OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY LEAGUE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2375, 7 September 1899, Page 15

OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY LEAGUE.

A meeting of the. executive of the Otago Central Railway League was held at the Chamber of Commerce on Monday night, ana attended by Messrs A. Bathgate (chairman), J. Carroll, J. Jolly, jun., W. Barron, A. C. Stronach, T. Brown, T. W. Kempthorne, J. Hislop, and G. Howden. Apologies for non-attendance were received from Messrs R. Chisholm, J. Moloney, and T. K. Harty. Mr M. J. Scobie Mackenzie, M.H.R., wrote: "I have the honour to acknow l edge your letter of the Bth inst., oovering resolution of the executive of your league recommending that for the future railway moneys should be vested in trustees for expenditure. I shall, of course, convey your resolution to the Government, but you are no doubt aware that no Government would submit to such a thing. Being a non-political body, I am sure the object of the league in passing the resolution was not to furnish the Opposition with a no-confidence motion of the most radical character. But the resolution is admirably adapted to suit that purpose." ' Mr A. Sligo, M.H.R., wrote: "I am heartily in accord with the resolution of the league anent vesting money to be borrowed in trustees, to be devoted to the special works for which it is proposed to be borrowed.^ I shall be ready and willing to aid in imposing such a condition, but honestly I do not believe there will be any chance of securing the desiderated purpose. This Government is not built that way, I fear." Mr J. A. Millar, M.H.R., wrote: Tour favour of Bth inst. duly to hand, and the matter mentioned therein will receive consideration when the Loan Bill is before the House, but at present I cannot say I agree with the suggestion." (i The Secretary for the Premier wrote: I am directed by the Premier to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the Bth inst., forwarding a resolution passed by the executive of your league expressive of an opinion that the portion of the loan contemplated for railway construction should be vested in trustees for the special works for which the money has been borrowed, and to say that the matter shall receive his consideration." The Chairman said the only matter he wished to bring under the notice of the meeting was the attitude taken up by Mr Millar with reference to the railway. They would have observed from the papers that Mr Millar bad given no uncertain sound regarding it, and he (the chairman) had no doubt that they were all very glad to see that, because a man in Mr Millar's position— he being a supporter of the Government — had much more weight and influence than a member of the Opposition. If members who were Government supporters had adopted a similar attitude to Mr Millar, the position of the railway would have been very different to-day. He thought the executive ought to pass a resolution thanking Mr Millar for what he had done. Mr Barron said he noticed that' Mr Mirir, who purported to speak on behalf of working men, had communicated with Mr Millar, * asking him if Mb relations with the Government were strained, and Mr Millar replied that it was all imagination. Mr Millar had spoken some wholesome truths to the Government, and if there was nothing in it, he (Mr Barron) did not know that the executive of the league should take any further notice of what Mr Millar had done. Mr Carroll thought they should not take notice of any private telegram, but should thank Mr Millar for the position, he had taken up in regard to the railway. Mr Hislop agreed with Mr Carroll. Mr Barron observed that Mr Millar had taken back all he had said. Mr Carroll : We ought to encourage the bold stand lie has taken, and let other members seen we have taken notice of it. I would take no notice of that telegram at all. Mr Kempthorne agreed with Mr Carroll and Mr Hislop. He did not think they should attach too much importance to the telegram. Mr Millar deserved their thanks, and they ought to record it. Mr Barron said if he had not read the telegram in question he would have agreed with Mr Kempthorne. Mr Jolly thought the meeting should take some decifive action in regard to the matter. He cordially endorsed everything Mr Barron had said. There was only one conclusion to come to with regard to the matter, and that was that Mr Millar's statement in the House with reference to the Otago Central railway was a pure piece of bluff.- When he made that statement he gave one the idea that he was going distinctly to oppose the Government for not prosecuting the line. Then when he was charged with it by the party he represented he gave a distinot denial to it. That the Government had not been proceeding with the line in the manner they ought to have done was shown by the amounts voted for. the line by Parliament, aud. fcbj» amount*

expended. During the period the Government had been in office £260,000 had been vcted, £185,989 6s had beer expended, and £77,905 10s had been allowed to lapse. He thought the figures clearly showed that Mr Millar's new-born zeal on behalf of the Otago Central railway was nothing more than mere bluff, and what he had done was simply done for the purpose of deceiving the electors. Whether , the electors would be deceived remained to be seen. The Otago Central had been grossly neglected, and he thought some very drastic resolution should be submitted to the members and t o the Government. The time was prat when, the league should be trifled with in the way they had been. Mr Carroll thought after what Mr Jolly had said, that there was no doubt that the leaprue would be looked upon as a semi-poli-tical league. If Mr Jolly had gone back the" 10 years previous to the time the Government came into office, he would have found that the lapsed votes were four times as much then as were for the period quoted by him. He never thought the league was such an important body as they were making it out to be, and if they passed drastic resolutions what effect would they have upon anybody? He thought they should appeal to members in a proper manner, and represent the injustice that had been done by not spending the money that had been voted on the line. The Chairman said he hardly thought justice had been done to Mr Millar in this matter. Those who were members of the executive in the early days of the league would remember that he would not commit himself to anything — in fact, he said he would do or say nothing that 'would embarrass the Government. The stand he took up in the House I recently, however, indicated a very different attitude to that whicfci he took up originally. Mr Millar's zeal was not new born, as Mr Jolly seemed to imagine, because during the last year or two he had expressed his dissatisfaction with the treatment of the line by the Government. At the last meeting of the league he also referred to this matter of lapsed voles, and said he was afraid that the -vote was not going to be all spent this year, and if it was not he would have something to say on the subject, or words to that effect. The I present position with regard to Mr Millar, he (the chairman) apprehended was this : Mr Millar having expressed himself strongly that if the railway did not receive favoiirable consideration at the hands of the Government he would have to reconsider his position with regard to the Ministry, the Trades and . Labour Council had apparently taken fright, j and thought that he was going to throw over j the Ministry altogether. But Mr Millar had I assured them that at present he had no intention of doing that. Mr Carroll : I don't know who Mr~Muir represents. Mr Jolly : The Premier's organisation. After further discussion, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr Barron, that the secretary be instructed to communicate with Mr H. E. Muir, chairman of the Liberal Labour Fede- . ration, saying that the executive of the league had under their consideration a speech of Mr Millar, M.H.R., as reported in this day's Dunedin newspapers, and were pleased to be able to acknowledge the way in which Mr Millar had vindicated the claims of the Otago Central Railway, and exposed the manner in which the vote 3 had been kept back from expenditure by the Government, but was sorry to observe from a telegram sent by Mr Muir, on behalf of the Liberal Labour Federation, that the action of Mr Millar had evidently not " met with the approval of that body. The league j hopes that, whatever political action might be taken by the organisation represented by Mt Muir, it- will not remain open to the charge of being careless as to the progress of the railway. It was also resolved, on the motion of Mr Carroll — "That the thanks of the executive be conveyed to Mr Millar for the speeoh on Friday in support of the Otago Central railway." ___________