OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY LEAGUE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12601, 3 March 1903, Page 2

OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY LEAGUE.

A meeting of the Otago Central Railway League was held last evening. There were , present—Messrs Burnett (chairman), W. Barren, J. Jolly, A, Bathgate, H. F. Noes, 1 W. Tonkin, T. W. Kempthorne, L. Gnrtls, ' L. D. M'Gcorge, and J. A. Millar, M.H.E. J \ Messrs H. D. Bedford and J. F. Arnold, ' ] M.H.H.'s, T. Brown, A. C. Stronach, ami G. Hoivden sent apologies for non-artend- , auce.'lt was intimated that Mr T. K. Sidey, M.H.K., was in Sydney. I Mr R. Gilkfeou was, on the motion of the * Ohairman, elected a member of tho league. ' Mr H. B. Slevons (secretary of tho Clydo 5 branch of tho league) wrote stating that at ; a, meeting of the Clyde Branch of the Otago j Central Railway League, hold on Friday, January 30, a resolution was passed urging j on the Government; in view of tho fast ( approaching close of the financial year, the absolute necessity of carrying out the work of construction expeditiouiiy. An emphatio j protest was also mado re the remarke of tlio i Hon. Mr Hall-Jones ro tho probability of * settlors agreeing to call a halt in the work f of construction. This nranch also, believing j , that a portion of the Moutere run (which is t otFere t d for sale as a run on February 24) is j n. fee'dor of the railway, arid conswiiienlly , within their province to deal with, decided 0 to get up a petition asking that the runs , c bo- thrown open for settlement. ; Mr F. R. Young (Gcerttary of the Alex- t andra branch of the league) wroln etatiug i that they had had a meeting on tho 23rd j of January. In reference to the progress si made with the line, he understood the staff a of workmen had lately been increased us i much as possible in proportion to the works, , t and ihat good pro;rrfl»3 had been mndn wilh | tho bridge over the Mamiherikin, on the • . Alexandra side of iho liill The Clyde ' , branch had had a meeting, hut from reports j ho thought they hail gone off at a tangent, i , and instead of devoting their energies to- j j wards the pushing on of the railway, they ! E wore petitioning to get Moutcrc run opened ■' for oettloinent—a great mistake in his j , opinion, as the run, or a great part of it, was once before opened for the same pur- j pose on the strength of a petition from j Oiyde, and, so far a3 ( he could tenrn, no ; applications were mads for a single section, j Mi , young, in a second letter, eaid it had been unanimously decided to prepare a " monster petition to Iμ presented to Par'ia- ( ment next session. Circulars had heon Font i to each centre and to a large- number cf i ; influential settlers from Ida. Valley to Pom- i , brote, and so far tho replies received wero j ' of a reassuring charadrr, and. ho thought j j that the movement would receive, universal | support so far an Central was con- j ' ecrned. A draft of the petition was hs-inj I j prepared, and would be sent to tho league. ' They invited the hearty support cf tho ' league in the matter.—lt was decided to ' write stnting that if the petition was a etiit- ' able one the league would ta ! ke steps to j j have it signed in Duncdin, or to jet a fe-p.v j j rate one. signed. ! ! A general discussion took pkes on tho | ! progrefs of the line. Mr Tonkin said he ; j did not think tho railway would reach ' ; Ophir for two years. There seeir.c.l to be : j line. The tunnels were not quito finished, ! ' a great waste in the expenditure of (lie j money. The slow progress being made, with j the lino was very unsatisfactory. ' Mr Gilkison said lie had gone to see the ' line. The tunuefe were not quite, faished, ] but they could be put through easily. The \ delay in tho construction was not caused by ' tho tunnels or tho bridges. Tho delay was < going to be with the cuttings. It would be s according to eomo people, 18 months or so ( i before tho cuttings wer6 finished. There ' was really no hurry about the bridges. Tlioy c did not matter until tho cuttings were done. < Under the co-operative system tho work i seemed to proceed very, very slowly. ' Mr Millar, in aiOTcr to a nneslion, said ' there were about 300 men working on the line. I Mr Tonkin Faid the men seemed to live 1 very happily. There were three of them to > overy wheelbarrow. ; Mr Millar said that when he saw tho men > they were "grafting." Very little over £60,000 i would be. spent at the close of the 31st of I March. It waa about the same proportion t as had been spent on other lines. ' Tho Chairman .alluded to Mr Fowlds's 1 visit to the Otago Central, and said tho f pitiable thing about his report was that he. 1 was not a, judge of country. 1 A Member remarked that Mr Fowlds had i seen the oountry on tho lop ol tho coach. 