HOW THE THIHG WAS WORKED

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 346, 8 April 1884, Page 5

HOW THE THIHG WAS WORKED

« We reproduce from 'Hansard' the discussion that took place in the Hoiisc when the District liailways Bill was under consideration. It throws a little light on the matter. In our next issue we shall give the discussion in the Legislative Council, which is far more interesting having more of a local application. DISTEICT RAILWAYS BILL. | ('Hansard,' Aug. 30th, 1883.) ; • Mr W. W. Johnston, in moving the second reading of this Bill, said, it was to try to bring about a just arrangemeni in the following condition of things Certain companies undertook the con struction of district railways betweer stated points, and upon the completion oJ these to the terminus the companies be ; came entitled to recover a guaranteed special revenue. The railway districi was defined, the ratepayers within ij

y, | agreed *that, on the completion of tl 3 I like, they should be liable to pay a cc] re tain special rate in order that the con l( j pany might thereby obtain a dividend c ' 5 "per cent. The companies, throng ' c want of capital, had not been able to com 3fc plete their lines so far as was original! n intended, and, until they had complete^ 0 them, they could not call upon the rate jfc payers to carry out the bargain made t take upon themselves this special rate j. Nevertheless the companies had com plcted a certain length of line and ha< conferred a certain benefit upon ' th 3i locality, and they thought, not unnatu LS rally, that they were entitled to some coi r si deration from the railway district. Thi >- Bill proposed that the Governor shouh y nominate assessors, who should take inti •^ consideration the whole facts of the case classify the land in the railway district and impose such a rate as would mcci 8 the justice of the case. That was th( t first part of the Bill. The socond pan " was framed to get rid of a disadvantage £ accidentally imposed upon the companies g owing to the legislation of last session By an act passed last year a power whicl formaly existed in County Councils to recover rates due to companies was abro--1 gated. Each company was made the 9 local body for the purpose of imposing 3 and collecting such rates, and it was proI vided that action on the part of the comj pany, as a local body, should take place 3 under the Eating Act of last year. In ■ terms of the District Railways Act the financial year of these various companies 3 terminated on the 31st o£ March, and the 1 period for which the companies as local >- bodies desired to collect rates would be ) the year terminating on the 31st of I March. But as they were compelled under the District Railways Act to exerj cisc these powers under the Rating Act, and as under that Act it was only poss sible to recover rates made for a period ' after the 31st of March, the companies * had been advised that they were unable * to take legal action to recover the rates ; due up to the 31st of March last, and it , was to give them requisite authority to [ got out of that unfortunate position in k which they were accidentally placed by the action of the Legislature last session that the second part of the Bill had been ! framed. Those were the only two mat- [ tors the Bill dealt with, and he hoped l the House would consent to its second reading. Mr Maeandrew understood that this , Bill did not involve the colony, in any | shape or form, in any liability connected 1 with these companies. ' . Mr Holmes said, that instead of involv- ' ing the colony in any additional expendi- ; ture, if the House would assist him in ; passing a clause of which he had given notice ho hoped it would relieve the colony , from some expenditure. Under the District Railways Act of 1877 the colony had pledged itself to pay two-sevenths of the ' deficiency up to 7 per cent in the , way of 1 profits on the railways, and up to the 1 present time none of the district railways ' (had yielded any profit except one — the , tßakaia and Ashburton Forks, which had , returned a profit of 2\ per cent. But [ even thus, the Government up to the present time, had paid over LIOOO per annum under the guarantee givenfn, the Act .of 1877. Under the. Act of 1877 that railway was prevented from increasing its charges. It was also' compelled byi the application which was put in, to run trains when trains were not necessary tp.be run. Now, it was desired to remove th,6se |re« strictiohs, so as to enable the'epinpany' to ; charge a higher rate— rsueh/j a 'rate 1 ' as would pay them, and at *the Same, time/be ) -of advantage to... the.; -public,' and thus , throw. the burd,eii on the interest on the ,!rail way upon; the persons' _ using., the, rail 7 -way. The company/ would thus be',en...