THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 971, 6 September 1871, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1871.

In resuming the consideration of Mr. Vogel's report on his mission to England, we are now led to that which, after the opening and working of the Coal Mines, most concerns the welfare of. the Grey District, Viz., the subject of railway communication between Nelson and Cobden. For a long time past it has been an object of great consideration with the inhabitants of Nelson, the Superintendent, and the Provincial Council, that a railway from Nelson to Cobden by way of Foxhill was not only a practical undertaking, but one that could be worked profitably and with advantage not only to the Province but to the contractors, under a system of land grants. Negotiations were entered into between Mr Morrison, the Agent-General for New Zealand, on the one hand, and various, capitalists and speculators in the Home Country on the other, and powers were given to the Provincial Government to negotiate, the result of which was that Mr Kigg, C.E., made an elaborate report upon it. The several schemes proposed fell through one after another, till at last it came within the action of the great railway scheme proposed by Mr Yogel. That gentleman, in moving the second reading of the Railway Bill, on the 6th September last, said : — " Of the line Nelson to Cobden, we propose that the portiou from Nelson to Foxhill shall be upon a guarantee, the remainder by grant of land. The guarantee upon an expenditure of £3500 a mile will represent a total of £72,000 on which to guarantee, or, at 5i per cent., a yerrly charge of £3960 for interest. Wheu it is considered that for such a money payment a railway nearly 200 miles long, and involving an expenditure of litile, if anything, short of a million is to.be secured — that it will open up an enormous extent of country, in a part of the Colony which has very great resources — I cannot conceive that the House, whether or not it endorses the opinion entertained in Nelson as to the peculiarly great value and importance of the line, will hesitate to allow a Province which is so well capable of bearing the liability, at once to have the railway proceeded with. Let it be remembered that Nelson's share of the Middle Island Railway Fund will be about £66,000; and if the Province sets that sum against the £72,000 on which a guarantee will have to be given, there will be an elementof security that will leave scarcely any charge to be inflicted as for the possession of the railway." It will thus be seen "what the grounds were Mr "Yogel proposed to himself to act upon in relation to this work, and this plan was sanctioned by the House. On his arrival in London, he placed himself in communication with the various railway contractors in the United Kingdom, and among them, as we have already c'ated, was tiie eminent firm of Messrs Brogden and Co., and the following is his report concerning the result of his negotiations : — In respect to the construction of railways for laud grants,. 1 have to observe that I am very doubtful whether we are likely to be able to arrange for the construction of any railway for such grants only, upon any approach to .terms that would be deemed admissible. One of the alternative agreements with Messrs Brogden does, as the Government; will observe, provide for an arrangement based on land grants, coupled with a guarantee ; only one-fifth of the -laud to be granted, being such would be classed as "gosd" land, the rest being such as ifc may suit the convenience of the Colony to part •with ; and there being a clear understanding that the two million acres which it was proposed to give for the ise'son Railway might be included in the amount. Should it not be desirable to part with the Nelson land, and with other land of the same character, I do not doubt but that Messrs Brogden would consent to receive a very much smaller qnantity of pood land. The land-grant element iv this arrangement is no doubt of very much importance, inasmuch as it represeuts the profit which Messrs Brogden hope to make, the cost of the railway being othei - wise minimized as much as possible. Had 1 proposed that railways should be constructed wholly for laud grants, 1 should have had to give, in some form, a guarantee as to the value of the land to be parted with. You are aware that last year Messrs Brogden negotiated for the construction of a railway in Nelscn Province which was to be paid for wholly in land. That land was exclusively of a mineral character, and the arrangement into which Messrs Brogden proposed to enter —bub which was not carried out— really amounted to this : that, except in respect to a short railway to the coal mine, they were to take three years to examine into the character of the country, or, in colonial phrase to "prospect" it; and that at the end of three years, they were to be at liberty to decline to proceed further in the matter, ia which event they were to be compensated for the expense to which they had been put, by being allowed to select 5000 acres of land free of cost. So that, in reality, what the Neloon Railway ngieement would have effected would have been this : — Messrs Brogden would have incurred the outlay necessary for examining and surveyiug the country through which the railway was to pass, they having three years for the purpose; and in the event of their concluding that it was not worth their while to proceed with the works, they were to bo recouped their expenses by a free grant of 5000 acres of land. Thus, although the arrangement might have led to the construction of the railway for land grants only, ifc would pot have done so unless Messrs Brogden bepamc satisfied that the land they would receive were specially valuable on account of minerals ; ami therefore the agreement was not of a character to come within the ordinary meaning of the plirasc, "Railways to be constructed under laml-v'innt system." lam not taking nriy exec; tim to the proposed arr.ingeinent.,, Ou ilw emifcrjuy, ib was devised with much care, and would iv any case have led to the opening of the Brunner mine. No doubt, railways have been, and are being coustructed uuder a system of land grants in ' other parts of the world ; but in such cases the land subsidies given are enormous, the

contractors are unfettared as to the character of the railways to be constructed, and considerable grants of money are indirectly obtained. I am doubtful whether the extent of land available in New Zealand is sufficient to place tho Colony in tile position of obtaining the constniction of railways for land grants only ; although I do not doubt that such portions of land as can be spared for the purpose may be employed as useful adjuncts in obtaining tho railways we require. It will thus be seen that the pi'Oßpects of a railway from Nelson to Cobden are as remote as ever on the land system ; for j the terms that are asked by the contractors, as to land grants, are of such a character as almost to preclude the idea of them being agreed to. There is one thing certain, that under any system the railway to the Brnnner Coal Mine was already determined upon ; but beyond this nothing was settled. As to parting with all the best mineral lands in the Nelsou. Province— for such would have been the result of Messrs Brogden's contract, even if they had agreed^to take them after a " three-years-prospect.' — Jt was not to be thought of, even though it might result in the carrying out of such a doubtful speculation as the railway from Cobden to Nelson. The other alternative was the construction of the railway on the basis of the system proposed by Mr Yogel, and which is already explained in his speech on the second reading, to which we have already alluded, and which provides a monetary and land guarantee. To this Messrs Brogden agreed— one- fifth of the land to be what" is called "good land." " The rest," says Mr Yogel, '.' being such as may suit the Colony to part with — (whatever tins may mean) ; and there being a clear understanding that the two million acres which it was proposed to give for the Nelson Railway might be included in that amount ;" and then follows a proviso, to the effect that if it was not desirable to part with the Nelson laud, perhaps Messrs Brogden might be induced to take- a smaller quantity of good land. Such are the results of the Treasurer's mission to London, and its effect more particularly on the Nelson arid Cobden Rajlway.