INLAND COMMUNICATION. — PUBLIC MEETING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 73, 25 March 1873, Page 2

INLAND COMMUNICATION. — PUBLIC MEET IN G.

A public meeting was held at the Provincial Hall last night, for the purpose" of taking, into consideration the resolutions drawn up by the Inland Communication Committee. The amount of interest taken in this matter was shown by the crowded state of the Hall, and the attention paid to the remarks of the various speakers; '■•'•'-.' 7. His Honor the BUPBBINTENDHNT, iaying taken the chair, read the advertisemeht calling tbe ' meeting, and congratulated the Committee and •the Jpubllo on tbe unanimity that prevailed on

some ten years ago wonld have resulted in the railroad to the Coast being now completed instead of being only just talked . about. He was sorry to observe that some of the papers had been writing in too depreciatory a tone of the state of the province, which he considered was a grave error, as that was-, not the way to induce the General Government or foreign capitalists to render assistance. Besides, the expressions made use of that we we're starving and lagging behind the other provinces had no foundation on facts. Including Westland, there were nine provinces in New Zealaud. and in the matter of' population Nelson stood fifth on the.

"lis^^ftb^ yimporta/were^concerned, fifth, and in exports ,A ,; fi(t^hjJimi'«Wlffi ; .regar^^ revenue she was at all eyents.fburth;;if ihot --tbird.7; It must be-remem-bered that Nelson had not the vast "amount of agricultural lands of which Otago and Canterbury could boast, nor had s Bhe.. had the temporary advantages that had been enjoyed by Auckland and Wellington of being the seat of Government, . r and r of having bodies of "troops -located in their ; " midst. : y All; the progress j ehe .had made hadbeen achieved by the hard .work and energy of her ' r lohalfide settlers. s One matter in. which she; cer-" ;tainly was behind her neighbors 'was that of debt, in which she was exceedingly behindhand, and 'he trusted she might remain so, until some way was open of expending money with a certainty :.; of a/dvantage.' arising from it. . In. some respects she'oc'capied.a superior position to the other provinces. In Education, she stood very nearly, if not 'quite; 'first, and with regard to general comfort .and well-doing, the jpeOple of this province, 1 however poorly in r their modesty they might think of themselves, he be---lieved were- in a better state than those in : any other part ofthe colony.. He hoped to hear no more of these depreciatory remarks which were not only riot -judicious, but -riot true. Be hoped the Committee would be able to satisfy the public that tbey had arrived at a. sound and practical cohclusionVith regard to the best means of opening up the country.' They certainly had performed goad service in collating from blue books and " Gazettes and from oral testimony a vast amount of information that would always be of .•great use. ; It had been resolved ; to try to form a Company by offering as an inducement a bonus of so much land for every mile of J railway constructed, but he was not quite clear why the r.quantity- of land mentioned should : be less than that, originally, offered to English capitalists. Mr.'fcOLAnnEßS said that he had consented to move these resolutions for two reasons, the first of which was that he took a. very great interest in everything connected with the Province of Nelson, which he wanted to see occupying, its proper position in the .colony, fand this scheme of . ,opening ; up the country would go far, he believed, to assist in bringing about such a result. His second reason was that the report of the com- - -miffee 7had been "so extensively circulated that it was quite unnecessary for him to make a long speech. Tbe committee had been working most assiduously for a long time, and few people had any idea of the amount of work that the preparation of the report had< involved, and he hoped the: meeting would adopt the resolutions he was about to propose, as he believed that the course shadowed out in them was < the only means 'by whkh the desired result could be arrived at.. The committee, he might say, had steered clear! of anything like politics, and bad "worked shoulder tO:Bhoulder without any individual member of it feeling that he was in any way compromising himself,., and he. trusted that, the -people would work in ar-similar manner, and with that unanimity by which alone success could be ensured. He was not one of those who considered that without this railway Nelson, would collapse, but he did think that.it would tend very largely to increase not only the prosperity of the province but of the colony. The proposal now before the meeting had been agreed to by the Committee as .a last resource. For some time they had- hoped that the Government might be induced to advance the necessary funds on the security of the landrbut after considerable discussion it was decided that there was no hope, of this, and therefore it had been decided to recommend the formation of a Company. It was