THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1882. THE MEETING OF DELEGATES.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2679, 7 November 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1882. THE MEETING OF DELEGATES.

Mb. Weston was certainly right in saying yesterday at the City Council Chambers that a more influential meeting had never been assembled together in the city of Christchurch than the one which lie was addressing. The meeting represented all parts of the country and all interests. The County Councils, the Road Boards, the Agricultural Association, and the Farmers’ Co-operative Association had empowered delegates to represent the Country Districts; the mercantile interest was seen to by gentlemen from the Corn Exchage, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Industrial Association; while the political element was, in a modi fled manner, locked alter by those sent by the Working Men’s Political Association. So that the great interest taken by Canterbury in the question under discussion cannot for an instant be doubted. And this excitement is in singular contrast with the great apathy which marked the way in which the matter was treated before the loan was proposed, and the East Coast line practically projected. The promoters of the line to the West Coast had in those days a hard time of it. People in general were sceptical aia to tho great advantages of the line. They seemed to say that water carriage would at all times successfully compete with railway carriage over heavy gradients for the conveyance of coal and timber from the West Coast, and that the amount and quality of the land to bo opened out would not justify the large expenditure that would have to bo incurred. But in those days the situation was very different from what it is at tho present time. It was proposed to construct the line out of what was in reality private money, and shareholders would require dividends within a reasonable time way in which people have taken to look at tho possible traffic to bo developed’ with the West Coast, now that tho money is to bo found by Government, is extremely instructive, as showing how rapidly the buds of Lope may expand under favorable auspices. If the Government had purposely wished to promote the objects aimed at by the original favourers of the West Coast scheme, they could not ■ possibly have acted with'greater success than they have done. By the process that now obtains of voting money to the various provincial districts on purely political grounds, they have naturally made the people of Canterbury determined not to be left out in the cold. So that all persons, whether they are opposed to the loan or not, are united in resolving that, as there is to be a loan, we shall have our share. The question thus becomes, not whether tho West Coast rente is desirable per se, but whether its furtherance is not the best way of spending what we are entitled to. This was the first great point gained by the original promoters. And then tho Government, to clinch the favor they had done to these promoters, added to it an apparent intention of spending what m».j be termed the Canterbury portion of the loan in running a line through country which nearly the whole of the northern portion of this island is unfavourable to, thus, as it were, driving the public into the arms of tho promoters.

At the outsat of yesterday’s meeting it was at onoe apparent that there were two ways of looking at the work to bo done by the Convention. One party considered that the Association to be formed should assist the Government Commission in the collection and eolation of facts in respect to the various routes. The other patty thought the Railway League should act purely and simply as an exponent of the wishes of the residents in Canterbury and parts of’ Westland and Nelson. Those most behind the scones, namely the most influential members of Parliament present, favored the former course. The Convention now sitting has power only to report on the East Coast route. What Mr. Wright and Mr. Weston thought the best plan was that the League should endeavor to get the powers of the Commission extended, or at all events should collect a mass of evidence that might he placed before Government as correcting or supporting evidence, as the case might be. Many of the reasons adduced for this course were plausible enough, but still there was a touch of red tape about their proposals and, after all, if they had been adopted, it would have been a mere make believe. It is better on such occasions to call a spade a spade dnd have done with it. Yesterday’s meeting was summoned because the people of Canterbury and elsewhere are determined that the line north shall

not go by tho ~Ecif,t Coast. Any recommendation that ths Convention might hava, forwarded to the Commission would bo. treated as not being sent by impartial person-', and, if a Committee had been, formed with the view of collecting data, it is very certain both in what direction those data would tend, and in what light the report of the Committee would ba viewed by Government.

In this case, as in many others, tha boldest counsels are often the best. To onr mind tho Convention did tha wisest course in adopting the resolutions which were passed yesterday." The surest way of getting the Government to extend the powers of tho Commission now sitting is to keep a stiff upper lip. The preteit Government are keenly alive to the political aspect of any question. If they see that such a large section of tha people as were represented yesterday at tha Convention are determined not to have the E»at Coast line at any price, we venture to prophecy that tho scope of the Commission will either be very shortly enlarged, or that their report will in the long run be pigeonholed. The loan has been raised for tha sake of gaining popularity and not from, any ifirm com lit ion that it is wanted. It would consequently he ont of all reason to imagine that, when -Govern* ment find how the land in reality lies, they will have tha slightest compunction in altering their plans. “If a loan is to ba raised, ’ they will argue, “it is just as well to maka as much political capital out of it as possible.” Tha position is not an exalted one, but the present level of politics is,' we are afraid, not a high one.