The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY. 13, 1894. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 238, 13 February 1894, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY. 13, 1894. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

At a meeting of the Midland Railway Company, held in London on Saturday last, Mr Thomas Salt, who presided, said the Directors had not declined the terms of the New Zealand Government, and would make a vigorous ef ; fort to raise the million and quarter pounds necessary to complete the east and west route. When the state of the English money market at the present time, and the very excellent credit enjoyed by this colony are considered in juxtaposition, we should think the company will find their efforts rewarded with gratifying success. The expenditure of such a large sum of money in the colony within the next year or two will go far to ease the present tension in local finance, for the reason that a large proportion thereof will be utilized in the employment of labor, and thus be placed in immediate circulation in purchasing the necessaries of life. Nothing restricts trade and commerce so much as a contraction of what is very properly called " the circulating medium," a complaint from which the colony has suffered for several years past, owing partly to the fact that while the profits of business people have been reduced, fiscal and local taxation have considerably increased. With ready money passing from hand to hand, the credit system, which at the present time rules and governs every class of industry or business, would be dethroned, or at least be shorn of much of the power it now enjoys. Although we are perfectly aware that many well-informed persons do not think the Midland Railway will do all the good its promoters anticipate, yet we are convinced, having some considerable knowledge of the country on both sides of the mountains, and of the mineral wealth lying buried in tbe bosom of the latter, that the line will be remunerative within a comparatively short time of its completion. We hope, then, for the good of the colony, and for the benefit of the shareholders, the work will be pushed on with all despatch, and the line opened for traffic at the earliest possible moment.