THE PREMIER ON RAILWAYS AND IMMIGRATION.

Evening Star, Issue 3352, 17 November 1873, Page 2

THE PREMIER ON RAILWAYS AND IMMIGRATION.

Speaking in reply to the toast of “ Her Majesty’s Ministers in New Zealand” at the Agricultural dinner at Christchurch, the Hon. Mr Vogel is reported to have said : Amongst other things, the rise in the price of wool has resulted in the distribution of an immense amount of capital, and has had a most extraordinary effect in contributing to the general prosperity—a prosperity which is not equalled in any Colony outside New Zealand. —(Cheers.) I think also that it is not wide of the mark to say that the Province has benefited and will benefit very much by the extension of the railway system, and by the encouragement of immigration.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) It is quite appropriate that I should make this reference, because I am quite free to admit that the railway policy with which my own name has been so much identified, was first initiated in the Province of Canterbury,—(Cheers.) To Mr Moorhouse—(prolonged cheers)—really belongs the inception of the great railway policy for New Zealand. There was a long interval between that initiation and the progress which was given to it and the subsequent resumption of the policy some four years since, but to Mr Moorhouse belongs the credit of proposing to the Province the initiation of railways upon a scale which was larger in its magnitude at the time it was proposed than the present railway scheme of the Colony. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) When I hear people talk of the ambition of a young ('oluny going in for a trunk system of railway from one end of the Colony to the other, I cannot help remembering that when the Province of Canterbury numbered less than 9,000 souls, then it was proposed, and the proposition was heartily agreed to,; of course there were grumblers, as there always will be. —(Laughter.) A population of less than 9,000 committed itself to the expenditure of a quarter of a for the ooustructiau of a railway seven miles in length 1 That was a more ambitious proposal than the system of railways now being carried out, and I hope that the success in the one case may be the precursor of success in the other. —(Wear, hear, and cheers.) But I do not think that the policy of Mr Moorhouse has yet been fulfilled, and I am not speaking now in reference merely to Canterbury but of New Zealand generally. His policy was to make railways, not for the mere purpose of making a profit, but fur the purpose of opening

up the country; and at any rate that is my •new of the subject, which it is desirable should engage the attention not only of the people of Canterbury, but of the people of New Zealand. —(Hear, hear.) It is often said, ‘ What’s in a name?'’ My opinion is that there is a great deal in a name, and I think it is the most unfortunate circumstance that could possibly happen that we are always obliged to call them railways. If they were called by any other name, their true object and purpose would be readily recognised. At present they become too much identified in our minds with the recollection of great excitement, purchase of shares, promises of large dividends and great results to the shareholders, and therefore the question often arises when a line of railway is proposed, “Will it pay?’’ Buch a question should be of no significance to a Government making railways for opening up the country. Whoever would expect that the money you spend in the formation of a road should bring you back interest on your money in the shape of tolls ? —(Hear, hear.) For instance, you open a road to Akaroa; yon are perhaps fortunate if you get tolls to pay for the maintenance, but who will ever say that it would be profitable to get tolls in payment of_ interest on the money expended in its formation ? Railways, in my opinion, arc modern equipped roads—(hear, hear)—and if we can only look at them in that light, wc should have a truer estimate of their importance. When the population is thin, and when we start railways _ under these circumstances, we shall forget their great usefulness if we are to contend that they are public works constructed with the view of making them profitable speculations.—(Hear, hear.) The real use of a railway is to open up the country, to enable settlers to get further back, and afford producers a means of bringing their produce to market; but it is absurd to ask, “ Will it pay interest on the money expended ?” because it will not, but it will pay in enabling the settlors to extend over the country and bring their produce to a market, and those considerations are decidedly more important than questions of a merely pecuniary speculative nature. —(Hear, hear.) We should have no English Colony settled at all if we insisted on the question “Will it pay?” The very first thing a British population does is to commence making roads. You would have no roads made if you regarded them in the same light as I regret to say it is too common to regard railways. Gentlemen, I think that the railways which we are opening in New Zealand will not prove half their usefulness if they are not worked from a consideration of the collateral advantages they will confer.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Taking the Provinces of Ot.igo and Canterbury, tiie very tunnel I have been referring to enables Christchurch to be in as intimate communication with the sea as if those hills did not intervene, and it was with this view that the grand idea of making that tunnel was initiated by Mr Moorhouse.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) That is the policy which has made Otago the great commercial centre, and will make other parts of the Colony great centres too. If the North Island railways are worked from the point of view to make them yield interest on the money expended in their construction, they will be rather a disadvantage to the place instead of a boon, because they will shut off carriers who would be able to carry goods at lower rates. I shall now make one or two remarks on the subject of immigration.- (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Here, also, I have to remember that in the desire of the Government to promote the subject of immigration, wc have found in Canterbury the most useful assistance.—(Hear, hear.) It is through the enterprise of Canterbury that the New Zealand Shipping Company has recently been established ; and without in the slightest degree expressing any opinion upon the merits of other enterprises of the same kind, we must all allow that that enterprise will undoubtedly be useful in aiding the Colony in promoting I may say the great object to be attained in jn-omoting immigration is not to bring out a number of persons to reside in the ports. If immigration is to be successful, they must be distributed throughout the country districts, and therefore it is that the Government have recently decided to afford assistance towards distributing the immigrants after they arrive in the Colony, and we arc now anxious to aid them in reaching those portions of the country where they are likely to get employment, and where they will be available to those requiring labor.