The Evening Star SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3267, 9 August 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1873.

It is impossible on a cursory glance to pronounce a judgment upon the Public Works Statement received by telegraph last evening, although sufficient may be gathered from it t© conclude that there has been every eftort to push them on, consistent with necessary care and economy. The great fault found by Parliamentary critics of the Sir David Monro class was, the scheme had been begun, but the originators of it were merely visionaries; and they said it must be left to us practical men, who opposed it, to carry it out. Then there was a long tissue of claptrap about so long a time having passed with no result, and flimsy calculations about the necessity for imposing a land tax, witli other additions to our burdens in prospect.

The short-sightedness of these denunciators of public works absolutely necessary to Colonial development is shown in the utter collapse of the party whose bond of union was opposition to the scheme. Mr Stafford, who always admitted its abstract value, has given up the contest; Sir David Monro, who, during the recess, bid fair for becoming an Opposition leader, has resigned his scat; the Richmonds are divided ; no one has confidence in the (Superintendent of Auckland, and therefore, practically, the Stafford party has broken up. This is not surprising. All the dark forebodings in which they indulged have proved that they wore the visionaries ; the revenue has not fallen off : new taxation, unless in the form of a more equitable tariff, is not asked; the proposed lines of railway are in course of rapid construction, and trade, manufactures and production are becoming rapidly developed. Whatever prestige ma}' have attached to the party in times gone past is dissipated ; they are proved false prophets, and as a matter of course their pretensions to superior administrative powers are no longer believed in. Judging from a perusal of the statement of the Minister of Public Works, he is the right man in theVight place. His Statement seems thoroughly systematic and practical of what has been done, what is in course of being done, and what is proposed to be done. The Government are wisely intending to complete the main lines of communication. Thus, in this Province the gaps in the through lines—North and South—are to be filled up, and 146 miles more put in progress. Of these, 105 miles are in Otago—fifty miles from Mataura to Clutha, and fifty-five from Dunedin to Moeraki. Other 41 miles are intended to connect Timaru and Waitaki, a line that will identify the interests of that portion of Canterbury more completely with Otago than with the sister Province. There is not much need for comment upon these matters. The same principle has been adopted in carrying out our railway system as worked successfully in the construction of metalled roads : the Government formed the main lines, and District Road Boards made the feeders as suited local requirements. Just in the same way it is proposed that the General Government shall construct the main lines of railway, and the Provinces the feeders. It is only the adaptation to tho railroad system of what has been found to work well in road construction, During the recess, Opposition members, Opposition candidates, Opposition journals, and Opposition writers were eloquent regarding the vice of borrowing, and could not, or would not see anything but ruin to the Colony from it. We observe symptoms of a revival of this form of derangement in our contemporary the Daily Times , in commenting upon the purchase of the Port Chalmers Railway by the Government. Thus far it has only reached a preliminary hysterical sob • the next effoi't will probably be a shriek, and how far its paroxysms will be carried will depend upon the kicking and screamingenergyof its writers. That the Governmenthave had to pay a good price for the line is very certain ; that they have not paid too high a price is equally certain, as 7h per cent, on the cost was offered by persons willing to work the line on lease. That they have had to pay so much is without difficulty traceable to the tactics of the Daily Times itself, and those on whose behalf it has acted. The impediments they threw in the way of railway construction generally, of borrowing for this special line on favorable terms at Home, through false statements of its prospects and of the financial resources of the Colony, added much to the cost of the line, and rendered its construction by private enterprise a necessity. That the promoters have realised a profit, instead of suffering a loss, in the face of those impediments, is a subject for gratulation. It was the first step in railway construction in Otago ; the forerunner of that well-devised system radiating from and into it; and if it has cost the Colony somewhat heavily to "raft the Port Chalmers line into the general plan, the Daily Times is the very last that should lift up its voice against it, for it is the price the Colony lias to pay for the diffusion through its columns of false commercial, financial, and economical theories.