RAILWAY AND IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE.

Southland Times, Issue 1888, 1 April 1874, Page 3

RAILWAY AND IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE.

' of the above Committee was •held in the 'Council Hall, Kelvin street, op Monday evening. The meeting was "• well attended, and in introducing the business to be dealt with, the chairman, Jilr John W. Mitchell, said that a few the Superintendent informed him that 150. immigrants would be" sent ' to_ invercargill, but" only about the half. of that number had actually arrived. Large numbers of immigrants were constantly arriving at Port Chalmers, but not on© had yet been brought direct to the Bluff, although this was one of. the main conditions of the re-union. Seeing that this stipulation had been so grossly violated, it behoved the Committee to consider what steps should be taken, even though it should be to call an indignation meeting to compel the Government to do them justice. Then there was the Winton-Kingston railway. It would certainly be a good thing if the . Government could, be got to. carty, on that work,, but the consideration of the • scarcity of labor and the harvest season '■'•" 'v i^»U'pei?haßi : '-'causedthe-'auth6ritiea to act' M they, had done. With regard to the Jiew public buildings of Invercargill, the , question was just where they had left it pefore. -The sub-committee appointed to enquire ' into the matter had received I 'telegrams to the effect , that recent tenders had been so much in exr c»B8 of Mr, Clayton's, estimate • that „it was. thojignt,.it -would be better not to go on with the buildings till next 'session^ of ' -Assembly, when the matter r; "wbijild no doubt be finallj settle^,; and ~ "fEe vote pf^sQpD foy Inverpargill given ->^ 3 effect ibl' !i The 7 Committee 'would also have to consider the .insufficiency of V f:H ¥Kaff ' accommodation } at.i;he' Bfuff. A 'J^jle^^mjMr; ''%'&* SmitS to" the jCan*. „ , ■ mittee, concerning a railway: landing stage • or platform opposite Long >Bushy would probably require to be considered.J fie ! r fthe chairflSiafi)~might observe before 'Brewing ddwh' that a' "telegram . bad ! been >*& afternoon .front li/Lr Clayton, the "Coldmal^iSjfchitec^ enquiring about; £Ec qualify of bricks in Tnvercargill j; "anT be thoii|[K<?tfta^ augrfred well for the prtf- :i jected. public" buiHings in In vercargill.^ , •? ■:- Mr Cutb^bCTtsoii explainetl 4hat ith'ere was a differeiice" between the price of ;, ,^\ blnckß at Wellington a%d"lnvef cargi^l, and ! 6t.y^po^i k^ n P n 9® *^ question. He had taken steps t6i bring ■ : thata differi.ience under, the notice of 'the Governbent. Mr MqArthur then moved—'-. That for \Vt'Bf». j 'i>u l rpo^e. of -facilitafing the \develop- " of the resources of this district, and savuYg buF"valuaMe_forests for more important purposes than mere firewood, it i8 4 desirabie;ihat access by railway to our coalfields Bhould be obtained with, as little delay as may be consistent with the construction 'of kuch works; and that the committee regrets the Government did jiot include the Nightcaps, coalfield in the southern district railway scheme." The -„: ii: motion was seconded by Mr K. MTvor, „ and opposed by Messrs M'Ewan, Matthews, and Cuthbertson, on the ground that it 'might prejudice the railways : already advertised for the Western distiaitt. Mr Boss thought that the motion had "tjeen brought forward at the Wrong time, and he would therefore move " that the consideration of Mr' Me Arthur's be taken up- after acceptance of the tenders for .' the railways about to be constructed in the Western district." J The motion was seconded by Mr Scandrett, ; , and^arriefl. : , ..;.. ...,.,, In reference, to a memorial (which hadbeen .previously mentioned) from settlers' Western district to* His Honor the Superintendent, urging the necessity ~^6^c6natmcting^<ierVi.iii bridges on the j direct route ff6tn that district toWinton, ! V and expressing a regret thattheWintonNightcap railway had not been undertaken as well as the Eiverton-Otautau and other Western lines, Mr Cuthbertson j -said, that if there was anything in that memorial calculated to throw cold water . on the immediate commencement of the .-.'. Southland railway v ßcheme c ias ! it npw. existed, or which .tended too urge delay, for the purpose-of substituting a more. - -~. enlargeii «cbe^epit-was -I^b#depreciatea.' It was quite i pj6ssible' to conceive %££ representations Sight haye t been made ; tb „ *^? '^®?S^(y® y^^J^^ yl^w. He did" "', npr u eyenj in^i^ujiit^, ; that jauch J haii been the case^ Jbut they were njot in a position; to mow 'wjiether or, not it had 1 J b«en so, ['l o*'. whether,^hatmemoriai had 3* 1 J inythmg^ h>6 do witlh- -^bte' extension of time lately granted for tendering for the wi j ; ' Mr' M'Ewatf then moved-r" That this,' , .: Committee,, will learn, with satisfaction v; that tenders for the construction iof the - ' western railways -have been accepted,,' and _ that a, copy <?f this be ! forH 41*^3 I^^^Hon^r'^h^^ " •"Bf telSgraph." . Tlie motion,: whichj was seconded '. by Mr ■ Cuthbertson, and sup- : 2; ported by Mr Matthews, was carried. ~ "Mr Ross. ..moved, and Mr M'Ewan — seconded, -That the chairman- telegraph y tp,;the Premier to ascertain whether j the "William Davie is or is not coming' to the j Bluff." ' The motion was carried. j It was stated that the inhabitants of Queenstown were going to agitate, ; calling a public meeting, in order to urge -the Government to proceed with the" , .Winton-Kingston railway. .- In reference ' ?to this subject, Mr Cuthbertson said :.-{ T that he believed that, the great scarcity of labor in the southern; districts ihad caused the 'Government to withhold that aection. of railway from the. market. ': He ; believed the work would be taken up "before the next meeting of Assembly; - — bufc BtiH it-would be good to co-operate it -■''. with the .Queenstown people"" in*- pushing :i^ii'ttbe matter onV Accordingly 1 he : wotild • ''■'■-^mdVe— "'That' the" chairman be requested: to communicate by f telegram to jthe: l^or^Queenettown, in view of ; the ■ meeting^shortly to be held on the .Aiof^thigf/committe© that : the Government - v l ,Bh6uia : pußh forward the ;; con|tructioh of the Wintoil^KingstOn line 'with all pos-