^afeJMj by increasing' ,the . rates, some '^2^ * perlS^t^m^^^^^r^^#fc i iper'cehfL'' .That #ould reauee the ambjint jof the Government i guarantee to nothing.'* .. {I would' also, remove f rom. thY people vof ' |the district the „ burden ' .that was now least upon them "By the , Act of. 18774— ' -namely, the Jjurden ,6f paying '' five-' Isevenths of the deficiency v of the interest !up to the amount of 7 per cent. , The Bill altogether was one that 'should commend :itself to honorable ' mejnbers, . for ?ts [object was to relieve a district from •rates which' should never have been imposed upon it, and to relieve the Consolidated Fund'from paying guaranteed interest amounting to over Ll,ooo yearly. • Mr Ivess rose to propose an amendment. He did not so much object to the direction in which an amendment of the 'law was proposed to be effected as to the period of the session at which this Bill had been introduced. For some months past, in fact for some years past, the working of the district railways in the County of Ashburton had been Jjja serious bone of contention among the residents of the district through which the railway named in the schedule of the Bill passed. Residents there had petitioned him (Mr Ivess) {land the honorable member for Ashburton, requesting their co-operation to stay the further passage ol: the Bill J this session, to enable them to have an opportunity of expressing their viewsiixxm it/ He thought that was not an unreasonable request, seeing that the measure was likely to affect so large a number of landowners, and went, too, in tlic direction of imposing rates upon them. As so much time had already been allowed to pass, a delay of a few months would not seriously affect the interest of this particular company, although, unfortunately * there were otker companies that were likely to-be injured by the passage of the ; Bill. Still, seeing that the 1 Bill went in the direction of extending certain powers , to the company to impose rates, it might I seriously affect the settlers in that par- ! ticular district, who contended that a : breach of an agreement had been made ■ between themselves and the directors of * the company. The Bill went in the direc--1 tion of enabling the company, after the [ completion of a certain number of miles , of railway, to impose rates. When the line was projected the votes of the residents were obtained on the distinct un--1 derstandmg that the lino would be pro- ■• duced'to a point at or near Alford J Forest! The company had stopped short * within eight miles, and now it was proposed to give power to the directors to obtain a certificate for the length of line completed. , Mr Holmes.— They got a certificate two years ago, Mr Ivess said it was proposed to en- [ able them to levy a rate under that certificate. He did not dispute for one > moment that the land contiguous to the \ line or railway had been very largely \ benefited by its construction. It had been increased in value, and it was nothing but fair that the land owners should pay a just proportion for the convenience they had received from the line. But those who were situated outside the area originally benefited looked upon fit as a , serious hardship that any legislation 5 should be passed this session to bring t them, as it were, within, the area. He - held with the object of the Bill in the '. appointment of an assessor to ro-classify x the land, but he thought it was a pity £ that the Bill should be brought down at . that late period of the session, because 1 there was not sufficient time to give t those interested an opportunity of raising t tieir voices against it. He would there-

