THE LOAN AND THE RAILWAY SCHEME.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 173, 1 June 1871, Page 6

THE LOAN AND THE RAILWAY SCHEME.

(By ouv FourUenmih Beach Correspondent)

Matter that would be interesting to your readers is not very easily procurable in this slow corner of the world. As a general rule things are very quiet; and parties about here are rubbing along in their humdrum way, waiting their opportunity to once more attack the banks of the stream.

The river is up again, as is usual at this time of the year ; and, of course, workings on its banks are at a standstill.' 'Miners, as a rule, are a longwaiting, . uncomplaining community ; but, V believe", this blessed Molyneux river- is more than enough to try the patience of any people that ever cast their lots upon .the banks of any stream in any known portion of this sublunary sphere.- Ho sooner does it give us a chance 'of fixing our gear and getting to work, than up it rises — creating innumerable losses ; and the work has again to be commenced at the first opportunity. But "Ml Desperandwn" is our motto — and it carries us through, too. So we have got the great loan, or a portion of it* at least, launched with 'success in the English money market. What a grand prospect it is for us ! How we shall wallow among the glittering^ guineas that will fall to our share in the general scramble ! What splendid roads and magnificent bridges we shall haye — that will lead to and span- the various rivers of the province ! What countless sums shall be

expended in compensation to bloated squatters, for their runs ! What populous towns and smiling villages shall spring up in the hitherto barren wastes of Otago! And last, but not least, what a boon will be confei'red upon the entire community when tb.3 whole valley of the Molyneux shall be thrown open for settlement! This was my grandiloquent speech (when I read of Voxel's success) 'to Pumpernickle. " Don't you believe it," said he ; " our share of the lot will be so small that I would not give a pippin for it." "But," said I, " we are bound to have a portion of it for the carrying out of the public works of the province." " Agreed on," he answered ; " but it will be the Dunedin portion of it ; and we shall have the pleasure of looking on and seeing the money squandered without being able to help ourselves." " Where, then, will be our goldfields member** ? " I asked ; " surely they will look after us and our interests." " Now, look here," said old Pump, " you have greatly vexed me on several occasions through having put your entire faith in such a class of men as you have sent to the councils of the country. I can only (with one or two exceptions) assert, without prejudice, that you have returned men who have all to gain and nothing to lose. *Who and what are they? What stake have they in the country ? Why, their very status is nothing more than the people up here, in their simplicity, have conferred upon them. Of course, they will trade upon it — it is human nature. Already we have a case in point; I allude to the member who made a funnier and cleverer ' Vagabond ' than he ever will a statesman. Look at him ; he has had the honour and emoluments of the Secretaryship of Land and Works thrust upon him ; and, forsooth, nothing will serve him but he must have a Goldfields Secretaryship created for bis especial behoof. This embryo Lycargus, we are told, has made this a proviso to his acceptance of office — which proviso, no doubt, will be carried out ; but whether through fear of his harmless Mephistophilesian cynicism, or some back-stairs influence, deponent sayeth not ; but if the question was put to the country, I believe it would be quickly answered. There are plenty members who would have taken the billet cheerfully and gracefully, and I think without much haggling about the price. What do we want with a Goldfields Secretary ? We are going along very comfortably as far mining matters are concerned, and as we advance, so the Regulations will be revised to meet the inevitable alterations that will accrue from our improved modes of working. It is only another place about to be created for the especial benefit of one man, who shows his gratitude to the miner by taxing him afresh, and kicking down the ladder by which he rose to his present eminence; but, as the bard hath it, 'There are more things in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in our philosophy.' "Of course," the old man continued, " our members will vote for carrying out Macandrew's railway scheme into portions of the couutry where a couple of trains per annum will more than suffice for the wants of the localities — and keeping us hopelessly in debt. Here we are, with a population of between sixty and seventy thousand souls in all Otago : how is it possible we can " bear an extra amount of taxation added to that which is already as much as we can

support? If it could be shown that any good results are likely to be derived from it, we would bear our burdens without complaint; but railways in a country, which for years will not pay the working expenses, is the height of recklessness and absurdity, and our government should pause before they enter upon the scheme. Have we not the examples of New South Wales and Queensland before us. lv the first-named place the country is at a yearly loss of £35,000 railway deficit"; in the latter, a loss of £13,000 — upon lines run into the most thickly populated portions of each -territory. How then, think you. will il.be with us, with not one third their amount of population, to pay tie interest of the debts we have, and are contracting? Two of our provinces — one defunct and the other insolvent — out of our whole, presents an uncheering prospect for our future ; and in the face of this, private advices from Gipps Land have been received by various parties from friends who have left here, showing the richness and payable nature of the sluicing claims, just taken up, in thatcountry, where there is an abundance of water and timber for carrying on operations. All this is beginning to tel), and many have left here, and many more are about doing so, to a country where they will be subjected to less restrictions and taxation, and with better prospects than can be obtained here. The fact ia, our system of Government wants completely revolutionising, and I do not think we shall ever attain to a lasting prosperity until we are separated from the North Tsland. Our forma of Government are too cumbrous and intricate — our interests are too conflicting with those of the North for us ever to advance at a rate that the splendid opportunities we have had gave us every reasonable hope , to expect ; and ,the.' incubus of having to pay for Northern wastefulness, blended with our own extravagance, has sufficed to keep us just within drowning distance.

" Bah ! " continued the caustic old cynic, " what's the use of talking. If a community has a grievance to complain of, perhaps in meeting with some itinerant Government official you may perchance mention the subject in the course of conversation, you may be told, with a supercilious sneer, you would be backed to speak upon the same matter any length of time — your would-be backer, at the same time, forgetting that he has spouted for hours, and said nothing or started any subject more iutererting than himself. It's all humbug," the old man went on ; " one man gets -.pitchforked into a billet for which he is about as competent as my greatgrand aunt. Another will batch a motion, and then vote against his own chicken ; a third will consume the time of the country and the House by meaningless platitudes ; whilst a fourth — but I will not proceed further, else you might get as heartily sick of the subject as I am. You mark me, Muddle, old fellow, there are a great many amongst us who will dance joyfully to the jingling of the British guineas in their pockets, and I think you and I might give a shrewd guess as to who will ultimately have to pay for the music.