OTAGO MAIN CENTRAL RAILWAY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 439, 13 September 1877, Page 3

OTAGO MAIN CENTRAL RAILWAY.

Hating taken evidence as to the relative xrierits of the various proposed lines of railway into the interior of Qiago, LhCommittee of the House of iteprnscntatives agreed to tlip following resolutions proposed bj Mr. Macandrew : 1. That the route to Cromwell via Strathtaieri is unquestionably that which opens up the largest area of unsold land available for pastoral and agricultural settlement. 2. That it is the route which will best meat the requirements of the majority of the mining population now in Otago. 3. That the respective County Councils of Taieri, Maniototo, and Vincent, failing the Colonial Government undertaking the work, are prepared to do so, on condition of a given area of land being placed at their disposal, and to hand over the line when completed to the Government.

4. That a public Company can be at once formed in Dunedin which will undertake to construct this line under Government supervision, provided a concession is made to them of 300,000 acres of land, being about one-fourth of the area of unsold land which will be tapped by the said railway. 5. That it is the duty of the Government to construct this line, and that, failing this, it is absolutely necessary, in the interest of settlement, that the work shall be forthwith proceeded with, either by the Counties concerned or by a private Company ; and that, in either case, with a view to accelerate the progress of the work, and of diffusing employmenc throughout the district, the work of construction should be commenced at each end of the line and at one or more points in the centre simultaneously.