The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 283, 27 November 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1872.

While thinking over the urgent necessity that exists for the construction of a tram or railway between Nelson East and West it has occurred to us that it might be useful to look back and note the opportunities that have already been wasted by the Government and people of Nelson, and, it may be, to extract therefrom a lesson for our future guidance. With this view we have looked up the blue books. Gazettes, and other documents of past years, in order to ascertain the total amount of revenue that has been at the disposal of the province; and thereßultof our researches will be found below, and will, we venture to think, possess a certain amount of what we may term historical interest as showing the various fluctuations to which the province has been subject. It is unnecessary to give the details of the revenue prior to the passing of the Constitution Act, but it will be sufficient to state that the sum total for the eleven years from 1842 to 1852 inclusive was £35,268. Since then, it will be interesting to note the revenue of each year, which is given below in a tabulated form :— Mr. Stafford's Superintendency from August, 1853, to November, 1856: — Year. Eevenue. Tear. Kevenue. ,

Total for the four years, £108,474. Mr. Robinson's Superintendency from November, 1856, to March, 3865:— Year. Revenue. Year. "Revenue.

1865 71,192 Total for the nine years, £527,021. Mr. Saunders' Superintendency from March, 1865, to March, 1867:— Revenue. Year. Revenue.

Total for the two years, £337,253. Mr. Curtis' Superintendency from March, 1867, to 1871:— Year. Revenue. Year. Revenue.

Total for the four years, £444,624. From this it will be seen that the total amount of revenue for Provincial purposes raised in Nelson (exclusive of road rates) since the election of the first Superintendent is £1,452,640. Nearly a million and half of money, aod yet what is the state of the province at the present moment? It is scarcely necessary to answer the question, for every man in the place can find only too ready a reply to it. The whole of the money has been expended upon the eastern and western extremities, and no effort has been made to unite them. The consequence is, disunion where there should be unity," poverty where we might fairly; have looked for prosperity. ; But it is no use crying over spilt milk. Looking back we can Bee our -errors. It now only remains for us to look forward end endeavor to discover how they may be remedied. There is no reason whatever wny the evil .should .he perpetuated. We hive a failing;rey9nue,vit is true, .but" we have within''.^d^jtoiin^riciS/jeouroeß^of' ,' wealth::'that"can'^e t^plSce :;.us ".iif:.|tfia.. ■ van - raatead'or;^ (rear^of ■= fiiiß 'N^'Ze^iiaivprovinces.-: ''f^^^^j^if^^i^^jj^m^, are

made accessible. The land that would be rendered available by a railway into the heart of the province would, if we are to credit the reports, official and otherwise, that have been made upon it, pay over and over again the cost of such a line as we want, while the advantages would be incalculable, both to the districts wherein lie the quartz reefs of which such great things are reasonably expected, and the town cf Nelson that cannot much longer continue to feed upon itself and the small patches of 1 country in its immediate vicinity. The apathy that prevails with regard to this matter is simply marvellous. We never yet met with anyone who did not believe that a great and whelesome change for the better would be i brought about by connecting ourselves with the Lyell and Inangahua and the intermediate districts, and yet our Superintendent, the Executive, our Provincial legislature, and the public generally make no effort, display no desire, to obtain that which all allow we are so grievously in need of. With the exception, perhaps, of Taranaki, Nelson is the only one of ,tfie original provinces that has avoided debt, and she now seems to be on the very verge of having her prudence and economy rewarded by being quietly snuffed out, and if such a consummation were the height of our ambition we could not set to work to attain it in a more effectual way than that which we have adopted of quietly letting things be. If we will persist in not keeping abreast of the times we shall most certainly* reap our richly- merited reward, and Nelson, as a province, will very soon have become a thing of the past. When the ruin that is impending comes upon her she will perhaps awake to a sense of her past folly and neglect, and while with envious eyes she watches the more energetic and pushing provinces forging ahead and entering upon a stage of prosperity, such as was at one time — is even now — open to her, poor apathetic Nelson will find herself sitting out in the cold, and remorsefully listening to the melancholy refrain — «' Too late ! Too late ! Ye cannot enter now." Such at least will be her inevitable fate if she do not speedily bestir herself. If anything is to be done it must be done at once. We have tried to urge the people to action, and now have but to add that to be of any use, it must be entered upon immediately.

£ £ 1853 15,180 ... 1854 38,816 1855 24,124 ... 1856 30,354

£ £ 1857 28,787 ... 1858 • 35,807 1859 76,348 ... 1860 33 820 1861 56,577 ... 1862 97,134 1863 63,012 ... 1864 64,344 IBfis 7Ll§2 \

£ £ 1866 170,634 ... 1867 166,619

£ £ 1868 128,700 ... 1869 115,194 1870 120,730 ... 1871 80,000