Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY,DECEMBER 21,1880. THE WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 21 December 1880, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY,DECEMBER 21,1880. THE WEST COAST RAILWAY.

* The Wellington people are making very, little" headway with the West Coast railway scheme. And no wonder. They want to construct a railway which will cost nearly half a million of money, but though they enlarge eloquently on the vast blessing the line would be to them, they are not prepared to advance a penny of the five hundred thousand pounds it will take to complete it. The Government have been worried in connection with the matter- to such a degree that the West Coast railway scheme ,mpat have become by this time the Gete notre of the Minister for Public Works. The promoters of the scheme have asked Joy. a Government guarantee, an immense endowment of land, and other concessions of a similar nature, all of which the Government have in turn rejected. At length a final offer has been made to the promoters, on the understanding thftt the propose^ comply will

construct the line* The offer is that (fc^W^jjftient will permit tho com{nb? to reclaim 6A acres of land at the value of \VUitili, when rtilaimcd, will tie about £20,QO(). ThopvvN'ill also hand over the e>;cavafcipris, formation, and surveys already done, valued at £37,000, and give the company the iron work for the bridge over f%Hrua Harbour (which bridge, it mny be remembered, was originally intended for another part of the colony, but was kept in stock ibi* | this line on being found unsuitable for the one it "was originally intended for), also the rolling stock in hand. These two last-named concessions are said to be worth £6,000 ; so that the . outside value of the inducements the Government hold out to the company is £03,000. This means that the proposed company must fall to the ground, unless the people of Wellington are prepared tq float a company and pay up the sliares, or are able to induce outside capitalists to advance the money upon security of the share list. Virtually the company would have no other security to offer. It is unite easy to understand the anxiety of tho Wellington people to get this railway, but Avhen they had the opportunity to bring pressure to bear they neglected it, and at last awakened to find the loans spent,and not a mile formed of the only railway that conld be of permanent advantage to them. When Mr Pearce was appointed a member of the Bail way Commission we said that he was a dangerous man so far as this West Coast railway was concerned, because his interests wore all upon * the East Coast, and as a director of the Feildhig Corporation he was more anxious to secure the formation of the railway lino. from Bunnythorpe to Woodville — a ssction of the Masterton-Mnnawatu line, which the Railway Commission recommended for construction — than of that from Foxton to Wellington. Those who are familiar with the question will remember Mr Haicombe'.s proposal as agent of the Corporation to make portion of the ; Bunny thorpeWoodville lino. The offer is attached to Mr Oliver's Public Works Statement, 1879. Instead of taking warning from what we then said, the Wellington papers were afraid of Mr Edward Pearce. They toadied to him, and hounded down Mr Wright for attacking the railway in. tho House, when it was the Wellington representative on the Commission they should have directed their attacks against. It was he who played the part of traitor, and his influence as the Wellington representative led the Commission to decide in direct opposition to the whole of tho evidence except that of Frasi, who judged of the country from travelling along tho sea beach ! The Wellington people have missed their chance, aud have only themselves to thank for their present position regarding this matter. So far as the railway scheme is concerned, we look upon it at present as hopeless. There is no possibility of doing anything until the country is again able to borrow, aud that will not be for several years to come. In fact, the only way to restore our credit on the English money market will be to avoid going to the Htock

Exchange for a loan until our present period of " banishment " is expired. If we fly directly our " three years' banishment " is expired to the money lenders, we shall be met with the cry, <; Sec, this colony can only live on borrowed money/ A very strong feeling is growing in the country that we should avoid further loans at least for a number of year< to come, and if this feeling takes firm hold of the country, as we believe it will, there will be no probability of the West Coast railway and similar works being undertaken for the next seven years. Meantime, we would urge the Wellington people to join with us in Manawatu in pressing upon the Government the importance of making good roads throughout the South Manawatu country, and settling the land along the projected railway route by means of special and small farm settlements. That will bo the best means • of hastening the formation of the Welling-ton-Foxton railway.