THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1413, 3 November 1885, Page 3

THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN.

( Continued). Now 1 must deal with the EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY. Some people seem to imagine that this was the first time that the East and West Coast and Nelson LI ail way was ever heard of in the House, It was nothing of the sort. Why the Nelson-Cobden railway was proposed to be made in 1868, before the public policy works at all. If you refer to the Statute Book, you will see that in 1868-69 there was passed the NelsonCobden Railway Act, which proposed to pay for the railway in this way : That it was to be paid for in land; that there was to be given 10,000 acres of land for each mile of railway, and that meant giving over 2,200,000 acres of land for the construction of that part of the line alone. People forget that. Well, when the railway policy was plotted out by the Colony, this was laid down as part of the scheme: that Cook Strait was to be connected with the the other parts of the Middle Island by railway. It was on the faith of that that the public works scheme was inaugurated, and the line was commenced from Nelson towards Fox hill, and that line was destined, it was said, to go to the West Coast. Then the other question came up of the East and West Coast railway. When Mr Macandrew brought down his public works proposals in 1878 he proposed that the East and West Coasts of the Middle Island should be connected by rail, and he proposed that that connection should take place by what was called the Walrau. But the line between Cook Strait and that line he did not definitely fix, although he provided for it. The way it was to be done was that the land was to be set aside in blocks, which were to be afterwards sold by the Government, We reserved that land in 1878, and it has been reserved ever since. The Hall-Atkinson Government, which succeeded the Grey Government, also wished the railway to go to the West Coast and to Cook Strait, and how did they propose to carry the railway to the West Coast 1 They proposed that it should go in the way proposed in Mr Macandrew’s Statement —via Wairau—and they gradually extended the railway from Christchurch towards Amberley and the Red Post ; and in order to make the railway in that direction, they spent no less than between £200,000 and £300,000. When the Hall Government came in, they got very frightened. They said : “ We cannot make any more railways. The Otago Central, the East and West Coast railway, the Wellington-Mauawatu, and Nelson-West Coast lines cannot be made.” They then passed an Act in 1881 which provided that these railways should be made by a system of land grants. The Wellington-Manawatu Company not only got land grants, but they got liberty to buy land from the Natives ; they got all the expenditure made by the Government on their line, and they were allowed to reclaim land in Wellington. Negotiations were also entered into for making the East and West Coast line, and when we took office these negotiations had not concluded. It was thought that certain other concessions might be given, and that was all that was given in 1884. I do not think the concession then given was much, and 1 will tell you why—because, although we increased the amount of land to be given from one-third to onehalf, we fixed the price at 10s per acre, and anyone who has gone through the Otira G rge would not feel inclined to give lOd an acre for the land. So that when we fixed the lowest price at 10s an acre, we did not give much advantage to this proposed company that was to construct the railway. Well, during the session we got a telegram saying that they could not float the railway unless the Government gave them a guarantee, and we at once took the House into our confidence, and told them of the proposals we had got from London, Now, in that there was one item of underwriting which came to £200,000 or £300,000, and some people said, “ What does this mean 1 It means bonuses to the people who float the company.” I will tell you what it means. It was explained in the House, and I am not giving my own explanation. It was explained by Major Atkinson, as you will see in the Hansard. It meant this : That the parties who started making the line would have to borrow money, and they could not float their debentures at par. They might only float at 90 or 95. The result would be that they would have to make up the difference, and part of the underwritings would haye to gq for that, Then they have to pay interest during construction, and part of the underwritings would go for that. They 1 could not get the aid of financial houses 1 withoutj paying handsome bonuses, and I park of the underwriting would go for

that. 1 want yon to consider if the lino has to be n a ' j by the Government it would not bo cheaper for the Colony to adopt some guarantee system ? I think so. Now, remember what the Government proposed. They only proposed that one-third of the interest should be paid by the Colony—that meant about £30,000— and that the remaining £OO,OOO should be paid by the districts themselves ; and the Government attached this condition, that all the expenditure on the main road from Christchurch to Kokitika or Nelson to the West Coast should be paid by the districts themselves. Now, what did that mean 1 If we got rid of that expenditure, the interest would cost us nothing at all. What are we paying for those roads now 1 What we are paying for the roads this year will cost more than £30.000, which if we had accepted a guarantee of one-third we should have got rid of. We are now paying about £16,000 a year to maintain the road from Christchurch to Hokitika, and we have contracted for about £IO,OOO for new bridges on the road from Nelson to Greymouth, besides the cost of its maintenance and the maintenance of other roads on the West Coast. Therefore, looking at this matter entirely from a Colonial point of view, and from the point of view of the colony making as bard a bargain as two merchants might with two certain parts of the Colony, it would be much bolter for us to have given this guarantee of one-third and got rid of the expenditure on the roads altogether, the districts concerned agreeing to tax themselves for the remaining £60,000, Take my wordfor it that the colony will in the course of time—perhaps not this year, or next year, or the year after—have to make this line, and so far as the Colony is concerned not on such favorable terms. —(Hear, hear.) AJgreat deal of nonsense has been talked about this line not paying. I do not believe that it would pay four or two per cent, but I believe it would pay one per cent, and I have detailed estimates of the; traffic showing that. Now let me tell you how this question of the East and West Coast railway came about, and what it meant. Most of the Otago members would have nothing to do with Canterbury, and 1 told them that they chose not to do what was surely a fair thing. What was ultimately proposed to be done 1 We did not ask them to construct the railway. All we asked was to appoint a fair Committee to consider the proposals. There is no man in New Zealand—the humblest citizenbut if he goes to Parliament and asks for an inquiry does not have it granted to him at once, and quite right too. i ask, was it fair, considering the feeling in the districts concerned, to deny the people of Christchurch and Nelson any consideration to their proposal. How would we like it if when the Utsgo Central was proposed wo sent up large petitions to the Assembly, and the Canterbury, Wellington, and Auckland members united and said, “No, We will not consider your petitions and if the Government asked for a Committee to consider them we denied it. You would consider it a most unjust and unfair thing.—(Applause.) 1 ask you to look at this question fairly. If you were a settler in Canterbury how would you like to be be told by the members of Parliament “ We will not give you a Committee to consider this question.” 1 go further, and say this: W e have heard a great deal at election times about cementing the union between Canterbury and Otago, because our interests are the same. Those who prevented that union will live to regret it, and 1 am glad to say I am not one of them.— (Applause.)! (To be continued.)