THE OTAGO CENTRAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2006, 4 August 1892, Page 18

THE OTAGO CENTRAL.

ITS CONSTRUCTION TO BE PRESSED

A meeting of members of the Otago Central Railway League was held in the hall of the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday afternoon. The mayor (Mr C. R. Chapman) occupied the chair, and there were close on 50 other gentlemen present, amongst whom were Messrs J. T. Mackerras, K. Ramsay, A. Leo Smith, R. Wilson, J. Mitchell, G. Fenwick, T. Brown, J. Kattray, C. S. Reoves, W. Barron (hon. sec), Vincent Pyke (who was applauded on entering th: room), A. Sligo, R. Chisholm, J. F. M. Fraser, D. Baxter, G. Esther, N. Y. A. Wales, M. Cohen, A. S. Paterson, A. Bathgate, J. F. Woodhouse, J. Watson, W. Wright, C. E. Haughton, Dr Fitchett, Messrs J. Stone, W. Carlton, J. R. -Thornton, J. H. Morrison, J. A. Millar, A. Hcrdmau, G. M. Thomson, and A. H. Burton.

_ The Mayor said the meeting was one of citizeus and others to consider the state of matters in connection with the Otago Central railway. A deputation of members of the House waited on the Government the other day to impress on them the necessity of making some further provision for the carrying on of the railway, but the reply of the Government was certainly not satisfactory. This reply was that they would give their intentions respecting the line in the Public Works Statement, and those who were at the bottom of the 1.-ague were not satisfied « ith that answer, their desire being to have some permanent arrangement. He would call on Mr Vincent Pyke to lay before the meeting a plan of what was proposed to be done.

Mr V. Pyku, who was received with applause, said that last session Parliament appropriated L 30.000 for the construction of tho railway, of which L 15.000 was spent in the year now current, and therefore in offering L 30.000 they really offered L 15.000 and no more. It appeared from the report of the interview that Mr E irushaw went off at a tangeut, and Mr Scobiu Mackenzie proposed that the railway bhould halt at Hyde, a proposal that Ministers jumped at at once, saying it was a good proposition. But they did not know the country as he did, and he would say that if the line stopped at Hyde there would be no traffic on it from the interior. He had made all inquiry into the matter, and he* was satisfied there was no traffic whatever from the iuterior that could be diverted to a line reaching no further than Hyde. They would therefore assume that until the line got on to the Maniototo Plaiu it could absorb no interior traffic and give no facility for settlement, and he would tell them why. Between Kyeburn and Hyde there were two impediments — one the Taieri river, which was often in flood, and the other a hill called the Capburn hill, which was so steep that no carrier would take a load up it. Until they passed those two places and took the railway on to the plain it was of little use, and the proposition to stop at Hyde was ridiculous. He had been accused of wanting too much, but he said that if they succeeded in getting the line to Eweburn it would then carry itself on, and for that reason his object was to insist pn there being permanent provision. They did not want any fuss and bother over it year after year — they had ncft time for that, — and, seeing that they had actually been robbed of a quarter of a million of money, they had a right to demand that their claims should now be recognised. — (Hear, hear.) Another point he would like to mention was this : When the abolition of the provinces was carried into effect there was a clause in the bill relating to that matter which secured to a district the whole of its laud revenue. That provision had been violated, but he would say that if they had had that land revenue now they should never have required help from the Government, and therefore when they asked a moiety of tho rents from this country that would be benefited from the railway, and the request was refused, he said they were being treated unjustly and tyrannically. — (Hear, hear.) It was for the meeting to consider whether they would take the resolutions and send them up to Ministers direct from the league, or whether they would have a public meeting to endorse them. The resolutions, he might also say, were worded strongly, but they wanted to speak strongly over such a matter as this.— (Applause.) He then called on Mr Barron to read the resolutions that had been drawn up. The resolutions were as under : —

"1. That nothing short of permanent provision being made for prosecuting the Otago Central railway rapidly can satisfy the people of Otago. »

"2. That inasmuch as more than a quarter of a million of the money borrowed tor the Otago Central railway has been misappropriated and spent by previous Governments in other parts of the colony, this railway has special claims to exceptionally favourable treatment at the present time.

