OTAGO CENTERAL, RAILWAY LEAGUE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 29

OTAGO CENTERAL, RAILWAY LEAGUE.

The adjourned annual meeting of the Otago Centra! Railway League was hold in the- Town Hall on Fuday afternoon, when the Mayor (Mi .7. A. Park), presided. The following gentlemen weie present. M<v?«r« R. OhUholm. U L. Dennifcton, A. Hath;jj*e, "K. Melland, J. Mitchell, P. R. Bargood, \V. Burnett. A C. Strouach, J Hutchison, C. W. Rattray, L. Kemnitz, A. Ban on, R M. Clark. L. Gard, H. Spier-, R. W. Black, A Tapper, W. A Wathen. W. Karn^haw. J. Reid, T. Steele, W. Feh. — M'George. L. WiUou, J. F. Arnold, M H.R , and H. C Campbell (secretary) . The Chairman said that the meeting of citizen?, as they would noticr. was au adjourned one from Monday, the 21st. It was thought by those present at that meeting that the attendance was too small to discuss, adopt, and pasn the annual report and balance fheef The night was a disagreeable ono, and the importance of the meeting may have, be-on overlooked. He wa-s glad to find tliat the adjournment had enabled many more to be present. The report 1 re°< ntud that e\ piling by tho exfm tive fully explained the position of tho progreto of the r.vlwaj liom the fatart The oommen lal community had pievioiisly acknowledged that the completion of this railway wi.uld bo ->f great btnefit to the city as well as 10 tho r onntry di"-tr.f t-, and on that account -.hould continue to nip port tho executive with greater enthinia-m than heretofore. In the Noith Inland all ( lf.i?=Ps vf.cni"d to combine and agitate in the dirrct'on <>l pushing the (Jovornment on, and kept the completion of their main trunk line continually before the Government. Further di-cu-Mon nn tiic rcpoit was in\itod.

Mr W FnwnPtt. a* sooomlcv nf the motion for the adoption ot tho report, said the report went ful'y into the affairs of the league, and purposely, ai they felt the league had been <-o long 111 exi'tetue that it was only right to lay be-fore- ihe ( itizene what they had done. From the repot t it would be seen that the work was authorised in 1878, and supposed to eo^t £1,100,000 It was to be finished in 1884—18 years ago. For the delay that had endued 1 litre must be a reason, ajid this was, in hi- opinion, undoubtedly the sy-tem under whu h tho. line waa being eon~tiucted. Tina system was most unfair to the engineeie in charge of the work. They ne\e-r knew whether they were going to lay down work for 700 or for 70 men. The system was most unfair to the general taxpayer, but above all it was most unfair to those men who, some 25 years ago, took up farms in Central Otago under the express promise that they would have means by Which their jproduce could be brought to market, and this promise had been falsified. Some years ago he had gone up the Otago Central with Mr Barron, and after that occasion he took told Mr Seddon that the inhabitants of Central Otago had been moi?t unfaiily treated, which he did not like. But long experience had only confirmed that exprc = eion of opinion. The league hpd boon called all sorts of names. They had been called "floiitk&l bi&hwAYjacnj." Sfcfc But tiiey

did not mind these hard names. They had carried on the work for 11 years, and meant to carry it on still. To give some proof of the work required, two years ago he was at Hawea, and there saw an unfortunate farmer with 14 stacks of wheat avtch as could not be grown on the coast It had been lying in the pacldoelc two or three years, and the unfortunate farmer had been going about asking his neighbours to buy his wheat as a favour at a shilling a bushel, and he could not cell it at that because it was impossible to bring it down to town and make a profit even at that price. The league had done its best in the past, and hoped to do go in the future. — (Applause.)

