By Electric Telegraph

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 147, 22 December 1871, Page 3

By Electric Telegraph

NEW ZEALAND EAILWAYS.

Naseby, Wednesday Morning. The following has been officially sup- ', plied,to,the 'Wellington Independent,' 7 and( telegraphed to the Press of the '■ 'Colony:—''"' We understand that the question of the construction of the Railways authorised' by the Assembly has constantly occupied the attention of the Government; since the close of the ses-ion, and thatVafter'considerable negotiation with Mr. '■■'. James Brogden, preliminary Arrangements have been made 1 with that getftleman on behalf of his firm, and a determination has also been generally arrived at respecting all the authorised Tailways. : ; v r ;The arrangement come to with Mr. Bfdgderi is to this ' '■ With as little dejay as possible the Gbverfimentr will place in his hands daia sufficient to enable the firm to

tender for the construction of various railways. If the Government are able to make arrangements with the Messrs jlnogden for railways to the-extent of £700,000, then Contract No. 2, as entered into .by Mr. Vogel with the firm in England, is to be can died ; otherwise it will remain in force. Se- " veral months must elapse before the necessary data as to all the railways can be given to Mr. Brogden; but, as the data for each line is given, he, has, on behalf of his firm, within one month, to send in a tender for its construction; and if the Government should not consider such tender to be reasonable, they will be at liberty to call for further tenders for the particular work. During the interval, until arrangements can be completed, the Government may give to Messrs. Brogden and Son the •construction of such portions of railways as may be resolved upon, and the •works are to be executed under the direction of the Engineer-in-Chief—the firm receiving payment ten per cent, over and above the actual outlay, all expenses being under the control and by the direction of the Government. This provision will enable i work to be ' commenced without delay, upon such lines in different parts of the country as the engineers may have ready for commencement. It is provided that, if the contract for railways to the ami unt of £700,000 is arranged, or if negotiations'for that contract fail, and Contract No. 2 is consequently revived, the Government may include in the works to be done under either contract any f railway or parts of railway which may, - meanwhile have been confined to Messrs. Brogden to be constructed under the ten per cent, arrangement; so that that arrangement really enables works to be commenced in anticipation of one of the contracts finally to be made, without necessarily imposing any additional terms of agreement. On the other hand, if the railways be not included in contracts, the Government

have power, at any time, to end the ten per cent, arrangement, and call for , public tenders. .\' y „, : '. The following is a list of the railways concerning which it is proposed to make arrangements with the firm : Dunedin to Clutha (such portions as , have not been constructed under contract) ; Blenheim to Picton; Kakaiato Ashburton, Washdyke ; Invercargili to Mataura; Moeraki to Waitaki; Auckland to Drury; Drury to Mercer; Wellington to Hutt Valley (twenty miles) ; Waitara to New Plymouth ; JNapier to Pakipaki (20 miles) ; Buller iqi. Greymouth ; Kawakawa to place of shipment. (The last two conditional on satisfactory arrangements being made by the Government with the owners or lessees of the coal mines). In respect to the Butler mine, arrangements have already been provisionally "made with the Superintendent of Nel-

As we have said, if the £700,000 contract is arranged, the No. 2' Contract will cease to be of force ■ and should the No. 2 Contract be brought into operatipn, the railways enumerated will be railways to be constructed "" l under that contract to the extent of K half a 1 million. In either case the coniitruction of lines not coming under the

contract arrangements .will be let by public tender. ; As to the ■authorised railways or works not included in th* list, we are given to understand that the Government have agreed as to the plan of procedure, which may be stated generally as follows :'— ■ i. Tramway from Napier to the Spit to be pushed on expeditiously; Waitaki tßridge works to be 1 carried on by the Government, and proceeded with expeditiously ;Kaipara to Kiverhead or to Auckland—the contract to be proceeded with, and the question of diversion to be left for. consideration ; Hawke's Bay railway (continuation), Pakipaki to Ruataniwha, to be proceeded with leisurely after the length Napier to Pakipaki has been completed, the works to be extended over four years; Hutt Valley to Masterton, to be proceeded with leisurely until the line to the Hutt Valley has been completed, and then to be pushed on expeditiously; tramway (Manawatu to Wanganui) to be completed in four years, but between Kangitekei and Manawatu the works to be proceeded with quickly by local labor; Nelson to Foxhiil to be com menced at once, to be proceeded with leisurely, and to be finished in t'iree years ; Hangiora to Kowai, to be commenced when the line to Han»iora has been completed, and then to be finished in two years; Selwyn to Bakaia, and Timarut.;» Washdyke—the works now in progress to be in each case proceeded with as quickly as possible ; Wintonto Kingston, to be constructed in four years ; Tokomairiro to Lawrence, to be commenced next summer, and then to be completed in two years ; Wanganui to New Plymouth, to be commenced when the line from Waitara to New Plymouth has been finished (say a year hence), and to be proceeded with leisurely, to suit the progress of settlements; the Canterbury four branch railways (for which the funds are partly supplied by the Province), to be completed in four years; Westporfc to Mount Kochfort to be proceeded with expeditiously, as soon as the direction of the line has been decided on.