"3. That the Crown land to be benefited by the construction of the railway is admitted to be the largest and most valuable Crown estate in the colony, and now appears to yield half the total amount of the pastoral rents collected throughout New Zealand, and that the continuation of the line would, by means of settlement, improve the value of the estate to an extent much greater than would be represented by the money required, and that such settlement is urgently demanded.

"4. That members of the House of Representatives, especially those returned by this provincial district, be called upon to do everything that lies in their power to compel arrangements being made this session for the permanent progress of the line."

A hearty round of applause followed the reading of the resolutions.

Mr J. T,. Mackkrras had much pleasure in moving tho resolutions which had been read. Mr Pyke in introducing, although not moving them, had referred to the exceptional position Otago occupied iv this matter. This Otago Central railway had been more unjustly treated than any railwt y which had been projected in New Zealand. — (Hear, hear.) He saw by the papers that day that some of the members of the deputation who had waited upon the Minister in reference to the work had been finding fault with the route. In 1877 the route was well considered. A committee of the House, consisting of the friends of all the proposed routes, had a large amount of evidence submitted to it, and eventually came to a unanimous decision in favour of the StrathTaieri route. It b seined strange, therefore, that at this late hour an Otago man should now raise an objection on this score. The argument which found the greatest weight with the committee was that by this route the line could be easily constructed, and it would open up the greatest quantity of lands in the bauds of the Crown. In advocating this line ever since its inception, he had always felt that its misfortune lay in the fact that the lands which were to be benefited by it were the lands of the people —

• not the lands of individuals who possessed influence that could be used in getting the work pushed on rapidly. — (Hear, hear.) That might not be the case, but it seemed so to him. The people of Otago had a serious wrong inflicted on them by the misappropriation of moneys borrowed, and voted by Parliament for the purpose of constructing the line. The moneys were not employed for the purpose for which they were borrowed, but had been utilised to develop other parts of New Zealand, — (Hear, hear.) They heard of tho progress made in the North Island — and they were all glad to note such progress — (applause)— but if a similar interest had been taken in opening up their own lands in Otago they should have had the same great developments here, and the magnificent estate which extended from the Strath-Taieri right to Hawea and Wanaka would be considerably settled by this time. He was glad that at last Otago, and the people of Otago, were unanimous on this question — the first time in the history of Otago that they were unanimous on any one given subject.— (Applause.) He hoped they would send such a voice to Wellington as would compel justice being done to Otago even at this late hour. — (Applause.) He had much pleasure in moving the resolutions.

Mr Robert Wilson seconded the resolutions without remark.

The Mayor asked if any gentlemen present wished to speak to tho resolutions, but as no one rose to address the meeting, he put the resolutions to the meeting, and they were unanimously adopted.

Mr A. Sligo moved — " That this meeting of the Otago Central Railway League does heartily approve and endorse tho resolutions now submitted to this meeting, and affirms that they will be entirely acceptable to the whole of the population of Otago. " The meeting would recognise at once that the resolution said nothing but what was absolutely true, and it might have some effect in enforcing the resolutions on the notice of their representatives in Parliament. He trusted tho effect of the agitation now going on would be sucli as to enable them to feel satisfied, and more than satisfied, that they had taken part iv the movement ; and most certainly the time had come when the people of Otago should take very strong measures and use very strong words, a& was said by Mr Pyke, in order to enforce justice being done to themselves. He recollected Die time in provincial politics when bo look a considerable part in the discussion of the abolition question and the carrying of that piopos.il into effect, and ho was pleased to hear Mr Pyke refer to the fact that had they had the sense to stick to the provincial revenues when they had them they would not now be in the miserable position of having to go to a central body and a&k a Ministry for something that might have been secured without their aid. — (Hear, hear.) m

Mr J. Neii. seconded the motion without remark.