Mr C. W. Rattray said he felt an apology was due for the absence of any representative of the Chamber of Commerce at tho mee-ting the other evening. The advertise ment had not been noticed, but he could assure the executive that there was no want of appreciation on the part of'the chamber of the work which had bepn done by the league. — (Hear, hear.) The chamber was extremely fortunate in having gentlemen in the city to take up this work, which otherwise would fall to a committee of the chamber, and might not be so well done. He sincerely hoped Mr Bathgate would be induced to withdraw the resolution he had given notice- to move. Seeing that the Government wcro proposing to borrow £1,750,00 C, the present was a time when any individual who had a stakp in Otago slioukl assist in ev-ery way to seenre a fair share at least of the money that was to bo spent by the Government Mr P. R. Sargood expressed tho opinion that city and country mcnifcers should be impressed with tho fart that ifc lay very much in their hand* to secure a proper share of publio works expenditure in this district. If tli° league could suggest any means of bringing members more into touch with each other it might eventuate in a more equable cvpenditura of money. The Secretary here read the following telegram from Mr H. F. Necs, a member of the executn c who is at present on th." 1 West Const: — "Regret unable to be present Cential League; consider disbandmeiit would be bevere blow to progress of line, but fit reward for public lack of interest." A letter was also read from Mr C. Turnbull (N.Z.Ij. and M.A. Company), expressing great regret at the prospect of the league being disbanded, and emphasising the importance- of proceeding with tho line. The report was then put to the meeting and adopted. The Mayor then asked if Mr Batligate desired to proceed with his motion. Mr Bathgate said that in view of Mr Rattray's remarks and the -e\ident feeling of the me-eting on the subject, he would ask ]pavo to withdraw the motion — {Applmiee ) Mr W. Barron then proposed the following executive for the ensuing year : — Mc-ssrs A. Bathgate, W. Barron, G. Howden, A. C. Stronach, T. W. Kempthome, ! J. Jolly, jun.. T. Brown, W. Burnett, W. Tonkin, P. R. Sargood. M'George, W. Fels, W. Earnshaw, L. Garde, T. Steel, C. W. Rattray, and H. F. Nees.

The above-named gentlemen were unani mously elected.

Mr Karnshaw said that th», executive would be absolutely useless unless they were backed up by public opinion. In the North Island public opinion was alive from Auckland to Wellington, so far as the necessities of the country were concerned. Supported by publio opinion their members were enabled to bring pressure to bear on Ministers to get substantial votes for their lines. That same pressure caused the votes to be expended in a very different manner from the way they were expended here. Members were practically helples 1 ; unless there were strong public interest and activity behind them. The Canterbury members did not look too favourably on the Otago Central, and all their interest was bestowed on the Ea,»t and West Coast line.

Mr 11. S. Black said that as one who used the Otatjo Central lino he was sure that if the league disbanded now they would make themselves the laughing stock of the people of Otago. There was a lot of money spent last year, and a lot of money wasted. Much more would lx* required, and i 4 would take a good deal of presmiro to get it.

Mr J. F. Arnold, M.H.R., said there could be no doubt that Mr Earnshaw was right in the way ho had put the matter. There was great apathy not only among the people of Otago, but among rn'mbfii of the league. Ho was g!ad to see that; the attendance that afternoon augured well for the future of the league; but lie could fay that if a similar meeting had been called in Auckland it would have been attended by 200 or 300 business men. (>t.i^o member* had to face Ihe fact that the annual meeting of the league had lapsed for want of a quorum. If they wanted to get the Otacjo Cential or the Catlins hue pushed on the members uvu-l be supported by the enthusiasm of the people in Otago. The time was past to talk about the nece-,-sity for tho Otjgo Central railway: iheip wax mi longer any disputing of thai point. He would. liowe\er. point out tins fact: Although there had been a great deal of apathy about the mattei duiiiief the !a^t few years the votes had born latter, and a cheater proportion had been expended out of jadi \ote. If they got £100.000 voted that wa« «s miuh as rould lie expected; hut if it was \otod they had a li^ht to demand that it 'liould he expended. — (Hear, hear ) He could a^'-ure the league that ilie member- would do their bo-t to gef the line pn«l>cd on. In Wellington they heard about the North I-land Trunk line e\er> day, and the Midland railway e\eiy two or thiee dav~, but one only heard alxmt the Otagn Central when tomebodv stepped on the Otago members' 1 orr-. (Applause.)

The Mayor =ugffe=t«Ml that the league should make their public meeting a halfyearly one in-tead of an aniiM.il one, and lie thought this would keep its woik m >re in the publ.c e}C.

Mi Eamsliaw sug?e=to'l that a pifblif meeting should be called if. when t!ie E-ti mates appeared, the vote was inadequate.

Mr Eathgatc, on behalf of the- e\<-(uti\e. said he thought both suggestions were good ones, and they would be eon.-idered at the first meeting of the new e\ecuti\<-

The meeting then terminated with a vote of thank* to the Mayoi for presiding

Teu ypaiN ago a baker in JLinroliish.rp died, ami the estate 3-iuldod only 6s 7<l in the pound to creditors. Two dauphtcr*-. who succeeded to the bu-mp-.*, determine! to pay everyone of thorn in full, and ha"p at length suoreedod in accompl'.-hing their self-appointed task. The gratified creditors have Riven them £60 as a to-timomul in recognition of their high sense of toiiime ual honour.

When you a=k for TUSSICURA. =Ec that X4U get it. It J8 *bflolute& jaiaUibiCj