THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1439, 12 March 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1873.

The promoters of the New Zealand Coal Company cannot_well afford to protract the preparation of preliminaries to the object they have in view, and it was a wise decision on the part of the local Committee to appoint promptly a deputation to interview the provisional directors in Wellington. Not only are there several points of importance which should be decided before the project is thoroughly launched, but promptitude of action is required because of the appearance of another Richmond in the field — because of the creation of another company whose pretensions, though too magnificent to be readily realised, might interfere materially with the milder project regarding which. Greymouth is at present both " diligent in business" and " fervent in spirit." It will be remembered that, not many days ago, some gratuitous advice | w«xa glvon to the promoters of tlie sostyled New Zealand Company by a Nelson oontemporary ; that advice being to the effect that they should abandon the design of devoting their attention to the Brunner mine as the source of their coal supply. The advice thus given was so unaccountable that it naturally created some surprise, but the key to the problem was discovered a few days subsequently, when the fact became known that a society of sanguine gentlemen in Nelson had simultaneously contemplated utilising the Brunner mine in a direction different from that intended by this Coal Company or by tiie General Government. The typical " milch in the cocoa-nut" was at once accounted for. Since then further details of theNelsonian design have come to hand in the form of nine resolutions prepared by the provisional committee for adoption, as the phraseology goes, " by the people of the Proviuce." Whether they ever come to be publicly discussed in any other part of the Province save on a Nelson city platform, it is prudent that those composing the Coal Company, in whose objects such substantial interest has here been taken, should be fully informed of their existence, and we therefore publish the series. Very similar, if not precisely parallel, recommendations as to the Brunner Mine have been submitted to the residents of Greymouth who have taken shares in the company created in Wellington, and aa these will in due time be al&o submitted to the Wellington directors, and discussed by them, it is desirable that the deputation should not be acting in the dark, but be fully informed as to what the company may have to encounter in future negotiations with either the General or Provincial Governments. With the Superintendent and Waste Lands Board absolutely identical, and with him acting also on the Inland Communication Committee, the resolutions of the latter, it can readily be supposed, might find at Provincial head-quarters an amount of favor which might materially influence the fate of any applications made on behalf of the Coal Company. The resolutions referred to are as follows :• — "1. That to promote the prosperity of this Province, to develop the mineral wealth in the Buller, Inangahua, and Grey Valleys, and to induce settlement upon the rich flats and timbered lands therein situated, and generally to increase the prosperity of the Province, it is necessary to establish some cheap and permanent means of overland communication between Nelson and Greymouth without further delay. 2. That as the greater part of the line will pass through heavily timbered country, and as coals and other minerals will form a large proportion of the outcoming freight, a railway will be the best means of establishing permanent communication, and encouraging the settlement of the lands proposed to be opened up ; and will connect the short line 3 now being constructed at Nelson and Greymouth and enable trains to run through from port to port. "3. That in view of the vast sources of wealth (especially of coal and gold) known to exist in the country proposed to be opened up, it is advisable to form .

company, under the Joint Stock Companies Act for the construction of a railway on the basis of the report of the subcommittee on finance. "4. That the co-operation and assistance of the General and Provincial Governments be requested, on the ground that no other public work can equal thn proposed railway in the benefits it will confer on the Province. "5. That the Superintendent be requested to endeavor to obtain from the Provincial Council at its next sitting an Act recommending the Governor to set apart and apportion not less than 900,000 acres of the waste lands of the Province as an inducement for the construction of such railway, and finally to grant the same. to the Company under the provisions of the ' Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870.' " 6. That the Governor be requested to enter into an arrangement with such Company for the construction of the railway, and under the 9th and 10th sections of the 'Railways Act, 1870,' grant the above land to the Company as an inducement for the construction of such railway. "7. That the Waste Lands Board be requested to» obtain the necessary power to grant to the company a lease of the 1280 acres set apart for the Brunner Mine, on the minimum term authorised by the 65th section of the ' Waste Lands Act, 1863.' "8. That the General Government be requested to lease to the company the Nelson and Foxhill, and the Greymouth and Brunner + .on, railways, with their respective rolling stocks, upon such terms as may be agreed. "9. That the Superintendent be requesterl to place o;i the Estimates the sum of £5000, to defray the costs of a working survey of the line and the preliminary expenses attending the formation of a company, and the passing of the necessary legislative enactments."