THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1882. THE WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2436, 26 January 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1882. THE WEST COAST RAILWAY.

The report of the general meeting of the subscribers to the East and West Coast Railway scheme, to be fonnd in another column, cannot fail to be of great interest to the public at large. The question as to whether there is, or is not, to be a railway from Christchurch to the West Coast, is one which comes home to all classes ef the community. There are undoubtedly large sources of wealth on the West Coast. Coal and gold are there in endless quantity, and other valuable ores will doubtless be discovered in the course of time, while an enormous tract of country there is covered with the finest timber. Consequently no one i doubts for an instant that it would be of great benefit to us to be connected by railway with such a district, and the only two questions are, where is the money to come from, and would the lice pay working expenses ? Now with regard to the first of these questions, it is generally granted that the money will not come from the Government. *' Ex nihilo nihil fit," as the saying is. The Government has no money to spend, and consequently cannot be expected to spend any. The only remaining way, therefore is for a company to be got up, and for terms to be made with the Government in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The said provisions are fairly liberal, and although there may be certain clauses which require revision, yet it has never been asserted that the Act is hard on any set of promoters. Bat the monied men of Christchurch have not jumped at the West Coast Railway scheme. They apparently either think that the scheme is not sound or that they will have to wait for a return for their money for too considerable a period. Whatever the reason, the result is the same ; there is no alacrity shown in subscribing the necessary funds, although, among the publio at large, the enthusiasm for the project has not abated.

"With a view to obtaining a mora thorough knowledge as to real facts respecting the proposed railway, the promoters, in connection with the Chamber of Commerce, determined to Bend Commissioners into the part of the country throngh which the railway would run, and Messrs Inglis, Mcliraith, and Bsaumont were induced to undertake the task. At the outset they declared that they had not much time to spare, but would do their best towards placing a general idea of their views of the scheme before the gentlemen who had commissioned them. Their report is, to our mind, a fair sample of what might be expected from gentlemen who were pressed for time, but who had already a knowledge of the subject in hand, and who took a rapid survey of the resources of the country throngh which they were conducted. But there can be no doubt of one fact, namely, that the life of a Commissioner is not altogether a happy one, more particularly when he does not altogether report in the direction desired. The Commissioners* report appears to have been treated somewhat slightingly by the subscribers, some of whom call it weak, while it has generally been decided that the promoters are in exactly the same position as if the report had never been made at all. Consequently Messrs Inglis, Mcllraith and Beaumont are now under the happy conviction that they might just as well have not started at all. Now, let us sea what they really did say in their report. Their impression on the capacities of the West Coast are certainly all that can be desired by anybody. They were vastly struck by the largo mineral and timber resources of the country to the West of the ranges. Coal is there, they say, in enormous quantities, and of excellent quality. " The gold mining industry is evidently only in its beginnings." Ulany ranges have hardly been examined, and it only requires easy communication and the cheapening of the necessaries of life to ensure their being properly prospected aud opened out. Building stone, too, ia to be found in abundance. Pine and birch forests are there in any area?, and the trees are of the largest size. But when it comes to the land to be granted to the company under the Act, the Commissioners are by no means so enthusiastic. " The only land available on the east side of the dividing range, to the Ada Saddle, would be second class to inferior pastoral land for merino sheep. To the west of the Ada Saddle, towards Reefton and Greymouth, the only land