r sible despatch,:, and the willingness 0} this Committee to co-operate with the inhabitants: of Queenstdwn for this pur- » pose." , The motion was seconded by Mr Scani drett, who read the following railway » statistics to prove relatively the desir- , ability of pmreeding with the construer tion of the "Winton-Kingston line : — 1 BLTTF* HARBOR AND INVEECARGILL RAILWAY. ' No. of Passengers. Tons of Goorls. > 1872. 1873. 1872. 1873. January ... 1942 1799 1397 4230 February ... 1658 1524 870 1478 . March 1093 1566 1259 4323 ' AprU 1312 1699 4407 293-2 ' May ... ... 930 1533 1666 2293 > June 961 1387 1282 1686 July 850 1369 1447 2032 August... ... 987 1678 1249 1863 September ... 1120 1774 1458 2135 October ... 1257 1964 2768 2545 November "... 1705 2842 2001 2641 December ... 2217 3186 1025 3068 16,032 22,321 21,059 31,231 The motion was carried. > The subject of immigration was next considered. Mr Ross said that the few immigrants who had been sent to Southland were all bachelors, and married people. Servant girls were deplorably scarce at Inyercargill, but the Government had sent no single females. He would therefore, move—*' That the Superintendent be asked to forward as many female servants from . Dunedin to invercargill as possible." The potion was seconded by Mr Wilkinson, and supported by Mi* Matthews^ who said that; Southland ' never" had got, (i and never would get^j fair__ "play in" the matter of 'immigration. It had joined; its b^ig brother, Otago, and its big brother. licked it,* i and did just as he liked. The motion was 1 carried. _'\ . ' ' '. ' '' ' \'' [ : y*j '■ Mr Wilkinson saicf that the accommodation for married people at the barracks was .of a very insufficient character, and as he thought it was competent for. the ;Com-, .mittee to deal with the ! subject, Jie would move W ,that the chairman., and AJCessrs .M'Arthur and {Wilkinson -be appointed a sub-committee to inspect the immigration .barracks j attd/if necessary, to draw the attention of the Superintendent id the' desirability or improving' the accjommodation there provided for the married people." ,-Mi? Rq9s seconded the .motion, which carried. .^ . ..'... j ' The immigration in general was considered, an,d the^ Chairman jasked 'if it would—not be well to express themselves . • more =■ strongly : than they had hjthe*fr(r~~ done. It was, no doubt a heartless' task to. remonstrate^ with a Government wnich gave nothing but promises. : Mr Matthews' spoke at considerable length in favor of cabling an indignation meeting of town and country settlers. The farmers, he said, had never expressed themselves, on the, subject, and a meeting like the one which ne advocated would giye -them an opportunity of doing so. Mr Cuthbertsdn' said that they could scarcely express themselves too strongly about the way in which they had been treated in the matter of immigration ; but he thought it would be as well, to defer the consideration of a public meeting till it was ascertained whether or not the William Davie was coming to the Bluff. The matter was accordingly allowed to drop. _ The . insufficiency of the wharf accommodation at the Bluff and for the railway traffic were next referred to, and Mr Mbffeit moved " that the Government be memorialised to run three railway trains to and from the Bluff to Invercargill, and two from invercargill to Win ton and. back daily— this being the only way of -meeting the -requirements of- the increasing traffic;, until aT^greater number of trucks, .are placed, on, the line ; arid that acommittee W'appointed ■ to carry out the resolution ; "said committee to consist of Messrs Martin, Pratt, M'Arthur, Rose, M'lvor, ,J r H. Smith, and. the mover; the committee also to. draw attention to the fact that the accommodation at the Bluff is wholly inadequate to the requirements ; of the shipping of the port." The motion was seconded by lilr McArthur, and supported .Jby } Mr. Cuthbertscin^ who said- . .that through the insane par&unpny ,of the . Provincial Government there* was neither : a. sufficient number of officials, men, nor /t'^up^s on^jifio" 1 Southland . railways. The ,3iffe]re^c'o J&tw.een the present- syste" ni and' a more-liberal- one was, just the difference "between stagnation and" . prosperity/ • The nioti6nu-wa^ carried. '' '. In reference to the letter from Long rßu'sli, about a platform at thkt"place| the matter -was left' in .'.the I hands of the chairman; who' Would My th ! e case before Mr Conyers.' . .. . .. - r i There . .wajj ,no , other .business of, importance;. WansafeW, .and the meeting terminated' .with ji vote of thanks to the chairman. \ LUOiM n...v ... ..= .. » - ■■■■I