le fore move, That the Bill be read a ser- cond time that day six months. He did i- so with the object of affording the set>f tiers time to study its provisions and exit press an opinion upon it, so that next scsi- sion it might be considered calmly and y decided upoh its merits, d Mr Wright regretted that the Bill had >- been introduced at so late a period of the o session, but, notwithstanding that, he j. would not feel justified in opposing it. l- He thought lit would Jon the whole be d beneficial to the ratepayers who had to c contribute to the cost of the Uakaia — . Methven line. The reclassification which a was provided for in subsection (4) would, c however, not apply in that particular case, d It filled a very important omission in the o original Act by providing a Court of Ap(j peal to which all parties who were ag- ; } grieved by being improperly included in t the rating area could appeal; but it 0 applied only to the future, and would t in no degree relieve those settlers 3 who were suffering a wrong under 3 the rating clauses of the Haikaia-Meth- . yen line. But in [order to remove that x injustice he would, when the Bill - was in Committee, propose a proviso to . section 4to the following effect : "If 3 such certificate has been granted to any r company prior to the coming into opera- [ tion of this Act the G-overnor may, at any time prior to the thirtieth day of June, > one thousand eight hundred and eightyt four, appoint an assessor or assessors to ; revise the classification in manner afore--1 said." That would enable the Governor s to do justice where injustice had been I suffered up to the present time. He . might be told that by readjusting the ' rating boundaries tho security of the bondholder would be affected. No one would venture to say, so far as regarded any of these district railways, that if the . rating area were reduced one-half they would not then be able to meet their i obligations. It was not a question as . between the ratepayers and the bond- : holders, but a question as to the position of ratepayers who were suffering a wrong , for the benefit of others who derived the sole benefit under the Act ,: and the shor-t ■ proviso he had mentioned, if assented/to by the House, would enable that injury to be removed. Hoping that when in . Committee that amendment would be agreed to, he would support the second reading of the Bill. Mr Shrimski thought the Bill, so far : as its introduction at that time of the session was concerned, was not a very . proper one. The bill was of very great importance, and concerned a great number of people, and he thought it ought to have been distributed earlier in the . session, so as to give those who might be affected by it an opportunity of studying it. He was sorry the Miniss ter of Lands was not in his place, because it interfered a good deal with the posi- ! tion he occupied, as Minister of Lands. In some' parts of the colony, where these district railways had been constructed, no rule had been enforced, and since their construction many people had taken up sections under the deferred-payment system, and paid very high prices for them, and it would be rather hard upoh those persons now if a rate were, imposed upon them to pay for a railway which, at the time of their purchase, they had not the slightest idea that they would be rated for. There were also other matters to be taken into consideration. He broached the subject yesterday when the Bill came ; upfor first reading. He then stated that ;he believed— and he was still. of that opi;mon—tha't r ,tMs was , a private Bill. It {.concerned private companies, and ought :not to be introduced in the manner, id V which it > had been! ., - V '-'•'■ •'-.-•-■ ' • '; ! ; i : , '^Vlr.JEtolmes.-^-rlt.is; an..%mendment y of ;&• ■..public » Acfc'- y,y-: ■ : Vi'*y ->■ ' ;^\ : : i'■ '*, ■• K \ ;'■•-•: -'■~ji- ■ f&y^fc^Sffl^M' ' fl*4'_ fofo ftfrk the, honorable Tmempei?;! : ima : 3»^j^^iti^a"'^a!A6->i# f Ministeri c&IW- o&l»gpli^pS^^ fentlemism >^|^ e 1 ](Mr r Shriniski) w.p^ld bet' Ye^jpatient' £,nd very^'.attentive, .; !aiid" ,.^ouL<l •'_ him;-] JAt ; pre'seiit^fcte^ was; ,np\ mof c- thaai he • (Mr Shximski)* I wasj s afad he thanked him for the^ interruption. He believed that this^was. a matter .concerning aprir vate company or. private,, companies, and therefore it ought to.have beendntroduced in a different manner from what it had . been. He did not believe in the Government lending itself at r that time of the session to take up what he believed to be a very obnoxious measure belonging to private members or private companies. iSfe he said before, this was a very serious matter, and an opportunity ought to 1 be afforded not only to members of' the House but to the people who were interested, and who would, be subject to this rate, to read and study the measure. The Minister for Public Works, in moving the second reading, admitted himself thai the companies could not collect the rates because they had not the power to do so There was another matter to be consi dered. When these companies first undertook to lay out the lines, and the peo pie were willing to contribute toward.' the interest, they were led to believe thai the line was going to be constructed fronc a certain point to a certain point. Bui the railways had not been carried out tc that extent, and only a portion had beer constructed, and he thought the House would agree with him that it would be an arbitrary measure to talce a furfchei portion of the district which had not been benefited, and which the railway did noi reach, and make it liable for a railway which had only been brought to the dooi of large landed proprietors, and not beyond it. He tliotiglit the Bill ought tc be postponed, and an opportunity given to those affected by it to say whethei they agreed to it or not. Mr Steward said there would be sometiling in the objection of the honorable member for Oamaru if the Bill did not provide for exactly the opposite thing tc that which the honorable member seemed to imagine. He argued very justly ,thai it would not be right to call upon anj number of persons who had agreed to be rated for the construction of a line from A to C to pay exactly m the same proportion for a line constructed from A tc B. That was what this Bill recognised, The effect of a certificate under the Bill was to enable a company to levy a rate, and obtain its portion of the. colonial guarantee. But before that certificate was granted the Governor had to appoint an assessor or assessors to consider al] those altered conditions, and reclassifj the land, with power to omit from the rating district any part which was noi benefited by the portion of the line con structed. .Nothing could be fairer thai that. If any benefit had been derived then, to the extent of that benefit, th< landowners would be called upon to bea] their share. If no benefit was conferred then they would wot bo called upon t( pay. He thought the Ministry was t< bo congratulated on having found <* tolerably satisfactory solution of wha was admitted to be a very serious diffi culty. Mr W. W. Johnston was sorry tin honorable member for TVahanui shoulc have submitted his amendment on th o round that his constituents were into rested, and had had no opportunity o seeing the measure. The Bill did no affect his constituents in any way. Amendment negatived, and Bill read ; I second and a third .time.