The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2384, 22 November 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1870.

Av impartial observer of what is passing in the Provincial Council respecting the proposal by the General Government to construct lines of railway, would be led to wonder what secret influences were at work to prevent our progress. Members of Parliament are not expected to act from unraixed motives. It is only the unambitious who are actuated purely by public considerations, careless whether they are again returned or not, and who therefore address their attention to a subject in hand without reference to the future. It is unfortunate that a matter of such vital import to the future of the Province as railway construction should be considered at a time when elections are looming for the Superin tendency and Provincial Council ; for most of the speeches made so far, have been to the party spirit of the country, rather than with an eye to its future welfare. And not the least remarkable instance of this is seen in the misapplication of the word “ debt ” in relation to the proposed loan. The “ burdens of tho “ the country ” is a phrase freely made use of; and in it is implied what can in no sense bo true of a well-devised system of railways. So far, in fact, from such a system burdening tho country, it would become a main instrument of lightening the burden of taxation. The taxation of the present day, though so frecpiently estimated at double that of any other people, is in reality much lighter than is represented, because one-half comes back

again to be spent in improvements of the property of the contributors. But the adoption of a railway system really comes under a different eLiSsilleation of indebtedness, and from the first can hardly be said to involve additional burdens ; for if, during the progress of the works, the country has to pay a twelvemonths’ or two years’ interest on the cost of construction, the additional number of persons employed, and the consequent increase of Customs revenue through increased consumption of imported goods, far more than pays the the interest of the money disbursed, while the impetus to trade and production indirectly brings land into cultivation, and employs in a variety of profitable ways a 'large population. And when a lino is at work it pays its own interest. Mr Fish speaks of “ a tran- “ sieut prosperity,” to be followed by a corresponding period of depression. A very poetical idea borrowed from the notion of exhaustion produced by fever —but, as applied to a question of industrial progress, totally inapplicable. It is based upon the notion tb it when the railways are made, there will he no more work to do, which is just exactly the reverse of the effect that railway construction tends to. The construction of railways in every country has led to increased activity in every branch of industry, and especially when formed by imported capital, for then there is no withdrawal of money from other employments. So important an instrument of progress is a mil way, that in America the different States forward their construction by every possible means, instead of thwarting them by narrow views or party politics. Before the civil war in America, the State of Virginia commenced a railway. A company was formed, and “ acccording to its ancient “ custom, the State subscribed for “ three-fifths of the stock." . . “By “ various companies and under differ- “ ent charters, the State had con- “ structed a railroad from Kicumond “ to the mountains, nearly 200 miles, “ and expended three millions and a “ quarter of dollars when the war “ broke out,’’ compelling them to devote all their energies and means to destruction. When the war ended, the railroad was still incomplete, and the State so impoverished and exhausted as to be unable to finish it. Virginia was, as all know, divided into two States, “ each having rights in “ those works, but neither able to com- “ plete them. Both Legislatures, how- “ ever, comprehended the situation. “ Both knew that, unassisted, they “ could not finish the road, and that “ its prompt completion was the su- “ preme interest of both. Hence they “ agreed to surrender their riguts to a “ new company, on condition that it “ should go forward and perform the “ work. In other words, they said to “ Wall street, ‘ Here you see two hun- “ ‘ dred miles of war-worn, battered “ 1 railroad track ; likewise a dozen “ ‘ tunnels, finished and unfinished ; “ ‘ also, a great many miles of cm- “ ‘ bankment and excavation, un- “ ‘ harmed by war and weather ; and “ ‘ a large number of bridges, more or “ ‘ less sound : take all this property, “ ‘ on the simple condition of convert- “ 1 ing and completing it into a sub- “ ‘ stantial railroad.’ ” This was the second year of peace, when money was in demand for the Pacific Railroad. Four years have passed, the railroad has been completed, and they now seek to connect Richmond with Washington at a cost of ten millions of dollars. There is no sign of “ transient pros- “ perity ” there. Between American largeheartedness and Otagan pettifogging there is a wide gulf. The States there sacrificed at ®nee three-fifths of three million and a quarter dollars for the public good. The clodocracy of Otago would sacrifice the public good to personal antagonism or party feeling. Two Governments were opposed in America, but both waived their claims to secure a common good. In New Zealand we have two Governments—one able and Avilling to do the work, the other unable and unwilling. The question of localisation of expenditure •: has no necessary connection with the construction of the railroad, and can be secured apart from the Public Works Act ; and the obstructions thrown in the way of forming the proposed railways are merely electioneering moves which the people will do well to bear in mind at the hustings.