RAILWAY AND RECLAMATION TRUST.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 174, 19 March 1878, Page 2

RAILWAY AND RECLAMATION TRUST.

To the Editor of the Akaroa Mail.

Sib,—l perceive in your report of the proceedings of the Railway and Reclamation Trust, which appeared in your issue of the 12th insi, some omissions, the effect of which is to render my. conduct somewhat enigmatical. , . In justice to myself, and as a duty to •those electors who did me the honour to return me as their representative, I feel bound to remove this cause of misapprehension. In relation to the selection of the Hudson's road route for the line of railwaj r , and Lincoln as the place of jun«>tionofthe Akaroa and Southbridge lines, I charged the deputation with having exercised an unwise precipitation, and this charge is not clearly substantiated by anything that appears in your report, but a reference to facts will justify my opinion. The report arrived at by the deputation was received at the meeting , , that is to say, that on the seventh day of March, Messrs Gebbie, O'Callaghan, and Murraypropose to thd Trust that Hudson's road route should be adopted as the line for railway, and Lincoln for the point of junction, and it »vas stated that it remained for the Trust to accept or reject these proposals. Now turn to a concluding paragraph of the Engineer's report, and. you will read as follows;—"I have greSt pleasure in reporting that Mr Brown, with an assistant surveyor has been at work for some time, and although I regret being unable to lay before this meeting the survey plans of twenty miles as promised, nevertheless I believe the field work to that extent is nearly completed, and the plans would have been ready had Mr Brown not been unexpectedly delayed." It results from this that precipitation existed somewhere, either with the deputation or the Engineer, Avhen the evidence shows that 20 miles of the line is surveyed before the Trust has determined where the line is to be. Again, when Mr Dalglish moved " That the action of Messrs Murray; O'Callaghan, and Gebbie, as members of the'Trus;, in deciding the point of the junction of the

failway with the Southbridge line, be ap-proved-■and confirmed," I enquired of the Chairman if all the various routes inspeected by the deputation converged upon Lincoln. Mr O'Callaghan replied, and said—"Yes, in effect all the routes inspected do converge upon Lincoln." This being the case, it was impossible that I, as an intelligent man, could either vote for or against the motion, because until the advantages attached to the routes to the other places had been investigated, it remained doubtful whether the Jclaim of Lincoln was or was not superior to those of the other places. In a competitive examination ' what would be thought of the -judges who, of half a dozen candidates presenting themselves, examined only one, and, finding him proficient, awarded him the palm of superiority. This case is analagous. Had I been one of the judges at such an examination I should have demanded that the other five candidates be examined, and were this not acceded to, I should have taken refuge in neutrality. Further, the resolution which I moved, touching the relations tbat existed between the Trust and the settlers of the Tai Tapu and Hal swell, was opposed by the Chairman and by Messrs Murray and O'Callaghan, but their arguments and my reply are omitted from your report. I will not resuscitate them now, as it would involve too much trespass on your space, and I will only say that I was urged to withdraw my motion by the Chairman and Mr O'Callaghan on the grounds that it would place the Trust in an awkward and delicate position. But it appeared, and still appears to me that good must result from the motion whether it were carried or not. If carried, friendly feelings would be displayed and increased; if lost, antagonism would be evidenced; and if antagonism exist, it ought to be evidenced, that its cause may be investigated, and, if possible, removed—hence I pressed my motion. Yours, &c., GEO. R. JOBLIN. Little River, March 13.