for those pre- . sent to decide whether the Committee had' taken the proper view of tbe matter, whether they approved of the resolutions, and. whether they were prepared to go heart and boul iuto giving them effect. It was not requisite for each to put his all into the speculation, but it was not only desirable but absolutely necessary for every one to do a little towards it, if we wished to induce, foreign capitalists to come to our assistance. Mr Sclanders then .moved the resolutions which have already been published. Mr AcroN Adams, in seconding the resolutions, said that he was sure all must. have recognised the fact, notwithstanding what had been said by the chairman, that the tide of prosperity in Nelson had been ebbingy for some time. The amount af agricultural land now open to us was but small, and. the bone and sinew of the province were going elsewhere, where the land upon which they could settle was not better than that which we could offer them, but where it was more accessible. The decrease of our^trade and prosperity was acknowledged on every side, and the ' excuse given by every bankrupt who passed through the Court was the general depression that prevailed. According to the census of 1864, , the population ofthe province was 10,000; in 1867 it had increased to 23,000; but had it gone on progressing at the same rate since? Unfortunately the returns. of 1871 supplied evidence that the contrary was the. case, for then it amounted only to 22,000, showing a decrease of 1300: "While other provinces were progressing we were stagnating, if not retrograding; When they ■were borrowing money to open up theircountry; Nelson, with Pharisaical pride, had gathered up her skirts and sneered at them for so doing," but the.reßult Bhowed that they, were /more ,in f thei right than we. But regrets were as useless as : delays were dangerous, and it was to try. and! bring about abetter state of things that they had! met that evening. It was hot generally understood! , what vast resources were open to us* in ouifrhaiikj %sountry. , A few enterprising men who/s&ad; through. it knew- of ita wealth, S#-tb! *! public it was a sealed book. He had 1 •^ii^i^r^he-^ullerr-liyelli-'and ~Grey "districts! twice within the last; eighteen months, and wasi sure that we underrated our resources. In coal, i gold, timber, and land fit for farming, he believed the western watersheds beat the eastern, But there was one item in which we had the advantage th6ini hamely^iri'the possession of a good port without'whichjthey could not progress. It was theold^tory of the belly and the members. Let ua unite resources, and both -must prosper, let us continue separate and both must starve. Every one who. had seen -the.' country spoke in high terms of/it^ eyen l the > chairman, who had ; . recently visited it, had come back more than ever impressed with ,-i^ value. , Mr Adams, having referred to the adyahtagesthatThad: accrued to other parts of New Zealand and to America from opening up the country" by Railroads,- went on to isay that by a through line to^the. Coast coal could be supplied in Ndsou from ,the Brunner mine at • 25s per ton, at wWch'price i;.4i;^uld'lTbe/ readily bought for home consumption;; and : by coasting irtfeamers, while it wjas^^xtremeljri probable that other, discoveries nearer th%tbwA^wguld be inade. The, difficulties qf^TOn thought, had I^hyJ.OY<a^^^\^i} as there were no ranges. to^be^ :i .Buf^oimtpd^excepting ih and out of tM Mo^eka^^eyi : 'Although 7 the "estimatei „ of. .the Committee! were thoufiht'by some to be yery. low, and therefore not >»4<7'7'|i*;i;7y7 XY^%ly&^JyyXx': :

r trustworthy, -theyiadhotarrived at- themi with- : out ; good reasons, the two principal • ones being that the land would cost nothing, and that,' timber wag l abundant.' The -Finance Committee',? afte^con^eririg allthe cons,'had "come' . to the conclusion that the only way in which this railway waß to be obtained was to- do it ourselves, • as it was. not thought likely; that'the Ge'neral Government would' undertake it, and the Provincial Government had no power to borrow the necessary funds "This of course, meant rai- ing; a ;large Jflum of money. ,We could hot dip this in the Province, and therefore it" was proposed 5 to invite foreign capitalists to assist. In order to do this we must.be prepared to show, by putting our hands into our pockets, that we fully believe in tbe work, and it would also be necessary to grant large concessions. The Committee therefore recommended that 900,000 acres and the Brunner mihei should ybe handed over- tojbhfe Company. They .also; recommended that „£5600 should^be placed '''on tHe"' Estimates" to cover preliminary expenses, and if this resulted in securing the railway, Nelsou would never have invested money better or half so well. The calculations made' by the Committee showed that there was every reason to believe that the undertaking would pay , the shareholders., The .Committee hoped that the ' public would heartily enter into the scheme, and everyone come forward and take up his one, two; j or three shares or as many as he