FOXHILL AND GREYMOUTH RAILWAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 205, 29 August 1873, Page 2

FOXHILL AND GREYMOUTH RAILWAY.

The following copies of correspondence between Mr Curtis, the Superintendent of the Province, and the Hon Mr Vogel, on the subject of thc Nelson and Greymouth Railway, have beeu received by telegraph :-— The How J. Vogrl to O. Curtis, -Esq. Sir— l have the honor to convey to you in writing an answer to the representations made by you, and the deputation which accompanied you, at our interview tbis morning. The Government will ask the Assembly to authorise the construction of the line between Foxhill and Brunnerton as part of the main line through the Middle Island, subject to future votes being taken for the necessary cost. The Government, on the following grounds, will not ask for an appropriation this session :— CI.) They are not in a position to give adequate information. The Provincial Government have only signified within the last three or four months their willingness to become responsible for the cost of the railway. The General Government at once instituted inquiries, and it appears to them unreasonable that the Provincial Executive, which took so long a time to make up its mind to ask for the railway on condition of responsibility, should now complain, because the General Government, while moving the Assembly to authorise the work, do not deem it advisable in the absence of more detailed information to invite an appropriation. (2.) No delay will arise through not seeking an appropriation this session. The line is already proceeding at each end, and nothing but a survey could be made during the present year. The Government will seek authority to make a working survey, with the object of asking next year for an appropriation for some portion of the line. I have further to say that the Government will recommend the Assembly to accept the general liability of the Province, without the specific security of the land proposed to be placed at the disposal of the Colony. . The land will therefore continue to be subject to provincial administration. Wellington, August 27.

Oswald Curtis, Esq., to the Hon Julius Vogel. Sib, — 1 have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date. I greatly regret that the Government decide not to ask Parliament for an appropriation of funds for the construction of any portion of the railway between Foxhill and Brunnerton during the present session. At the same time I have to thank the Government for undertaking to ask the Assembly to authorise the construction of the line between Foxhill and Brunnerton as part of the main line through the Middle Island, subject to future votes being taken for the necessary cost, and to seek authority to make a working survey with the object of asking next year for an appropriation for some portion of the line. I may, however, be permitted to remind you, that the Government have already, under the "Bailways Act, 1870," full and express authority to enter into any contracts for the construction of the entire line, restricted only by there being no money appropriation made by Parliament lor the purpose. lam the more desirous to bring this fact to the recollection of the Government, as the terms in which you Bpeak of the want of adequate information would almost lead to the inference that the subject had scarcely been under the consideration of the Government or of Parliament until recently. Your remark, that the " Provincial Executive took so long a time to make up its mind to ask for the railway on the condition of responsibility," refers, I conclude, to the long period of delay which occurred between the appropriation for the first twenty miles of the line by Parliament and the commencement of its construction by the Government. During this interval the Provincial Executive certainly thought it would be useless to ask the Government to obtain appropriation i or a further^portion within a few weeks after Government had entered into a contract for the formation of the first portion of the line to Foxhill. Application was made to the Government, to ask for an appropriation for the remainder of the line during the present session, and after the cordial manner in which that application was responded to by the Government, I think it cannot be a matter for surprise that the limited action to which the Government have decided to confine themselves during the present session should give rise to feelings of great disappointment. The Provincial Executive did not, it is true, think it necessary, in the first instance to offer to the colony security both over land to the extent of 10,000 acres per mile, and upon the Provincial revenue. In this view it appears, from the last paragraph of the letter before me, that the Colonial Govern-

ment now concur. 1 cannot conclude this letter without acknowledging the courtesy. with which the representations of the members for the prohave been invariably received by yourself and the other members of the Government. Wellington, August 28, 1873.