RAILWAY ARRANGEMENTS WITH MR. BROGDEN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 300, 20 December 1871, Page 2

RAILWAY ARRANGEMENTS WITH MR. BROGDEN.

o y (By Electric Telegraph.). Wellington, Tuesday night. The following has been officially supplied to the Wellington Independent, and is telegraphed free to all the press of the colony :— " We understand tliafc^Jie question of the construction of the railways" authorised by the Assembly, has constantly occupied the attention of the Government since tbe close of the session, and that after considerable negotiations with Mr. .Tfimes Broaden, preliminary arrangements have been made with that gentleman on behalf of his firm, and a determination generally arrived at respecting all tbe an* horded, railways. The arrangement come to wi'h Mr. Brogden is to this effect : — With as little delay as possible the Government will place in his hands data sufficient to onable the -firm to tender for the construction of various railways. If the Government are able to make arrangements with Messrs. Brogden 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 cancelled, otherwise it will remain in force. Several months must elapse before the necessary data as to all the railways can be given to Mr. Brogden, but as the data r for each line are given he is, 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 public tenders for the particular work during the interval before final arrangements can be completed. Government may give to Messrs, Brogden & Sons 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 as payment 10 per cent, over and above the actual outlay *, all expenditure being nnder the control and by the -iirection of the Government. This provision "will enable work to be commenced without delay upon such lines, in different parts of the country, as the engineers may have ready lor commencement. It is provided that if the conract for railways to the amount of £700.000 is arranged, or if negociations for that contract fail, and Contract No. 2 is consequently revived, the Government may include in the works to he done under either contract, any railway or parts of railways which may meanwhile have been confided to Messrs. Brogdeu to be constructed under the 10 per cent, arrangemont.so that that arrangement really enables works* to he commenced in anticipation of the contract finally to he made without necessarily importing any additional terms of agreement. On the other hand, if the railways be not included in contracts, the Government ba<*e power at any time to end tho ten per cent, arrangement and call for public tenders. The following is a list of the railways concerning which it is proposed to make arrangements with the firm:— Duuedin to Clutha, such portions as are not being constructed under contract. Blenheim to Picton. Rakaia to Asbarton, Ashburton to Terauka. Temuka to Washdyke. Invercargill to Mataura. Moeraki to Wailaki. Auckland to Erury. Drury to Mercer Wellington to Hutt Valley. 20 miles. Waitara to New Plymouth. Napier to Pakinaki, 20 miles. Brunner to Greymouth, and Karra Karra to place of shipment. The last two conditional on satisfactory arrangements being made by the Government with the owners or lessees of the coalmines. In respect to the Brunner mine, arrangements have already been provisionally .

made with the Superintendent of Nelson. As we have said, if the JE700.000 contract is arranged, the No. 2 Contract will cease to be of force ; and sliould the No. 2 Contract be brought into operation, the railways enumerated will he railways to be constructed under that contract to the extent of half a million. In either case, the construction of lines not coming -under the eontract arrangements will be let by public tender. As to the authorised railways, or works not included in the list, we have been given to understand that the Government have agreed as to the plan of procedure, which may be stated generally as follows : — Tramway from Napier to Spit, to he pushed on expeditiously. Waitaki bridge works to be 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 Ituataniwha to be proceeded "with leisurely after tbe 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 ber ween liangitikei and Manawatu, the works to bo proceeded with quickly by local labor. Nelson to Foxhill to be commenced at once, to be proceeded with leisurely, and to be finished in three years. Rangiora to Kowai, to be commenced wlrjn the line to Rangiora has been completed, \md then to be finished in two years. Selwyn to Rakaia, and Timaru to Washdykc — the works 'now in progress to be in each case proceeded with as quickly as possible. Winton to 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 settlement. The Canterbury four branch railways (for -which the tuuds are partly supplied by the province) to be completed in four years; Westport to Mount Rochfort. to be proceeded with expeditiously as soon as the direction of the line has been decided.