THE OTAGO CENTRAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2360, 18 May 1899, Page 25

THE OTAGO CENTRAL.

{THE DREDGING INDUSTRY AND THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY.

(Daily Times, May 10.) By a happy chance our issue yesterday contained the returns of the export of gold from the colony during the month of April and also the report of a meeting of the executive of the Otago Central Railway League, at which it was agreed ,to represent to the Government that the construction of the Central railway as far, at least, as Alexandra had been rendered increasingly urgent through ■the -development of the dredging industry. The returns of gold export furnish a very substantial argument in favour of the vigorous prosecution of the line .for some distance beyond its present .terminus at Ranfurly. During the month •of April alone the value of the gold •won from the goldfields of Otago that was entered for export was £61,750, , two-thirds of which may probably be assumed to have been the product of the dredges that are now at work on the "Molyneux and its tributaries. .This sum is actually greater by £49,694 than the . value of the gold obtained in Otago in the month of April last year, and the probabilities are that the returns will continue to increase, for the dredging industry is as yet in its infancy. It is but as a thing of yesterday, and with the larger dredges and more complete ' appliances that are ■ now being put on . the rivers and alluvial flats it is confidently to be believed that still better results will be attained than have hitherto been" realised: With the mineral wealth which Central Otago is showing that she is capable of producing the Railway League would he neglectful of its functions if it did not urge the claims of the Otago Central line for a more generous allocation of the public funds than it has received for several years past. Moreover, the number of agricultural and pastoral settlers whom the line will serve is .steadiiy increasing. The ' meed of the settlers for the means of rapid communication with the markets lias' hitherto been pleaded somewhat in- - effectually, but. now. that the interior of Otago has proved to be a great goldproducing" as well as a grain-grow-ing and wool-producing district its claims for a vigorous prosecution t>f the railway, the construction of which • is now being conducted in the most leisurely manner, may fairly be advanced with much greater insistence than in the past. The executive of the Railway League suggests that the line should be completed to Alexandra within the present financial year, and there can be no doubt that if that were done it would be of considerable assistance to the dredging industry. Mr ' Hallenstein is, howeveryinclined to the opinion that this is a suggestion of too modest' a character, and accordingly he has given notice of his intention to move at the annual meeting of the league that the Government be requested to obtain parliamentary sanction for a special loan, to be devoted to this special undertaking and no other, sufficient to complete the line to Lake Wanaka. Mr Hallenstein is a more sanguine man even than we took him to bo if ho imagines that there is the faintest possibility of Parliament agreeing to authorise a loan for the Otago Central railway alone. The Northern members' would, at once insist that the North Island Trunk line should have its loan as well. That line is one of. as great national importance as the Otago Central line, and it is impossible to deny its claims to consideration. The Canterbury and Westland members, too, would probably be up in arms at the suggestion of the Otago Central railway obtaining a loan expenditure to the exclusion of the Midland line, and various smaller undertakings would be pressed closely upon the attention of the Government by interested members. If • there is to be a loan for the Otago Central there must be a loan for at least all the lines which are at present in course of construction. It is perfectly idle to suppose that the members of Parliament from north, east, and west would permit an Otago Central Railway Loan Bill to pass while the construction of the North Island Trunk line and the Midland line was to be continued out of surplus revenues. No Government could be strong enough to withstand the pressure that would be brought to bear upon it in Parliament to include these two large works in the schedule of any Bill to provide for the borrowing of money for the purposes of railway construction. There must either be a huge borrowing scheme in which the three iheavy railway undertakings, and perhaps several smaller ones, will share, or there must he none at all. Even if Mr HalIfinsfcein's wishes were, fulfilled and a loan

j were authorised >the proceeds of which should be devoted to the Otago Central railway to the exclusion of all others, it does not follow that the whole of the loan would be expended on this line. Our experience in the past has shown that even where fujrds are ear-marked for a particular purpose they may be diverted to other uses. In 1882, when the three million loan was authorised, £300,000 was scheduled for the Otago Central railway, but it is a matter of history that a large porporfcion of this sum was filched from Otago and improperly diverted to other purposes. There is, however, not the most remote likelihood of any proposal being entertained which would have for its object the borrowing of money for the completion of the Otago Central line irre*pective of any other, and we need not discuss the question of the probable destination of ear-marked funds. There must be a general loan or none at all : that is the position which Mr Hallenstein must face. For ourselves, we have never sought to disguise our opposition to a plunging, squandering policy- of borrowing, and much though we deplore the snails-pace rate of progress at which the Otago Central railway is being constructed, we believe that it is on the whole preferable to endure that evil than to have the colony enter upon a huge borrowing scheme in which provision would almost inevitably be made for political railways and railways of doubtful profitableness as well as for the more legitimate undertakings. The gross public debt of the colony on the 31st March, 1898, was £44,963,424, and on the same date the net indebtedness per head of the European population was £61 9s. The burden of taxation which the colony has to bear in consequence of this indebtedness is sufficiently heavy at the present time without our wantonly increasing it by declaring for a large borrowing scheme for public works, some of which would not improbably be incapable of yielding interest on the cost of construction. We trust that the Otago Central Railway League will hesitate before it joins in a cry for borrowed millions. We think, however, that it has strong justification for urging that a more liberal appropriation should ba made for the line than it has been receiving. There are incalculable possibilities of traffic for the railway. The department has apparently not yet realised this, and will not realise it, perhaps, until the line has been completed to Alexandra. When that point is reached the Otago Central may be expected to prove a thoroughly profitable work. Alexandra is the goal which the Railway League should, at least, strive to attain within the next couple of years, for it is unlikely that it can be reached within a year. Still, there are only 58 miles separating Alexandra from the present terminus at Ranfurly, and for nearly the whole of that distance the work of construction, will be comparatively easy. There will be a troublesome three miles at Poolburn Gorge, and again the work will be difficult for two or three miles at Tiger Hill, but with these exceptions the formation presents no difficulties before Alexandra is reached. When the train is running through to that point the mining industry, which is being seriously handicapped at the present time through the costliness of. the carriage of machinery and ironwork to the interior, will for the first time be sensibly benefited by the construction of the line, and a large tract of valuable pastoral and agricultural land will have been tapped. -