The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1888. THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1732, 5 January 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1888. THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY.

The system of constructing railways, or rather of paying /or the construction of railways by means of land-grants has been applied to many thousands of miles of iron road m the United States and m Canada, and now that we have for t -msent m New Zealand about reach* * 1 limit of our borrowing powv ' * iMJ dp well tp fall back uponi i» " Jtem for the completion of such man ipes as yet "remain to be constructed m this colony. Already we havv applied this system very successfully Indeed m the case of the Wellingtof:*Mapawatu line and more recently have secured the construction of the Midland Railway by the same mean^ and Parliament (at anyrate insofar as the Representative House is concerned) has shown j.t? readiness to proceed upon the same, or a sir,ailary plan m respect to the Otago Central, while it is by no means improbable that qooncr or later we shall have to fall back upon this method for the completion of the North Island Main Trunk, The former of the two last-mentioned lines is. indeed, now much nearer realisation as a completed work than it was a few months, or even weeks, ago, and that it is so Otago has to thank first and mainly the bon. member for the D»n/st«n, whose unflagging persistence and indomitable energy m the furtherance of this, his pet projepi, has certainly deserved the success which we are glad to believe he is on the eve of achieving. It appears to be thought by many persons that because the Otago Central Railway Bill, after a triurapfea passage through the House, was rejected m tf another placje " therefore the whole scheme has collapsed. But this is not so by any means, indeed the case is quite the reverse. The position of the matter is this — the Government, through the Attorney-General . (the Hod. Mr )Vhitaker) has undertaken to prepare »

:ontract based on the lines of MrPyke's Bill, and if Mr Pyka can find a syndicate )r company willing to accept the terms Df such contracr, has further undertaken to bring m as a government measure a B'll togive it validity,forceandoperati6b. Under these circumstances let us see what, are the concessions offered as an inducement to the enterprise. The Syndicate or Company is to receive a grant from the Crown of an area of land equal m value to 33 per cent of { the total cost of the railway from Middlemarch (where it will connect with that portion of the line now under coneiruction hy the Government) to the Hawea and Wanaka Lakes, a sufficient area within' a distance of fifteen miles on either side of the line, to enable this to be done to be withdrawn from sale on the signing of the contract, and to be granted to the Syndicate or Company m alternate blocks, the other alternate blocks being retained by the Crown. The value of the land to be granted to the Company is to be calculated upon the estimated value j immediately prior to the making of the contract, and irrespective of any prospective value to be conferred by the construction of the railway, but no land is to be deemed as of a less value than ten shillings per acre. All lands required or likely to be required for mining purposes are excepted from the ! lands grantable to the Company, and it is stipulated that such lands as are granted to the Company under the I contract shall be disposed of m accordi ance with the land laws m force for the time being m the colony. Mutual running powers over each other's lines, as between the Government and the Company, are to be the subject of mutual agreement, and ample borrowing powers necessary to enable the raising of money upon debentures are graoled to the Company. The whole of the details necessary to be provided tor are either set out m Mr Pyke's Bill or will be found m the contract with the Midland Railway Company, which will doubtless form a guide for the contract to be prepared by Sir Frederick Whitaker, and there ought, therefore, to be no possibility of a hitch m the business details. As regards the undertaking itself as a speculation, no doubt the Company, if formed, will fully satisfyitself as to the prospects, and that these promise well there can be no doubt on the part of those who are acquainted with the lane and capabilities of interior Otago. There are hundreds of thousands of acres needing only railway communication to be brought into cultivation, and there is room for an extension of settlement which will secure a large freight and passenger traffic. As from the point of view of the colony the bargain will be an excellent one. The remaining Crown estate m the district will be enhanced m value by the construction of the line by an amount far greater than that of the area to be granted to the Company, to say nothing of the collateral advantages, while it will be a grand thing to secure the completion of this great work without adding to the burden of the public debt. When the contract is made we hope that a provision will be inserted enabling the construction of a link between the Otago Central and the Government line at Livingstone. The distance from Livingstone to the point of junction with -the Otago Centra), on Kyeburn Flat, is not more than twenty miles, and as from this common point the distance to the sea at Oamaru is fifty miles less than to Port Chalmers the linking up we have referred to must be undertaken m the near future and it would be well that it should be provided for m the proposed contract. With the assistance of the Government secured, and the sympathy of Parliament already expressed, Mr Pyke has already half won his battle, and we hope that he will be equally successful m inducing a powerful Company to accept the terms offered, and that, as he turned the first sod some ten years ago, he may also m less than half that period of time also drive the last spike of the railway on the shore of Lake Wanaka.