The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 243, 15 November 1878, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15.

An able article on this subject appears in a late number of the Timaru Herald. Wo regret that our space does not permit us to quote it at length, but a few extracts will tend to show the view of this project taken by an unbiassed writer of what may be considered to a certain extent a rival scheme to the Timaru breakwater.

"It is interesting to observe (says our contemporary) the difficulties with which, in a new country, almost all great public enterprises have to contend, before their principles are thoroughly approved of, or their feasibility acquires general recognition. We can well remember the storm of ridicule and incredulous contempt with which the first proposal to make the Lytteltori tunnel was assailed. . . . The completeness of the ultimate success of that undertaking should have taught a lesson both of patience to projectors, and of liberality to all who have an influence on the destiny of other projects. Since then, certainly, the public mind has considerably widened with respect to schemes of general usefulness, and the originators or promoters of any great mechanical inroad upon natural disadvantages are no longer looked upon either as crazy visionaries or crafty charlatans. Still, however, the vicissitudes, delays, and manifold obstructions which beset even the most hopeful plans of public improvement, are mournful to contemplate.

" The magnificent project for the draining of Lake Ellesmere and the construction of a railway to Akaroa. of which we gave a somewhat detailed description some few months ago, seems likely, we regret to say, to come in for at least its full share of these wooden-headed and selfish stumbling blocks."

After detailing the mistakes made, and misfortunes encountered, by the Trust at the commencement, the excellent work done by Mr Hardy Johnston in a limited time, and the progress of the Bill till it reached the Committee of the Council, the article proceeds—

" The only member of the Committee who could possibly be deemed a fair judge of the questions which came before them was the Hon. John Hall, and it is encouraging to know that he warmly supported the Bill. Most of the other members, we affirm without fear of contradiction, entered upon their work bitterly prejudiced against the whole object of the Bill, and the enquiry was not so much an investigation into the merits of the scheme as a search for reasons for condemning it. The evidence taken was of a most extraordinary character, persons being examined as to the value of Mr Hardy Johnston's calculations, who had literally never had the least opportunity for acquainting themselves with any knowledge of the kind. Others, again, were called upon to testify against him, who were obviously and avowedly biassed, and from whom only an adverse line of evidence could possibly have been expected. Thus, in order to maintain a theory set up by the Committee, that Mr Johnston's estimate for excavating the tunnel on the Akaroa railway was too low, Mr Richardson, one of the contractors for the Lyttelton tunnel, was examined. It is hardly necessary to say what his testimony was. He declared that he had received three times as much per yard as Mr Johnston had sot down, and that even that price did not pay! The Hon. Mr Robinson, commenting on this statement, told an anecdote which is characteristic of his shrewd knowledge of human nature. He said Mr Richardson reminded him of an old woman who sold lacifer matches at a halfpenny a box, and who solemnly declared that she lost money on every box. But when asked how she managed, nevertheless, to get a very good living, she replied that it was the great business she did which made it pay. Sixty pounds a yard was a dead loss ; but on the whole job the contractors made a fortune. There could not, in short, have been a more doubtful witness as to the price of tunnelling on the Akaroa railway than a gentleman who had been contractor for one of the dearest tunnels ever known, and who is moreover Chairman of the Lyttelton Harbor Board. He must have been an angel if, in his position, he had given evidence such as the Committee could fairly accept as impartial. Their whole attitude, however, towards Mr Johnston was most unjust, discourteous, and unreasonable. They seemed to regard him from the beginning, not as a professional man with a reputation at 6take, who, whatever the merits of scheme under consideration might be, had earnestly and honorably devoted him self to their elucidation, but as a jobbing agent employed by the Akaroa Trust to delude the Legislature. One of the members, who, being ' an officer and a gentleman,' ought to have known better, politely and sagaciously enquired why they should pay any attention to ' an engineer who had dropped from the clouds.'

Having thus reviewed the circumstances under which the noblest undertaking, perhaps, that has yet been proiected in this colony, was defeated for the time, we may say that we are neither surprised n «r very much disappointed by the result. It might easily have been foreseen that the representatives of the vested interests of Christchurch and Lyttelton, which are immediately imperilled by the prospect of the Canterbury plains being connected by railway with the splendid harbor of Akaroa, would move heaven and earth to trip the scheme up. There is every indication that their plans were well laid beforehand, and that an unanimity prevailed among them which is scarcely ever witnessed. The promoters of the Akaroa railway should have known that this would be the case, and should, unless they were able and willing to adopt similar tactics to those of their opponents,

have been prepared for a defeat. We trust, however, that they will not be discouraged by what has taken place, but will take heart of grace, and resolutely persist in their endeavors to obtain justice for their scheme. It is bound to be carried out some day, and the greater the fortitude with which it is urged, the sooner it will emerge triumphant from itstroubles. ,.

The opinions here expressed ought to encourage all on the Peninsula who success of the scheme at heart, to " put their trust in Providence, and and keep their powder dry."