L—ll.

PETITIONS.

MR. COATES'S PETITION (No. 132/1900), AND REPORT OF PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT THEREON.

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Eepresentatives in Parliament assembled. The humble Petition of James Hugh Buchanan Coates, of Wellington, in the Colony of New Zealand, Banker, showeth, —■ 1. That he is the Receiver duly appointed by the Supreme Court of New Zealand for the debentureholders of the New Zealand Midland Railway Company (Limited). 2. That in the interests of this colony in general, and in the interests of the Provincial Districts of Westland, Nelson, and Canterbury in particular, the Government of this colony for some years prior to 1888 desired to encourage, and did encourage the construction by private enterprise of a main line of railway between these provincial districts, which would thus connect the east and west coast of the Middle Island by a railroad. 3. After much negotiation, and in view of the inducements offered by the then existing Ministry of this colony, the New Zealand Midland Eailway Company was formed in England to undertake the construction of this line. 4. The work involved in this whole undertaking was enormous, presenting as it did some of the greatest engineering difficulties ever met with in this colony, and involving the expenditure of an enormous amount of capital. 5. For these reasons probably the Government of the day shrank from undertaking the work; but added to these objections was the still greater one, that the enterprise afforded no certain prospect of profitable return. To adventure private capital, therefore, in such an undertaking required faith in the future development of Westland, Nelson, and Canterbury ; faith in the validity and safety of the security offered ; and, above all, faith in a friendly and favourable treatment by the Government. I—l. 11.

1. No remarks. 2. No remarks. 3. Considerable negotiation took place prior to the signing of the contract, but such negotiations were completed to the satisfaction of all parties on or before 3rd August, 1888, on which date the Midland Eailway contract was signed. Whatever took place prior to that date cannot affect the present inquiry, as the signed contract represents the terms which, upon mature consideration, both parties agreed to accept. 4. No doubt the engineering difficulties on some sections of the railway between Jackson's and Patterson's Creek are of a formidable nature, but the construction of these sections was never attempted by the company. The sections constructed were not of a specially difficult character, as is evidenced by the fact that they were estimated to cost only about £7,000 per mile, which is less than the average mileage cost of the Government railways in New Zealand. The engineering difficulties also on all the sections were patent, and were as fully before the company before it undertook the contract as afterwards. 5. Why the Government of the day did not. undertake the construction of the railway it is useless now to inquire. The facts are that the Midland Eailway Company undertook to construct it, and bound themselves to complete the work on or before the 17th January, 1895. It is obviously impossible for the petitioner to contend that the company held the view now advanced, " that the enterprise afforded no certain prospect of profitable return." Both the share- and debenture-prospectuses show that the company thought they had secured a good contract, and that the enterprise would prove a highly lucrative one. The necessary faith in the future development of Westland, Nelson, and Canterbury, and also in the validity and safety of the security offered, and likewise in a friendly and favourable treatment by the Government, they evidently possessed in a sufficient degree, and the