THE AKAROA RAILWAY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 462, 24 December 1880, Page 2

THE AKAROA RAILWAY.

We are indebted to the Press for the following report of an important meeting held to consider the state of matters in connection with the above railwa)': —

Pursuant to notice, a public meeting- of the. ratepayers of the Springs, Lincoln,and Little River Road Board districts was held on Tuesday evening in the district school, Lincoln, at 8 o'clock, there being a good attendance. The Hon J. T. Fisher and Mr W. Montgomery were present by '"nvita-. tion. Mr J. Gammack was elected to the chair. The Chairman introduced proceedings by stating the object for which the meeting had been called, and expiessed the pleasure he felt in being present upon such an occasion. He then called upon the convener of the meeting to address those present. Mr O'Callaghan then came forward and explained why he had called them together On several occasions lately he had been spoken to by the ratepayers of this and adjoining districts, asking if it was intended to take any action towards calling the attention of the Government- to the delay that had taken place in the prosecu--1 tion of the railway woric to Little Eiver and 1 Akaroa, and reports were circulated to the i effect that it was not intended by Government to proceed further with the line after the completion of the contract for miles ' With regard to such reports, he had i always said that he had perfect confidence , in the intention of the Government to carry out the whole of the work so far as " the formation extended, and this faith '- was strengthened by the fact that ho, > having . been one of a deputation who I waited on the Minister of Public W*rks I in Christchurch on the subject, received ■ the assurance that the work would be ' done forthwith, and that there was no need for the deputation to take any further , action in the matter. But it now appeared ' that the contract had been stopped afte r ■ three and a half miles were completed, ' and as to whether it was the intention of the Government to proceed any further with the line they had no information The work was stopped, however, and he considered it to be their positive duty, in their own interests and that of the country in general, to meet together for the purpose of asserting their just rights in regard ta this line. They would all remember that it was now eighteen months or more since the original contract was entered upon for the formation of the line. After considerable delay tho contract for plate-laying was let; then preparations were made for ballasting the latter end of the line, and after all that work and preparatory trouble, the Government discontinued supplies when a matter of three miles was completed. He thought they would all agree with him in pronouncing this a most disappointing result after all their exertions towards obtaining the promises and assurances of the Government that the work would be completed immediately. He would now point out the reasonß which, to his mind, made the matter so urgent. In the first place, the line, ao far as it went at present, was palpably useless, or almost so, being of no service to the settlers and utterly unremunerative to th? Government. On the other hand, he thought they might safely say that if the line were completed for a distance of, say, seventeen miles, it would be remunerative to a considerable extent, and that would be a much brighter prospect for the Government than the knowledge that £25,000 had been sunk in what was quite useless for any purpose whatever. [Cheers.] He did not know whether it was tho intention of the Government to simply delay the prosecution of the work, or whether it was their intention to wait until after next session—that would be after the harvest. No information on this subject had been received from the Minister of Public Works, beyond the remark that the work would not be lost sight of. One thing was plain, however, that unless the line were proceeded with at once, no beneit could be derived from it this year, either for the grain traffic or tho winter timber trade with Little River, which of itself was a matter of importance. They were all interested in the line. At present timber could not be delivered thers under a high price, and there could be little doubt but that tho price would be reduced three or four shillings per hundred if the line were opened tho whole length, whilst the proposed completion of seventeen miles of the route would still most probably bring about a considerable ! reduction. Another point he thought they ought to consider was this. At this soason of the year the work could be pushed ahead— as they had seen in the case of the late contract —with wonderful celerity, considering the country they lived in and the time occupied in carrying out most of the public works, and he had no doubt, if the contract were now taken up for tho completion of the work, it would be finished in time to be utilised during the forthcoming season. It should bo rememberod that the ballast pits were full of water during winter months in the Mow-lying country, and this, combined with other drawbacks peculiar to the time of year, would militate seriously against the successful prosecution of the work. But ho thought the most important point of all for them was the fact of their having received the assurances of the Government that the work would be proceeded with forthwith. They knew also that it was recommended by .tho Rnilw.y Oom-

missioners, who went into the merits of the different lines projected all over the country ; their report stating that this was one of the lines which should be proceeded with without delay. Tt was not only the fact that the money already expended would he, so to spenk, wasted, hut votes of money had been made by Parliament on three different occasions, especially for this line. During the session before last £20,500 was granted on behalf of it, and a portion of that amount. £14,000, had been expended in formation. Since then a further vote of £16,000 was passed, and the total result of all this was a railway three and a half miles long, which led nowhere. Under all these circumstances he felt that he had done right in calling the meeting together, for the purpose of urging the claims of the districts interested in this matter, especially seeing that the Government were directly pledged to complete the line. He had great pleasure in moving—" That this meeting views with extreme regret the cessation of the work of ballasting and plate laying on the Little River and Akaroa line of railway ; and begs most respectfully to lay before the Government the following facts in connection with the matter: —lst. That the line in its present incomplete state is almost wholly useless to the inhabitants and unremunerative to the country. 2nd. That any delay now in pushing on the work on the line will prevent its being available for the coming grain season, and the winter traffic. 3rd That the present is the most favorable season for the prosecution of the work. 4th. That, relying; on the assurances of the Minister of Public Works as to the expenditure of the vote of last session, and the immediate completion of the line, many of the settlers have engaged in undertakings which will entail heavy loss if railway communication is not provided, as they were led to expect." Mr O'Callaghan then resumed his seat amid applause.

Mr J. Gebbie seconded the resolution, and had great pleasure in being able to endorse all that the mover had said on the subject. There was still a balance of from £11,000 to £12,000, which ought to be expended on the work, and unless soni'* action was taken there appeared a likelihood of their losing that amount altogether. He strongly approved of the present proceedings therefore, being calculated, as they were, to obtain some definite idea of what the Government actually intended to do. He might also point out that farmers in the place inter ested carried on their operations hitherto in the full expectation that increased facilities for transit would be afforded.

Mr O'Callaghan here mentioned that Messrs Montgomery and Fisher were present, and would answer any questions which might be put to them relative to the subject under discussion.

Mr Wm. Coop said ho was one of the deputation which had waited on the Government in reference to the present line of railway towards Little River. And he also gavo evidence in Akaroa before a Royal Commission upon the paying capabilities of the railway. The line had been strongly recommended to the Government, and yet only three miles and fifty links of the permanent way had been laid. This small portion would houseless, and the £18,000 spent would, to all intents and purposes, be wasted, to say nothing of the injury done to certain industries of material value to the country. He considered the dilly-dallying exhibited by the authorities in reference to this important work was really shameful. He had great pleasure in supporting the resolution.

Messrs Montgomery nnd Fisher then addressed the meeting, explaining that they did not intend to import anything of a political character into the discussion.

It was resolved to forward the foregoing resolutions to the Minister for Public Works, and the usual votes of thanks terminated the proceedings.