Jj(»ttiwaiu jfopli TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1880. THE WELLINGTON-FOXTON RAILWAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 54, 2 March 1880, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1880. THE WELLINGTON-FOXTON RAILWAY.

It is satisfactory to know that the Wellington people are at length thoroughly aroused to the necessity of agitating tbe railway question. Their previous efforts have been of the weakest possible character. Their representatives have for years past been on different sides of the House, thus neutralising their power; and their prosperity, arising from large expenditure of public money, and the natural growth of their city, intoxicated them and blinded ihem to the necessity of pushing their railways back in to the interior and opening up the large tracts of available country that were ready for settlement. The natural result has followed. Instead of strengthening and settling the country, which would have absorbed its surplus population, ard formed a profitable outlet for its trade, Wellington has confined itself to itself, and has reaped what it has sown. The terrible depression it feels is the legitimate outcome of its selfishness in the past. The country districts have been literally bled for the good of the city. Diving the session of j 1878, of all the journals in the Wellington Provincial District, The Manawatu Herald was the only one which demanded as a right that the country districts should receive the money to be derived from the sale of the reclaimed land. We pointed out that the country districts had foregone certain advantages to enable the reclamation to be completed, and tbat it would be a wise policy to accept the suggestion of Sir Wm. Fox, and spend the money on the Wellington-Foxton Railway. Had the people of Wellington accepted that suggestion, and agitated for the expenditure of the proceeds of the Reclaimed Land on the West Coast railway, it would probably have been secured. But no ! They wanted a City endowment, and this particular block being within their borders, they agitated until the Government refused to do anything but devote the money to Colonial purposes. It is therefore satisfactory to know that they are at length aroused to the necessity of starting the work simultaneously at both ends. But a careful enquiry into the matter will show at once that they are not even yet fully alive to their interests on this most important matter. The trouble of Wellington at present is an overplus of population. Will that be removed by the construction of a few miles of railway at their end of the line? Certainly not. It will stave off the evil day, but directly Jbhe work is finished, there will be the same sad story of want, distress, and misery. The reason of this is, that the Wellington line, until it reaches tbe west side of the Paikakariki hill, will not open up a single acre of good land, available for settlement. From Wellington to Johnsonville the country is of a most broken character, and to support an increase of population is almost out of the question. Following line to Porirua, around the bay and along to Paikakariki, the country is one of the most unproductive stretches in the Colony, and the trade will be infinitesinal ; in fact, there never will be sufficient population in those districts to warrant the construction of a railway apart from the fact of it being portion of the main line. We therefore deem it more important for the interests of Wellington itself that the railway should be pushed on from Foxton than from Wellington. The country lying only a few miles to the south of Foxton would, if opened, not only absorb the surplus labour which is one of the great causes of Wellington's distress, but would also turn that surplus labour into a source of profit, by settling thie men but of employment on land, and making them thus producers. A few figures wiU assist us

to make plain our meaning. According t6 the seventh schedule of .the Immigration and Publio Works Appropriation Act of last session, the length of line from Wellington to Johnsonville is 6J miles. The estimated expenditure l'eqithted to complete this section is £90,000, or about £14,000 per mile. After that amount is expended, there will be nothing to show for it but a few miles of railway, of little use. On the other hand we find that til© estimated coat of the line from Johnsonville to Foxton is only about £5500 per mile, and as this includes some heavy work between Johnsonville and Paikakariki we may reasonably conclude that the cost | at the Foxton end will be only about I £4,000 per mile. The £90,000 to be i spent between Wellington and John- | sonville would therefore, if spent at the Foxton end (exclusive of the Manawatu bridge), carry a railway right through the very centre of the finest piece of country between Foxton and Wellington. This would afford real relief to Wellington. Hundreds of sections could be at ouce mapped off, and thousands of people placed upon them. Referring to our article of Januaiy 2, in which we dealt with the laud purchases on the West Coast, we pointed out that 74,717 acres are in the hands of the Government, as completed purchases. This w r ould give 747 sections of 100 acres each, and allowing each section to cany say seven persons, we should be able to absorb at once some 5,000 people, thus relieving Wellington in a way that public works could never do. The object of our remarks is toshow that the policy of Wellington is a wise one in stirring up Government to push forward the lineat this end also, and we verily believe that WeUington would be working for her own permanent good, if she were to say to the Government, " We are suffering adversity for want of a good back country. First, open that country, and then push forward oiu* line from this end as fast as you can." If that were earned out, the whole of the trade would pass through Wellington via Foxton, as certainly as if the line were constructed to the former place. Although losing the shadow for a season, Wellington would gain the substance.