Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell : Tuesday, October 7, 1873.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 204, 7 October 1873, Page 5

Cromwell Argus AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. Cromwell : Tuesday, October 7, 1873.

Seeing itie treatment which the BrdvitiCial Loans Bill met with at the hands of ,th« Legislative Council, we mast confess it is with a somewhat selfish pleasure that we learii' that the Various 'Provincial ’Loans Empowering Bills have shared the same fate.; 'jf the general Bill had passed the tipper House, the Province’ of Otago would ; have , been enabled to borrow .£200,000 for the purpose of the extension of the Lawrence Railway to Clyde and Cromwell; whereas, under the provisions of the separate Provincial Bills—the seven little pigs” is the elegant name given to them by honourable members) —it would have been, entitled to borrow £IO,OOO only,—not sufficient to do more than overtake all the necessary surveys of the extension spoken of. Without incurring all the responsibilities attached to raising the last comparatively trifling sum under the proposed Empowering Bill, we certainly think the amount necessary for survey and preliminary purposes can be procured in another and betcer way. For the sake of £IO,OOO, therefore, it is hardly worth our while to regret much the fate of the separate Provincial Loans Empowering Bills. 1. - , ...

We are pleased, however, that the question of the extension of the railway from Lawrence to and through the gold-fields should have been raised, and by a no less important member of the House than his Honor the Superintendent. Mr Macanduew would hardly have made it such a leading feature of his policy as a member of the House of Representatives if he did not intend sooner or later to carry it through; nor would his conduct in that particular have been so well supported by the Otago members if they did not heartily approve of it. The fact, also, of the Superintendent of the Province introducing such a proposal, and its being so generally and well supported 'by the Otago members, must be a tolerably convincing proof to the members ■of the General Government that the matter is one worthy of their attention, and deeply, affecting the prosperity of the whole Colony. To us, looking at his Honor’s action in the matter from another point of view, it is a convincing proof that the Provincial Government, at any rate, tho roughly understand the necessity of the work, and the important part it might play in the promotion of the settlement of a large population in this Province, and especially upon the gold-fields. We can hardly do other than think, for many reasons, that his Honor and his Provincial advisers are entirely at one in their ideas upon this important subject.