could afford, and ! so make it it essentially a public Company. _When .we had made Nelson the head quarters of the Northern and Western portion of this island, "' when we had thousands of stampers crushing the 1 gold-bearing quartz with which the interior of the province abounded, when we had thousands 01 ! Befctlersi; in; the.;ndw..almoßt unpeopled valleys, when there was a large number of miners working the alluvial goldfields that were known to exist, then we might, consider we had done our duty to ourselves- and to Nelson in placing it in the rank it should occupy among the provinces of New ZealandVand.we should look, back with; pride and satisfaction oii the day when we had determined to establish railway communication between Nelson and the West Coast. Mr Adams sat down amid loud and prolonged applause. The resolutions werethen put to the meetingby the Chairman-^maftwj. ' Numbers 1 and 2 were passed without remark. On No. 3, affirming the desirability of formings company bing put, , 7 Mr Elliott said that this resolution contained the pith of the whole matter. It was .very well, to pass a resolution stating that a company should be formed, but in addition to this the people must be thoroughly and practically in earnest. They must be prepared to put their hands irto their pockets, and unless they did this, all the meetings that might be held, and the resolutions that might ■be passed, would be mere moonshine. It was hopeless ; to ; expect that Nelson could raise all or nearly all the money. We must get assistance from outside, and' to do this we must show that - we ourselves believe in the scheme by coming for- ! ward as a community and taking snares. Some i of us had perhaps, been too ready "to decry" the j state oi Nelson, but we could not Bhut our eyes to the iact that the youth of the province; were leaving it for other parts, and if this emigration had of late been retarded, it" was solely owing to the hope that how existed of the country being opened up* by a -railway. He hoped that all those present would become canvassers" ifor theproposed company, and induce their friends to assist in the work, for they should remember that by the construction of this railway every foot of land in tbe province would be increased in value Each side of the province required something that the other possessed, and it was to bring these together j that the present scheme was proposed Had the same unanimity that appeared to prevail now existed ten years ago, a railway to the Central Buller at least would now have been an accomplished fact, and he hoped that the present movement, which had marie so promising a. commencement would, be carriedout to a successful termination. ,- \ •' The', resolution was., then carried unanimously^ -j as was also No. 4. On No. 5 being put to the meeting, Mr J. C. Bichmond said that he did not know why the land to be given as a bonus was set down at only about one half of what it was proposed , to ; hand; over "to a company some years ago. He believed it would be perfectly good policy to • give, 'if -'necessary, every rood of land to any individual or Company who would undertake the construction of a railway. <If we were going to outsiders 'for capital, we must show that the speculation. will be . a good one for "them. 7He believed that the , estir ' mate's were/ample, and it tne'.Company whb tooi ;-i the matter in hand would carry it out as suggested, it would be for their benefit, for that of the province, and of the colony. .But however .correct the estimates might appear, we might depend upon it, that <=those ; vto -}whom they ••; were,; -submitted would lobk upon them" "with "a certain' amount of doubt and suspicion, and therefore we should be prepared to offer the largest bonus in our power. The fact of most of the land being-, timbered was an advantage, in that it could 1 not be held in large estates, and to do well by it the Company must put a number of small settlers upon it There must be no howl ..about, giving away auriferous land. It would have to go with ..all its good qualities. The ; people, he thought, in the scheme, h,e_.himsdt^did.,hear.tiiy,i. ahd therefore he hoped'there would be no niggardliness or shabbiness displayed in any way whatever. He had not the least idea how many shares would be taken in Nelson, but hoped every - stamp on the floor with whioh the speakers that evening had been greeted meant a deposit. The undertaking appeared to him a perfectly healthy one, and he sincerelyrhoped air-wOuldgolihlfbr^i There were probably, very ' jfe^ people in %etroonj£ who had not invested money in alar less practical manner, and he sincerely wished that he had in his pocket all that he had invested at various times in the province in order that he -might lay it out in that undertaking. Mr Richmond then expressed his opinion on the advantages of cheap and light railways, and stated that he was on the : pointjof going to England to study the matter 1 ijidre,' clpߧlyiii.iand„ thiat .if*, /when there he could no' anything to advance the interests of . the province in connection with the proposed ] scheme, he would willingly serve them to the j best of his ability. O 77" $"*% T" j Resolutions; 5 and 6 s were^then unanimously v I agreed to, and oh No. 7b&hgT:ead, ~ J ~*~. | Mr Shbphabd said that the duty of drawing 'up the report that had been adopted.by the ComI mittee had been allotted to* him, and hejhad undertaken viti. ,f iSh inuch pleasures re §' ,to abbreviafe^&Amue^ pferhapsf prevented his being as clear as he could: have [wished on some points, and he found that the correctness of some of his statements -had J)eMi mine could not be handed oyer tov the Company, ;.h>: :-::.- ie^yyyy !^,yyyy y yxXy' 'X' : . yy, '■>', y-yylyy

