Wellington, 25th Octobeu. THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1875, 28 October 1887, Page 16

Wellington, 25th Octobeu. THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY.

The Ofcago Central Railway Extension and Construction Bill has been circulated, but as it was dealt with in your columns last session, it is not necessary to deal with its provisions in detail again. As the member for Dunstan, however, is regarded on the goldfields of Otago as the champion par excellence of settlement in the interior of the provincial district, I thought it would be of interest to your readers to obtain some notion of the reasons which induce him to advocate the construction of the Otago Central railway by a syndicate. With this object I waited on him to-day, and was fortunate in finding him in excellent humour. When I explained to him the motive of my interview, he waxed eloquent in praise of the project, and stated that the line would open up a magnificent tract of country. The late Mr Macandrew was sometimes laughed at for indulging in hyperbole when speaking of the interior of Otago. Sceptical persons even went so far as to declare that the vine-clad slopes and plains of waving corn which he predicted would charm the eye and gladden the heart of the future observer were the mere outcome of a too vivid imagination. The poetical rhapsodies of the late member for Port Chalmers were, however, only tame pictures compared with the florid fancies ot the member for Dunstan when speaking of the interior of Ofcago. According to Mr Pyke, the country which will be opened up by the Otago Central line will turn ojit a veritable " Land of Beulah." " I cannot for the life of me," observed Mr Pyke, "imagine how the people of Dunedin can be so blind to their best interests as to display such apathy as they do in connection with the construction of the Otago Central railway. That sturdy old Roman, Mark Antony, wished for oratorical powers which would have enabled him to ruffle up the spirits of his countrymen and cause the stones of Rome to rise in mutiny, and I, in a somewhat similar manner, wish to Heaven I had the gift of eloquence so that I might rouse the citizens of Dunedin to a sense of their duty. They cannot possibly prosper in a commercial sense until the Otago Central line is completed." When Mr Pyke had let off a sufficient quantity of patj.'io.tic steam, I asked him (•-> favour me with * t)rie| ouibljuie oj: the objects of his bill. I pointed out to bjm that though the provisions of the measure had appeared in the Daily Times before, it might be as well to refresh people's minds on the subject. He then epitomised the nature of the bill as follows : — The measure proposes to extend and continue the railway line from Taieri lake to Lakes Hawea and Wanaka by private enterprise. The syndicate or syndicates undertaking the work shall get a concession of land grants equal to 33 per cent, of the cost of construction, the blocks of land to be taken alternately by the Government and contractors, provision being made that the Government shall have two blocks for the contractors' one. The value of the concession was estimated by the Surveyor-general in his evidence before the Waste Lands Committee 'last year at £5000 per annum, representing with outside £IQO,OOQ' capital. The cost of building the portion of the line included in the bill will be £750,000. It will be recollected that Sir R. Stout professed a desire to borrow money instead of giving over land for the purpose. « Mr Pyke points out that £750,000 borrowed money , would wean £30,000 additional taxation, and therefore the land grants would be the best for the colony. The argument of the bill is that it is better to give land of little present value to the State, and .by the giving of which the adjacent Sta.te lanowtyl be enhanced in value consegueqt on the condtructioti 6,f tjb.e railway, than , t.o fowrojl in the jLoriabn market witjh the cer- j tainty of* actditionajl taxation while the /me was ! buijding. Tl^e pjfoyisions ofihe .bjill are pre-j ciseiy on Hie lines of i^Qse in the District Bail- • ways Bill, under which the $fana^a£u railway ! was built, and in the schedule of which the ! Otago Central was included. Mr Pyke was careful to point out that while the Manawatu Railway Bill asked for and received a number of very important concessions, such as a grant of valuable reclaimed land, the Otago Central Bill asks for no such assistance, and does not even ask the Government to grant any portion of thepresencconstructed works. The member for Dunstan also stated is&t instead of the Otago Central line being .fed'by Government railways, it will act ate a feeder by bringing down produce from the' interior:.' The* 1 railway will, Jie .argues, promote the settlement; of the country by' bring-

ing the valuable waste lands of the interior into immediate connection with the costal markets. MORE ECONOMY. As illustrating the economical spirit which is abroad just now, it is curious to note the fact that Mr Hislop is following in the wake of Major Atkinson as regards harbour borrowing. His Oamaru Harbour Board Loan Bill has for its object the permission to borrow the small sum of £270,000 in order to protect the Oamaru breakwater. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. Major Atkinson informs me that he has tried his utmost to have the Statement ready by Friday, but he finds that he will be unable to bring down before Tuesday.