AKAROA RAILWAY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 361, 6 January 1880, Page 2

AKAROA RAILWAY.

We quote the following from the Hansard report of the proceedings in the House of Representatives on December 15 :— On the resolutions from Committee of Supply being reported. Mr Macandrew asked the Government to explain why the vote for this railway was reduced from £30,000, the sum voted last year, to £20,500. It seemed as if they were going to abandon, or, at all events, very much modify, the proposal. The Government had over £18,000 in hand, which had been handed over by the Lake Ellesmere Trust, and this reduction of the vote looked a little suspicious. Perhaps the honorable member for Akaroa bad some little delicacy in alluding to the matter, but it was to he hoped the position that hon. gentleman bad taken up in the House had nothing to do with the reduction. Of course it was impossible not to suspect that the honorable gentleman's action in the House and the reduction in this vote might have some connection.

Mr Oliver said there was no intention whatever to abandon this work. The vote taken was supposed to he sufficient to carry on the work steadily until the close of the present financial year. Mr Montgomery might say that, of the work for which £30,000 was voted last year, the formation of seventeen miles of the lines had been contracted for at a cost of £14,000, and the difference between that sum and £20,500 would not be sufficient to pay for the rails, sleepers, and laying the line which the government might very well have taken authority to spend money on. There was £18,500 now lying in the Treasury for the line, this money being part proceeds from sale of land set apart since 1875, as the people of the district were willing that it should be devoted to this work instead of to the construction of .ttfrids and bridges. Many years ago the Provincial Council were anxious that this line should be constructed —at all events as far as Little River ; and the Premier not only gave attention to the matter, but also considerable assistance. He thought that reducing this vote from £30,000 to £20,500, when millions were being spent elsewhere, showed that the Government were inclined to throw cold water on the undertaking.

Mr Oliver.—No

Mr Montgomery.—lt engendered suspicion, at all events. He had not wished to bring this matter forward himself, as much from feelings of delicacy as anything else, and thought it would come better from a gentleman who had been connected with the public works of the colony. Of course, if his honorable friends on the Government benches wished to make it a personal matter, or reduce the vote —in " chaff " or on other grounds—they could do so. He looked upon it on public grounds only. Mr Rolleston was sorry the honorable gentleman should think this a matter for " chaff " or, as the honorable member for Port Chalmers seemed to indicate, that the vote was reduced in consequence of the action of the honorable member for Akaroa, or on any personal consideration. There was no intention to postpone this work in any way. The amount placed on the estimates in this case, as in the case of other votes, was what was thought necessary, as far as the Government could ascertain ; and the work would be proceeded with at the same rate at which jt was commenced. The reason why this

sum was less than the original vote was simply because it would be sufficient to carry on the work until the House renewed the vote.

Major Atkinson might just say that this vote had been taken as being as much as could be spent in the present year without commencing a fresh section of the line. That was what the Engineer in Charge informed him, but perhaps the honorable member for Akaroa knew better than the Engineer.

Mr. Montgomery.—The Engineer informed me differently.

Major Atkinson was sorry to hear that, as he had always found the Engineer, who was a most trustworthy olficer, stating what he meant, and he had informed the Government that this sum would complete the i ection now in hand as far as possible this year. As the principle on which the Government had gone was to continue the work on each line without favoring any, they did not see their way to letting a fresh contract for this line during the present year. That was the simple explanation of the vote.