were jealous of England, the other parts of New Zealand were jealous of Auckland ; Taranaki was her only ally. Then Auckland possessed a quarter of the population of the colony. She paid a quarter of the consolidated revenue. That being so they had the right to demand something like justice in being connected with other parts of the colony. They should not be dictated to by any other part if the colony. The consolidated revenue was now £5,250,000. Divided by the number of persons in the colony that 'worked out at about £7 per head, and Auckland with its population of 200,000 paid £1,400,000 of the consolidated revenue, which, at '4 per cent., was equal to something like £36,000,000 of the indebtedness of the colony. He wished the people of Auckland to realise that they were not paupers; that, in fact, they were in the position of doing more than the other parts of the colony in the matter of finance. He had tried to find out how much money had been voted year after year for public works in the various provincial districts during the past 25 years, how much of these votes had lapsed and gone to make the surpluses of the past, and how much had been overrun and gone under the head of unauthorised expenditure. But ho had been blocked every time. If it were possible for Auckland to get the sums voted for public works in the district but not expended, he believed they would get some millions of money. Mr. Hall-Jones had said that the reason why more money had been spent on railways in the South than in the North was because of the native difficulty. Well, they knew that was wrong, because if it was true in the past, why should it not be different now? Out of •nearly £18,000,000 spent for the construction of railways, less than £7,000,000 had been spent ,in the North Island, and more than £10,000,000 in the South Island. That was done when the Southerners had more votes. Let them look at the last five years: In that time the South Island (notwithstanding that they had £3,000,000 more in the'past), had £300,000 more spent in railways than in the North Island. That was because the people of Auckland were never in earnest. Down South the people believed in their district, 1 they had a certain local patriotism, and they , • believed in their members. ■ He did not , know if it was owing to the class of men , that Auckland returned, but none of them lever seemed to kick up any .raw; because

money bad not been expended in their dis-! trict. Of the £3,500,000 spent more in the South than in the North, Auckland had to pay her share. At 4 per cent, the whole interest on the sum was £140,000, and of! that Auckland paid £35,000, or 3s 6d from every man, woman, and child. He would not like to say to the Southern people that they were simply loafers and spongers on Auckland, because they would feel offended, but it was about the fact. He had gone over the two proposed routes, and he could state that the Central line was a job and a scandal on the part of the Wellington people from its very commencement. In 1884 the estimate was £1,200,000, and the then engineer-in-chief stated that it was within £18,000 of what the actual cost would be. Now the estimate was £2,500,000. Was it possible that engineers could have gone out 100 per cent, in their estimate? lie believed the idea at that time was to mauc the estimate as small as possible, so that the line would be started, and, once started, it would have to be earned through. If the Main Trunk line went down to Marton, it left 50,000 people out in the cold. Marton was 150 miles south of New Plymouth, Wellington was only about another 100 miles south, if the Wellington people got that line made, no Taranati people would come to Auckland, because by the time they were at Marton they might as well go on to Wellington. Not only would the Taranaki line be cheaper by about a million of money, but a great part of it would run through settled districts, and it would run through better land. The highest altitude on the main line was 2600 ft, the highest on the Taranaki route was 969 ft. There was a difference in haulage of 1700 ft. Then at least luu miles of tho Main Trunk line was pumice-stone country, that would hardly feed a sheep. He recently asked a competent judne who had been over the whole of the Taranaki line what was the worst land on the route. The reply was that the worst land would carry Is. sheep to the acre, but, that the most of it would carry 2J to 3£ sheep to the acre. They should agitate for the Taranaki railway, the whole Taranaki railway, and nothing but the Taranaki railway, and if they did that they would get it. Mr. Peter Oliphant spoke briefly, followed by Mr. Beehan, president of the Liberal Association, and Mr. Rosser, president of the Eight Hours' League, had just risen to speak, when the firebell rang out, and tho resolution having been hurriedly put and declared unanimously carried, the meeting broke up.