OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY LEAGUE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2205, 4 June 1896, Page 30

OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY LEAGUE.

A meeting of the Executive' of the Otago Central Railway League wss held at Messrs Barr, Leary, and Co.'a office, Chamber of Commerce, on Monday night, when there were present : Messrs J. Carroll (in the chair), C. S. Beeves, A. Sligo, J. Jolly jun., A. Batbgate, GK L. Denniston, P. E. Sargood, and 11, Clark. Mr D. Pinkerton, M.H.R., was also in attendance. The Hon. W. Hall-Jones' wrote i "I am in receipt of your letter of the 6ba inst., forwarding copy of a resolution passed by your executive in reference to the Otago Central railway. I regret very much thst time prevented me from going further than Etveburn, but I hope at sonao future time to be able to impact the whole route." Mr ' Sargood gave an account of s recent vi&it to Central Otago. He said he was much struck by the great extent of fertile country in Central Otago. Fruit-growing was bound to be a very large industry there in time to come, but ; not until a better means of transit was obtainable. All growers will do well to study the question of drying and cinuing, &c, as< the present. form of carrying fruit and the time taken in transit was a source oE muoh curtailment of profits, and consequently retarded the industry, whereas all the surplus fruit could be dried, and would be independent of time for transit to Dunedin or' elsewhere. He was glad to ace that the Government had Bent round the district a duly qualified' expert with an evaporator, which should be' the means of* giving this * branch of the itdustry _a' start. He understood that experiments, made with sugar and saccharine in the bottling of fruit had resulted in the latter carrying off the palm. The fruit treated with saccharine bad kept its colour and the iyrup its clearness long after that treated with sugar had got pale and the syrup cloudy. This was a very essential matter in the sale of bottled fruits. Passing through Central Otago he could not bat be struok with this fact : whereever the eye rested there was evidence of milling in various stageg, and the acres and acres of tailings showed a marvellous amount of spent energy. Talkiug.to residents he fouad that prospects had been, found almost>any where between Wanaka and Middlemaroh — some hardly payable, others very rich in. both quartz and alluvul ; some in free gold, others in refractory ores. ' He was sati*flpd that when extraction of gold and gold-saving had become 1 a fine art — as it was gradually becoming — there was an immense future before Central Otago from a miniug point of view. Some people would say that mining operations spoiled the country, and that the tailings were of no use ; but he saw an orchard grown on tailings at an expenditure of £30 per acre, which was one of the finest orchards in the country and supporting one adult for every two acres under cultivation, and one adult for tvery 1| aorea in bearing. In the same orchard he saw clover growing as fine as any seen by him in any country he had beea in. So much for the. useless tailings. When sluicing was played out some process would be invented whereby the tailings would be mude to yield payable gold. Dredging was bound to be a big industry all up the Kawarau, Molyneux, Clutha, and Manuhtrikia, from Roxburgh to Wanaka and.St Bafchaus.. What was -most apparent in the mining industry was the want of a comtant water supply. Races were numerous, but the best means for conservation of the water where there was an ovtrsupply would be the work of engineers ; and this was imperative. Water must also be conserved for Irrigating the farms and orchards which would very soon be seen in all directions, a« t-oou as the railway is pnshod through to a i;s«ful point. .He visited several fiae, fauns, and was muoh pleased with the apparent prosperity evinced by the owners, as also by the standing crops and those- in stock. In speaking to a storekeeper about crops, he said he bad jaefc had a man in who was reaping and lvq-iuf-.d Jialf as much again of twine as he had previously used when- he took 35 bushels of wheat off his land, The. average all through seemed' to be 30 bushels of wheat and 35 t045 o£ oats. ■ And this without irrigation. What irrigation would do for such land it was hard to say. The least said about the wisdom of taking the railway via Middlemarch the better ; but it was there now and open to Hyde, and the embankment led five miles beyond Ryan's- Crossing. There .were several bridges to make to complete to this point, but the-e were being pushed on with. Once over thts Taieri; the country was level tight tip the Maniofeoto and Ida Valleys, and, according to a loo*) contractor, could be prepared for sleepers and rails at a cost of about £80 to £120 per mile. How far this might be true it was impossible for him to judge, not being a contraotdn He understood there were in February from 186 ,to 200 men at work on the line. There were, bub , two of all the people he spoke to who did not wish for the railway. All others were emphatic in their demands for immediate prosecution of the line. His own opinion was that the railway should be' pushed through- to Hawea on tbe system being largely adopted in England in the agricultural districts, and also in parts of America and the Coutintnt — viz , the light railway, where speed was not an essential. Heavy rails and ballast could, to a largo extent, be dispensed with, and instead of. a line costing £3000 to £5000 per mile, it would only cost £800 to £1200, according to the nature of the ground over which it traversed. Such a line would last Central Otago for very many sears, and as revenue and increased settlement went on by degrees the line could be completed in a more substantial method. This was a phase of the question that he thought the league might well take into consideration. Mr Pinkerton said it had'been suggested by several settlers in Central Otago that l a light line should be constructed from Eweburn further on. Mr Jollt said what the league wanted to do was to direct attention to the importance of constructing the line in any way. Their membora in Parliament, instead of giving this work their support, and using every effort to get the line pushed on, had been doing all they could to retard the progress of the line. If th« people of Otago only got bare justice there would be no caupe to complain ; but he would like to call' attention to the amounts appropriated' for the Hue and to the amounts expended during the last five years. The amount appropriated was' £l2s,ooo. During the same period £186,000 was authorised, and £92,294- had been expended. The lapsed vota during tbe period was about, £41,705, and if they took the authorised vote in connection with that it meant no less a sum than £80,000. This yeac £25,000 was voted, and there was an. authorisation of £50,000; and if the same amount was spent as in previous years it would bring the grand' total up to £100,000 at the end of next Juno. He thought that Otago and her interests had been grossly neglected by the present Government, and that was a matter that should be brought out prominently before next election. The Chairman said he did, not think he was assuming too much when he said tbrt it was hardly. f»jr e £ Kb Jolly