Mr K. Ramsay asked if it was necessary the meeting should be called upon to endorse their own resolution.

The Mayor replied that he did not know that it was altogether necessary, but he did not see it could do any harm. Mr Pyke said the motion was really a supplementary confirmation. Mr Sligo remarked that they not only expressed their own opinion iv the motion, but also the opinion of the people of Otago generally. That was his reason for moving the resolution.

Mr Pyke added that, should the motion bo carried, he was sure they expressed the opinion of the people outside Dunedin, and those inside too. For 20 years past the people up-country had been trying, but had failed, to obtain ustice in this matter.

The motion was carried nem. dis,

Mr Barron said he would like to explain that the meeting had been hurriedly called as a result of the interview which had taken place between their representatives and the Government. The resolutions, too, were hurriedly drafted that morning, and it was found to be almost impossible to make arrangements for' gentlemen to propose and second eachresolution ; but as the meeting was a meeting of the league, they thought it would be all right if proposers and seconders came forward on the spur of the moment in the meeting. If there had been more time to think over the matter there would have been more speeches, but there could riot possibly have been more unanimity than had been shown in the meeting. — (Applause.) The only other question now was whether they should have a public meeting to confirm the resolutions, or whether the chairman should transmit them to members of the House and the Government direct from the league. The people had already expressed their opinion, however, that they were altogether with the league on the question ; and that being so, it was not necessary that there should be a public meeting. The better plan, in his opinion, would be for the chairman to transmit copies of the resolutions to the Minister for Public Works and the members of the House.

Dr Fitchett said that there was no doubt about the expediency of the matter, but he would like to test the meeting to see how far they were in earnest. If strong words could complete the Otago Central railway, it would have been finished long ago ; but resolutions did not go far, as they all knew, and his own impression was that their resolutions,, strongly worded as they were, would go no further than those of the past. After all, this was ouly a question of pounds, shillings, and pence ; and the question for them to consider was, whether the claims of the Otago Central railway were so strong — not to their minds, which needed no convincing, but to the minds of the men iv the northern provinces, each of whom had lines in their own districts to engage their attention. For himself, he did not think they were. They were asking that a loan should be raised indirectly by hypothecating rents, and, further, that they should be given something out of the consolidated fund. And did they really think that Otago was going to get anything out of that fund while other representatives in Parliament had railways all over the colony, the claims of which were as strong in'theic eyeb as were the claims of the Otago Central to the representatives of the districts which that railway concerned ? If the league did not look further alield they would not do much. The league should face the contingency ot the present proposals not being carried out. The idea that they should float a loau was very unpopular, but he was going to tes>t the earnestness of friends of the Hue by proposing — "That, iv the event of no funds being otherwise available, the league recommend the floating of a special railway loau to carry the OLago Central and other lines to suitable points." They might talk as they liked, but they would not do anything with the House unless they met the claims represented by other members ; and they might speak until they were black in the. face about the necessity for the work, bul> if they did not concede the claims of other members their endeavours to gain their own ends would be useless.

Mr C. S. Rkeves : You are quite right. Mr Barron suggested that the resolution proposed by Dr Fitchett should not be seconded. He (the speaker) did this at the

risk of putting himself out of order, but tho object of tho leaguo was to advocate the carrying out of the work, and not to dictate to tho Government how this should be done. Hitherto there had been entire unanimity prevailing amongst them ; if the motion proposecVby Dr Fitchett were carried it might have- the effect of creating little differences which eventually would do a lot of harm.

It was suggested that tho mover be asked to withdraw his motion, but this he declined to do. Mr Pyke moved that it be not considered. They did not want to go to the London market for the amount . that was required to carry out the work. What did the Government do with the trust funds ? They lent them out. They lent them to the Oamaru Harbour Board — (laughter) ; — that was a good investment. They lont them out for public works in other parts of the colony, and why should they not be lent out for the carrying out of this work ? Ho moved that the matter be not considered.

The motion of Dr Fitchett lapsed for the want of a seconder. The meeting then terminated.