MANAWATU RAILWAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3778, 10 December 1907, Page 3

MANAWATU RAILWAY.

Acquisition by the Government. Notice Served. The Government on Saturday morning served formal notice on the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, Ltd., of its intention to acquire the company’s line. The notice was served by Mr A. H. Kimbell, of the Public Works Department, upon Mr Hannay, general manager of the company, at about 11.25 on Saturday morning. The text is as follows: — WELLINGTON AND MANAWATU RAILWAY COMPANYWhereas by section 114 of the Railway Construction and Land Act, 1881, it is provided that, subject to the terms of any contract . . . made under the said Act, the Governor shall be entitled at any time after the expiration of ten years from the date the entire line of railway provided for in the contract is opened for traffic, upon giving twelve months’ notice in writing to the company, to pur chase the railway at a price to be determined by arbitration as mentioned in the Act: and whereas by a contract under the said Act, to wit, a deed dated March 20th. 1882 , . . and made between her late Majesty the Queen of the one part and the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, Limited (being a company within the meaning of the said Act) of the other part, it is witnessed and agreed that the company shall construct and maintain the therein mentioned railway (being a railway within the meaning of the said Act) upon the terms and conditions therein mentioned: and whereas the said railway has been constructed accordingly and the entire line thereof was open for traffic on or about the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eightv-six : and whereas by clause 14 of the said contract it is provided that the power of purchase conferred upon the Governor by the said Act may be exercised at any time after the expiration of three years from the completion of the said railway: and whereas the said railway was completed on or about the twenty-fifth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six: and whereas the Governor desires to exercise the aforesaid power of purchase : Now, therefore, pursuant to the provisions of the above-recited section 114 and of all other powers enabling me in this behalf, and for the purpose of giving the twelve months’ notice prescribed by the said-recited section, I, William Lee, Baron Plunket, Governor of the Dominion of New Zealand, hereby give to the said Company notice that on the expiration of twelve months from the date of the service of this notice on the said company, I will purchase the said railway at a price to be determined by arbitration as mentioned in the said-recited section, subject to the provisions of the said Act and the terms of the said contract.

Dated at Wellington, December 7th, 1907, (Signed) PLUNKET. Signed by his Excellency the Governor in the presence of James McGowan, Acting-Minis-ter for Public Works.

The railway will, therefore, become the property of the Government on the 7th December, 1908. The Arbitration Court to ascertain the amount of compensation shall consist of three persons, a majority decision being accepted. One of the arbitrators shall be nominated by the Governor, another by the company, and the third by the other two.