Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1902. The Government and the Manawatu Railway Co.

Manawatu Herald, 24 April 1902, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1902. The Government and the Manawatu Railway Co.

Wb are glad to see that newspapers in other parts of the colony approve of the action of the Government in refusing to be forced as to the price they are to pay for the Company’s line. To disinterested spectators the fact that the chairman of the company and one of the large English shareholders folly approve of the price offered shows that there is a great element of fairness in it. It must not be forgotten by the taxpayers of the colony that a large sum in works executed, some £50,000, was given to the company, besides very large land grants. If the line is taken at the price named it is obvious that the colony does not get this £50,000 back again, which thus represents good interest on monies advanced by the shareholders. All that the shareholders have found in money has not been more than one pound, on every five pound share, and they have succeeded in creating a valuable property at somebody else’s expense. To put it plainly the line baa been practically made out of the supposed difference of value in the land obtained as an endowment, from the time when the Government handed it over, and a year or two after when the company borrowed money from English capitalists. As a fact we know that the land between Tokomaru and say Levin, was valued by the Government at one pound an acre when in bush and undrained, but when the bush was only cleared off the railway line, valuers placed the value of land on either side, for borrowing purposes at ten pounds an acre! We can all make railways when the simple process of putting eight or nine pounds an acre on adjoining lands and borrowing the supposed half of the value in tfye London market. We admit the shareholders had to take a risk, but they did very little towards finding cash. The speculation has turned out a paying one, but that is no reason why they should not take a fair price and heed the burdens of other colonial taxpayers. The history of the company is well-known to the Government and in justice to the colony they are acting as they should.