IMMIGRATION & PUBLIC WORKS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3041, 3 September 1870, Page 9

IMMIGRATION & PUBLIC WORKS.

, 4, _ — _ The Immigration and Public Works Bill hns passed the House of Representatives, and lias been sent up to the Lords. On Thursday evening, when moving the third reading, Mr Vogcl took the opportunity of stating what railway works the Government propose to initiate during the first year under the provisions of the bill, and for the construction of which they intended to ask the authority of the House. A detailed statement will be found in our Parliamentary report. Briefly summarised what the Government propose to do is this : — To construct the railway from Dunedin to the Clutha ; from Timarui to Timuka, in Canterbury, a distance of' eleven miles ; from the Selwyn station, on the Great Southern Railway, in Canter bury, to the River Rakaia, a distance of about twenty-three miles further on, and a total distance of about forty-five miles from Christchurch ; also, in the same province, from Christchurch to Rangiora, n distance of some seventeen or twenty miles ; in the province of Marlborough, from Picton to Blenheim ; in Nelson, from that town to Cobden, in the Grey River district, a scheme which has long bten ventilated in the colony ; and from Auckland to the Waikato. These works it is proposed to construct mainly on the Government guaranteeing interest for a certain period of years; the exceptions being Canterbury and Marlborough. In the former the works will be constructed by moans of borrowed money, and the latter by payments in land, with the exception of a small portion of the line passing through the more thickly peopled districts. Such, in brief, is the policy of the Government with respect to the works ' to be carried out, during the recess, and which they seek authority from the present Parliament to construct. And we venture to say that it is a far more judicious plan for the Government to submit the consideration of these important works, the launching as it were of the great schemes of the Ministry, to an experienced Parliament, one which can come to the consideration of tins subject unfettered by pledges to electors of various portions of the country that they would support such and such lines. If the consideration of the initiation of these works were left to i the new Parliament the inevitable result would be that every candidate would go • to the electors on the cry of " Elect me, ; and I will get a railway made fivm here to yonder ;" and the success of the scheme l as a whole would be seriously imperilled ; by the introduction and undue prominence i of local interests as distinguished from s that of the colony as a whole. There is ; no mention of Wellington, or any other • part of the North Island beyond the • Auckland and Waikato line, but we supf pose that this is to be accounted for from ; the fact that the Government intend to I devote themselves chiefly to the work of , r opening uplines of road into tho interior 3 during the next year. The railway lines in ,' the Northern Island will require a far 3 greater amount of consideration than those r projected by the Colonial Treasurer, which 9 are nearly all situated most favorably for . the immediate commencement of the - works, and plans and surveys of which i have for some time been in the possession ) of the Government. a The Colonial Treasurer bus promised to ■ give the House on an eavly occasion a more • detailed statement of the intentions of the i Government in respect of these works. , We shall look forward to this statement i with the greatest interest. Already we see i- the benefit which will arise to our northern s neighbours from being in a state of preI paredness for the immediate execution of i their railway works, and we are glad that s they should be thus able to avail theme selves at once of the advantages accruing