The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 1879.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 73, 26 March 1879, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 1879.

The Evening Post of Saturday last has an article on the railway traffic returns as published in the Government Gazette, in which it comments with satisfaction upon the receipts accruing from this source of revenue It refers to the large returns from the little coal railway at Greymouth, and points with justifiable gratification to the fact that " the Wellington and Masterton railway stands a long way at the head of all the main lines in respect of profitableness, ihe receipts being at the rate of £77G per mile annually." Our contemporary theu refers to the great southern railway and the lines at Napier and Wanganui, and concludes by saying : " Westport, Picton, Nelson, and Auckland, as usual, show badly, having small receipts and large working expenses, Westport being the worst of all, with annual receipts of only £1:58 per mile, and expenditure of 12G per cent. So much for political railways ! " With Westport, Picton, and Auckland we have nothing to do just now, but we cannot allow the statement with regard to the Nelson line to pass unchallenged and unnoticed. In the first place, we deny altogether that it " shows badly." That the returns do not come near to those of the Wellington and some of the other railways referred f o is, of course, beyond question, but it must be taken into consideration that, with the exception, perhaps, of the Picton line, there is not another in the colony so atrociously arranged with regard to its termini, one of which is on a mudflat half a mile away from the centre of the town, and the other~ well its locality may be best described by saying

that it is absolutely nowhere, tinder sucli circumstances no one cau be surprised if the receipts are much less per mile than on lines that have been laid out with greater judgment ami more regard to the special requirements of the traffic for which they are con* structed, and by which they are maintained. The wonder, iudeed, is that iv its present inconuilcte stale the traffic is not carried ou at a loss, but instead of this we ilnd that it yields something over .A' looo a year in excess of working expenses. With the extensions about to be made at each end the total re ceipts will be very largely increased, and it will be placed out of the power of any writer desirous of sneering at Nelson to assert that its railway " shows badly.'" <>uk telegrams contain quotations from an article that appeared in this morning's A'pw Zealunder, a paper which is supposed to represent the Ministerial mind, outl>e Waioiale Plains difficulty, from which it appears that the Government do not intend to allow themselves to be bounced by Te Whiti aud his crew. Indeed, it is not (o be believed for I one moment that they entered upon the sur- j vey trusting entirely to the good nature of the Maoris to be allowed to proceed with the work. They must have calculated upon the possibility of that occurring which has ocj curred, and have made up their minds what course to pursue in the event of the natives I proving refractory. Whether they have I acted wisely in selecting the present as the time for bringing matters to a crisis is quite another matter, but it is quite clear that it now has to be settled which is the dominant race in New Zealand. The half yearly meeting of the members of the Naval Brigade was held in the Port ! Fire Brigade Hall last evening. There was . a fair attendance of members, Captain Gully !in the chair. After tue minutes of the previous meeting had been read and couflrmed, the Secretary read an exhaustive report, detailing the operations of the Brigade for the past six months. The balance sheet disclosed the Coni| any to be in a good financial position, the receipts for the half-year being £37 4s Id, and the expenditure £:U 5s Gd. Finance, Range, aud other Committees were appointed for the ensuing year, as also were two auditors. Lieut. Simpson was re-elected Secretary. It was decided to procure a winter uniform, to consist of blue cloth trowsers aud serge jumper. A long discussion took place relative to the election of a SubLieutenant, and it was ultiniatelv agreed to postpone the consideration of the' matter for three months. After the transaction of some formal business the meetiug adjourned, after passing a vote of thanks to the Chairman. A pcitLic tea aud meeting will be held at the Christian Chapel, Spring Grove, this evening. A carbine match between teams selected from the Artillery and Naval Brigade will be commenced at the Maitai Butts to-morrow morning and finished on Saturday morning. At a public meeting at Karamea, at which all the settlers but four were present, the following resolution was passed :— That a petition be drawn up and forwarded to the Minister of Immigration (through Dr Henry, member for the district), asking for the sum of £.350 to make a track up the Karamea river to enable diggers to obtain access to the back country, aud bring the Karamea settlers into communication with Motueka. A Sydney telegram to the Post says :— A monster shark was caught yesterday iv the vicinity of the place where the Bonnie Dundee was sunk in collision with the steamer Barrabool. On opening the maw of the shark the head and shoulders aud the clothes of the cabin-boy belonging to the Bonnie Dundee, who was among those drowned on that occasion, were found inside, still recognisable.