The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1885. THE WELLINGTON – MANABATU.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 8, 8 June 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1885. THE WELLINGTON - MANABATU.

In a recent at ticle we pointed out that m our opinion Captain Russisli/j m liis address to his constituents at Hastings, had somewhat undervalued the importance of some of the colonial. railway undertakings m course of construction m prospective, m reference to which the Member had spoken m terms of rather indiscriminate condemnation. We 1 notice that the Napier Telegraph is m accord with us m considering the WeHin^ton-Manawatu line as the most important link of the whole chain, and onethat will carry the largest amount of traffic. Our contemporary proceeds .to observe that there are now no less than six-hun-dred and fifty miles of Government railway either completed, or m a very forward state,; the traffic of which must to a large extent pass along the company's line to or from Wellington. So far from it being the fact, as inferred from Captain. Russell's remarks, that the Manawatu Railway Company is m a " bad way " and anxious to foist its line upon the country, the. Telegraph .affirms that the company is pushing on its .wqi'ks .;with . imdiminishcd energy, and confidently anticipates from Wellington to Palmerston within eighteen months.. The comr pletion of this line will- mark a. most important epoch m the' history of sheep-farming m Ilawke's Bay. At, the present moment it costs about four shillings a-head to take fat sheep from the latter district to Wellington, a sum which includes deterioration of the stock from the long journey. When, however, the line is open it is anticipated that sheep will be delivered' at • Wellingt n, say trom Te Aute', at one shilling ahead. Now, it is absurd to suppose that this large, saving will go into the pockets of- the Wellington buyers. It will necessarily be participated m by the seller at this end, and will represent so much additional weath to this district. ■ The Tdeyraph then refers to Sir Julius Voofl's proposal for the purchase of the line on behalf of the Government. It remarks as follows: — Firstly, the company is under agreement to the Government- 'to sell the line to the State within three years- of its completion at. 10 per cent.: above its cost should the Crown desire to buy it. This is a honafide agreement which the colony must sooner or later carry -out if the railways are to ; belong to the State. A short time back the Manawatu company discovered that a sufficient sum of money had not been borrowed to complete its work," and at the same time it was bound down not to borrow more money on its present security. The directors accordingly thinking the Government might be willing to take the line over under the terms of the agreement m anticipation of its maturity, applied to Sir Juuus Vogkl, who met them with a counter proposal to the following effect:— That the Government would take over the line, section by section as completed, at the contract cost price, and pay the company ten shillings per acre for the hnds allocated to' it, but leave to it such portion of the reclaimed land at Wellington that might not be required for railway 'purposes. The company very wisely declined this proposal, and decided to double its capital, and complete the work , with, the utmost despatch. Had Sir. Julius VogeiAs proposal been accepted the company would have lost something like .£340,000, made up as follows; — Loss on raising the X J 400,000 loan at 95, cost of ; raising the loan, &c, .-£20,000 ; three years' interest at 5 per cent., L' 60,60 6; interest on probable cost of theline (L 500,000), 1,50,000,; unallocated lands to the value of L 29.000 at 9s fid per acre, but worth to, the company 30s per aero, L 91,578"; engineering and' other charges,. > 1,20,000.,; "reclamation •■ of f2O acres at Well m ;ton, " worth L4OOO per. acre, LSO,OOO. If added to this the work done by the Cyovcvnnu'm, estimated at L 35,000. and the value of the Porirnn l\n\; bridge, LI O,OOO, we have a grand

total of L380,07S which Sir Julius would have secured for tlie colony had his pvopos 1 been accceptcd by the company. That the company is m no such straits as to render any sacrifice necessary we may state that its shares are I4s paid up, and the last quotations m London were 17s (xl to ; .21s, - while the debentures floated at 95 now stand at 1.03. Of course,)- it must be borne m mind that it cannot be expected that the YVeHirigton - Manawatu Railway, even when completed right through, will { carry its anticipated amount of traffic- until the East Coast line connects with Palmevston, which we trust is a not very distant realization. By that time also settlement m and adjacent to Manawatu should have rapidly extended, and tlie population increased,' so that it is not unreasonable to expect that within the ! present decade the Company's line should become the most important railway highway m the North Island. That it will materially benefit the districts which it connects m unbroken communication with each other' and with seaports on both coasts^ cannot be questioned; and it is equally certain that through its: 'instrumentality the progress and importance of Palmerston North will be pro, moled to an extent and at a rapid rate that it is difficult, if Indeed possible, at the present time to approximately conceive* much less actually realize.