as it wai already pledged as security for" the 5 liiie ' from the mine to. Greymouth. But it was -also proposed, that th>t siibrfcTjfne should be made over; toj-the Com [par}y,;v/hich r would take with it "all its* burdens, ahd the working of the mine would, he felt sure, pay all interest on the line. Everyone who had taken any interest in | the i matter must have observed that it had been pro- . posed in Wellington to form a company for 'getting possession of the Brunner mine. The Conii, , .mittee" _.was tien sit^ingiy and "feeling that j the ipossessipn of -^he mine wonld be iai gr,eat induce- - jmentjto^any Company, to fund^rtake tlife cjjnstrucr ! tiohof tlie iintj Jroih "Nelson 'to"tfie Coast, tbey requested the Waste Lands Board to withhold: - their decision until the meeting of the Provincial Council, and lie hoped that every elector would bring his influence to bear on the representatives to make them, support -this-, scheme*- whicli [was fory'tbe good of the province, j Having siiown that the7 ejtimatji^ofjAh9Lco^ the proposed line was tar less than the traffic would ac- « tually prove, Mr s-vht-phard went onto allude to the cry for separaii m that occasionally arose from' the West Coast. This, he believed, was to be attributed entirely to the want of intercourse between , the eastern ;and western sides Fof the province. : : Were pur mutual bet'ter • nnderstood, both sides; 'he- was sure,'! would bet zealous in their - endeavors to'unite rather'thah" to separate, and by pulling, together for the common good all dis^, cussions would be put a stop to and prosperity in trade secured to both. The land that it was proposed to open up in the interior was not of a nature to fall iuto the hands of monopolists, hut ' was likely to become the property of holders of . small 'allotments,;. and , thus, secure for. us that' [which, we so jbaaiyi want ed^nathely* ah "outlet for our settlers. Tffad the railway bie&n carried out wlieni ,'first. -proposed, we should; now be a prosperous'' people, but it was not yet too late. Let us unite, and help with our money, before four or. five years ,time!elapped . ywe should ; be able to reckori-our population; at fifty instead of twenty-two thonsand. We should ''■ be more prosperous, more.; united, and /working with a better heart,; because jve should, see ihefbre us'aome prospect bf locating the younger members of our families to whom at present the province offeijedjnb outlet. . ■ ' i, -'-. ■ y. 7 - ■■'. '.' pj !! .. I' » ; r■ .- i. . ■ ..■-.'••' ; The' remainder of the published resolutions were then put and carried unanimously. Mr,BAKJsriOQ \t was sure that all > who .had read the "able'and elaborate arguments advanced in the report which had been laid before them were fully ..convinced as tpihe desirability of; construct-., ihg-a railway, and he" was Equally" cdrtain'that all' would agree with him in saying that the thanks of the community were due to the. Committee: for the pains .they had. taken in cblle6tingithe necessary information. It now remained for them to take the next step, which was to appoint a Committee to dra\rv;up: a prdspectus'and to organise! a . Company. He was not prepared to give in his entire adhesion to the whole of the " thirty-nine articles* ' in detail, but he fully agreed with the spirit in which the resolutions had been framed, and. he was witling to join with the public in giving what he had to give towards promoting the work, both f om the public, estate and the pri- ! viite purse. ' He had visited the interior of "the prbviocey and' htid 'been greatly struck with its vastness, and with the vastness of its resources. There^ was land waiting to be ploughed, gold waiting to btj dug oui; here, were numbers of strong, active young men waiting for the opportunity of ploughing the land and digging out the gold. What was now proposed was tp.aflojrd to them the opportunity they desired! He , was' sorry to see that we were not only standing still but retrogading, and - to remedy this ""state " of things he was quite willing to give the whole of the land to any ompany who should undertake to construct the railway which was so greatly needed. . He would propose that the original Committee be appointed to draw up a prospectus and float a Company in accordance wijh. theresolutions. - ._. . 7 Thisiwas seconded _by Mr ;J. BT. ; Levies and carried unanimously. 7.7 7 - '■'■' £•> '-' : A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings. ;