3 Mr Millar said Mr FowMs was not a com- i potent judge of the country of Otago. He < did not think it much use showing nn Auek- s land man tho Otago Central line. His mind < wan already made up that there wero only i two railways that ought to be touched—viz, i the Main Trunk lino and that north of 3 Auckland. He believed that the Canter- ] hury men wore eominjf'down to inspect the 1 line. If they did so, the Otago men ought 1 to go up and inspect tho Midland line.— \ (Laughter.) He had no doubt that the 1 coach drivers had been misleading- Mr 1 Fowlds. In any case, Mr FowJdn Kid not 1 had timo to see tho country properly. He < had rushed through from Wanaka to Dun- t cdin in two days. I The Chairman eaid that Mr Fowlds in his ] . report observed that ho had seen fair crops 1 at Hawoa. This statement in itself showed | the unrelialileness of hia report. Ha had 1 known the district for 50 years, and ho itwerted. there was no better wheat country \ in the world than at Hawea. In the worst ( times it always brought in Bunedin Id and | 2d more than any that came into tho Dun- | cdin market. Mr Fow'.da made up his mind , and the Auckland men agreed with him, ( and on such evidence as his the lino was j condemned. ... I Mr Jolly said in reference to tho visit of j Mr Fowlds and the proposed visit of the. , Canterbury men, that the league must .'ire . to tho occasion 'and endeavour to frustrate j tin? efforts of the combination to stop tho | progress of the line. The work already done \ had cost a toffe sum of money, and the Ime , vra.s Entering into country which, according ' i to reports, was very, valuable, and they ; 1 I must show the Government- that tha people ; ; of Otago were determined the lino should ; ( Ik completed to the proposed terminus at; < I/ikc Huwca. He referred to tho plow pro-; 1 press mado in ibp construction, tho broken ; ■ promises of Ministers, and the futility of ] trying to judge the oountry from the top of i; a' coach. It was to the interests of the ; 1 coach drivers to spwik in detrimental terms j | of tho lino. If the- Canterbury men did j como clown, they should bo accompanied , by | , thore who could point out the country, . ; supply them with" statistics, and prevent | 1 their going away in ignorance. Somo of the ; members of Parliament and their own mem- . hers might do this. Mr Millar, in expressing hi? willingness to 1 nssht in the direction indicated by Mr Jolly, : eaid if they could only get unanimity amongst the Otogo mnmbors it would be all; right. But the Southland members were 1 agitating for a lino in the Gore district: ; tho Lawrenoo and Roxburgh people wanted ; til" Lawrence line extended, and everything ' ■ tiliat was given in answer to these demands ■ would como off the Qk«o Central vote.! Th*re was a greater disunity amongst the Otago tha.n eve. befcrp. There; was only a limited amount of money for 1 railways «ach 3 r fav, and 1110 North Island | men were as determined to get their share j as tlioy ivere. The oonptruction of the rail- j way would not bo. kt by contract so long \ as the present Government was in power. They had got to find tho money for a eontraot. Doing 4110 work by co-operative labour enabled them to find it as they won't along. Ho agreed that a. lot of money tad been and was being frittered away. There were two many linos in hnmd to allow of any real progress being made with any ono line. Mr Gilkison agreed that some system of * irrigation would have to be entered upon. Mr Burnett mentioned thattlio farmers up in the Ma Valley were flourishing ae the result of tho line. Mr Millar eaid he intended next session to get a full return of (lie traffic on tho line. Ho believed that for somo time, two pa®en.?eT and three goods trains were running daily. Aftsr further discussion, Mr Barron moved, » and it was carried unanimously—"' That tho ' chairman be requested to convey to Mi , Fowlds, M.H.R., tho expression of tho league's regret that, evidently because of insufficient opportunities for acquiring information about the district- served by the Otago Central railway- during bis recent visit to the interior, Mr Fowld.? should have arrived al conclusions which ore not in accordance with the fact*'as known to members of tlifl league: and that he shonklinvito Mr Fowld? to again inspect the. lino as Uiegusst of tho league so that Mr FowWfc may be placed in possession of all available infomwtion with reference to the railway and the kud it will affot." ' It was alfo resolved to wire to the' Premier lu. as follows:—"Premier. Honmer,—At the u meeting of th« Otago Central Railway Lcagiio to-night it was reported that tho progress being made was disappointingly slow, raid they therefore strongly urgo that 1 p greater diligence in the prosecation of this " most important work should immediatoly bo shown. Your assistance would be much appreciated." The meeting then Josed. — A game of baccarat, which was begun 1 in ono of the Paris clubs at 5 o'clock on a recent Monday afternoon, was kept up without intermission until V o'clock on Tuesday S, evening, thus lasting 26 houre. Two wellknown foreigners opened tho game-, and one of them ended liy losing 80,000f. Tho players reireshe-d themselves from time to time with champagne, sandwiches, and tea. v .