His Honor the Superintendent of Nelson to the Hon, Colonial Secretary. •

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 41, 15 February 1873, Page 1

His Honor the Superintendent of Nelson to the Hon, Colonial Secretary. •

Sir— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your leiter of the 7th .instant enclosing copy of a letter addressed to you by the Hon. Mr. Yogel for the Minister for Public, Woiks. I much regret that the Government declines to comply with my request for an advance of £5000 for the purpose of making a wooden tramway from the Brunner Mine to Cobden, in order" to extend the operations of the mine pending the construction of a railway to Greymouth, a work which will probably not be completed for a year and a half or two yeara.* I have every reason to believe, from the estimates of the Provincial Engineer and of the Overseer of Public Works, that the sum asked for would be sufficient, and I am not aware upon what data the contrary opinion expressed by Mr Yogel is founded. At all events the excess, if any, would without difficulty be supplied from current Provincial Revenue. Mr. Yogel proceeds to express his opinions that the proposed tramway "might result in retarding the development of the mine, because it is clear that the Nelson Government desire to construct the tramway on that bank of the Grey which is, according to the information in the possession of the General Government, the wrong one for developing the mine to the best advantage." Presuming that Mr. Yogel refers to the report of Messrs. Blackett and Hector, I have to point out that the instructions to those gentlemen were not to confine themselves to the development of the Brunner Mine, but to report "on the best course of a railway to connect'the coalmines on the Grey River with a shipping port, with a view to promoting public interests to the greatest extent, and to securing the greatest development of the coalfield and lo the best paying line,"—that is to say, as I understand the instructions, to report on the line calculated to develope the mine on the south side of the river as well as the Brunner Mine, and also to take into account general considerations of the public interest apart from the development of the Brunner Coalmine. With respect to the mine on the south side of the river, I think it will not be disputed that owing to the difficulties and expense of working it and the somewhat inferior character of: the coal, it would be a waste of money to attempt to work it until the Brunner Coalfield is entirely exhausted. The line on the north side of the river was estimated apart from the cost of a bridge in communication with the southern mine at £24,687—that on the south side at £30.376. But it has been found that the line on the south side was in parts deeply under water in times o! flood in the river to a depth, I am informed, of about seventeen feet, and the estimate submitted to Parliament last session is raised to £54,400, or an average cost of £8000 a mile. Some part of the addition to the estimate is no doubt attributable to the rise in the price of iron, but the chief part of it is, I conclude, owing to alterations found to be necessary in the course of the line. I ara perfectly satisfied that a line adapted for the fullest development of the Kruuner Mine can be made on the north bank of the Grey for a sum not exceediug one-half of the corrected estimate for that on the south bank. With respect to the conditional agreement entered into between the General Government and myself some twelvemonths since, I introduced it to the Provincial Council in the following words—" in the hope that you will assent to its execution by me on behalf of the Province, after it has received such modifications in the details as may appear to you to be desirable." The Counc.il assented to the agreement in what appear to me to be its leading features, namely, that security should be given for the sum authorised by law for the construction of the railway— (£26,2so)—and that the security should be the land within a radius of ten miles from the mine. But they reduced the minimum quantity of coal which the mine should be bound >,o tran-mit by the;line from 25,000 tons in the first year to 15,000 tons ; the rate of annual increase from 5000 tons to 3000 ; and the ultimate minimum from 50,000 tons to 30,000 tons. These alterations appear to me to be unimportant. The quantity of. coal to be carried by * the railway must be regulated by the demand at the port and the supply obtainable at the mine—neither of which will in the smallest degree be affected by the figures contained, in lhe agreement. It will clearly be tbe interest of the Provincial Government, or of the les«e*'S of the mine, whoever they may be, to mine and sell as much coal as po-sible, and the remunerative characfer of the line will depend upon the considerations I have above referred to, and not upon the quantities specified in the agreement, which I have little or no doubt would be very largely exceeded. With reference .to Mr. Vogel's suggestion " that arrangements. might possibly be made with persons (or in a company) possessing ample means to work the mine as a whole on both sides of the river," I can only repeat the opinion I have already expressed, that so long as there: is a ton of coal in the Brunner Mine that on the other side of the river will not be worked, as. the seam on that side descends from the level of the river instead of ascending from it as is the case with the Brunner Mine, and the expense of working is consequently very much greater. The coal on the south side is also, so far as is yet known, more tender, and .therefore less marketable; than that on the north side. In reply to the question contained in Mr. Vogel's: letter., I am not prepared ,to move the Provincial Council; to recede from the alterations they made;.in the details of; t|ie, conditional agreement, as although they appear tome to be quite, unimportant as regards the^. question of the construction of a railway, I think they are in other respects judicious., Nor am I prepared "to state terms upon which I would hand over the whole, pwperty to the General Government," which could, I presume, only be done by act of the Geneial Assembly. Independently however of the absence of the power, I do not see sufficient reason: to think that the interests either of the province or of the colony would be promoted by removing the Brunner Coalmine or any other provincial property from the benefit of, local management aud control. Torecnr to my application for an advance of £5000 for the proposed tramway, it will be seen, on reference to my letter of the 17th July last, in which the application is made; that I propose that the tramway should be constructed as a temporary means of keeping, up ami increasing the supply of coal during the intervalwhich must in any case occur before aipenna-ieut railway is made, and that I raised no question as to the decision at which the Government Imvo ■arrived with reference to the route to be adopted for, the permanent work;authorised by t.ie General Assembly. ft&PP^l"B:.fo> uae that the proposed tramway would, at a comparatively trifling noast and without risH to' Colonial fundsi t&td largely ;tbdevelop© t^'miie-inateaaof to > retard itßffde?elop.

ment. as. the Government appears, upon what grounds I am unable to discover, to consider it would do. I mu3t again, express my very great regret at the determination at which the Government have arrived,-and an earnest hope that they will yet consent to take the matter into re-con-sideration, the more especially if the Government consider the modifications made by the Provincial Council in the conditional agreement with myself to be sufficient reason for postponing the construction of the permanent line. I have, &c, Oswald Curtis, Superintendent. Nelson, December 24, 1872.