to confine himself to -the last fire yews, If that gentlemsn went further back he would find that the railway had been infinitely worse treated before the last five years. Not so much as the league would like had been obtained of late yearn, but they had got a larger amount in proportion to what was placed on the Estimates than iv days gone by. Mr Bathgate said what they had to blame was not any particular Government, but really the people of Otago, and the people of Dunedin particularly. These had been so apathetic over this line — mainly on account of their ignorance as to the large extent of valuable country in the interior — that Governments had been almost induced to neglect it. The speaker also referred to Central Otago as a splendid fruit-growing country, and said there would be a large population supported there some day by the fruitgrowing industry. Mr Denniston stated that excellent wheat could be grown in Central Otago as well as very fine fruit. He thought no batter wheat crops could be grown anywhere in the world than in some parts of Central Otago, while some of the fruit was marvellous for size and quality. Mr Reeves thought there was no use in reviewing the past iv regard to the construction of the railway. It was a pity that Mr Jolly had condemned our members and the Government, as it was well known that the present Government had absolutely done mure for the line than any previous Government. He was also satisfied that our members hid done as' - muoh for the Hue as any other men could have' done. With regard to the route of the line, it must be admitted that the railway had been constructed through very rough country ; but that country would some day be the wealthiest part of Otago. Gold fields and reefs- would be worked, and there would be thousands of people settled there: Mr Sligo said Mr Jolly had spoken of the defaults of the present Government, but he did not contrast their action with past Governments. The Railway League was not created for the purpose of thi owing mud at past Governments or the present Government, but for the express purpose of as far as possible obtaining justice for Otago and ge^tiug the money spent in conuecbion with the railway that Parliament voted. He did not care one straw whether it was the fault of the present Government or past Governments that justice had' not been obtained, but he thought it was the duty of our members, as far as possible, to see that the will of Parliament was complied with ; and it was alro the duty of the league to see that that was done. He did not join with Mr Jolly in condemning- the whole of our membera tor what they had done. He moved — " That Mr Sargood be accorded a hearty vote of thanks for tho account of his .tour, and that the executive express their gratification at hearing that the Government have an expert in Central Otago instructing fruit-growers how to preserve fruit, but think that the Government should sse that the line is the complement of that, and that tha one without the other is useless." The motion on being put was carried unanii monsly. It was also resolved, on the motion of Mr Sligo — " That in view of the expression of opinion by Mr Sargood, the Executive of the Otago Central Rut way League strongly urges upon looaL members of Parliament tbe advisability of advocating and enforcing the claims of the railway, and suggesting to the Government that when the line reaches the p)a<n a lighter line should be constructed at less expense." The motion was agreed to. Mr Pinjcerxon said he intended to mention the matter to the Government, and had come to the 1 meeting that night for tho purpose of getting an expression of opinion from the Executive as to the desirability of constructing a light line of railway from Eweburn. As for blaming members of the House for their action in connection with the railway, that was simply a bit of electioneering, and he could' pass it over. Mr' Jolly said, when speaking of members of Parliament, he did not include the whols of them.