THE MIDLAND RAILWAY. (Christchurch Press Wellington Cor respondent.) Wellington, April 15.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8164, 19 April 1895, Page 4

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY. (Christchurch Press Wellington Cor respondent.) Wellington, April 15.

The Ministerial journal comes to the aid of the Premier thia morning in an e^itornl on the Midland Railway complioatioD, from which I take the following : "Ib is now suggested, wo presimo, on the Midland Railway Company's authority, »hab tho Government has obtained, through Sir Charles LUley, its arbitrator, a delay of tho arbitration proceedings, in order that it may turn the tables by bringing an acbion ab law againsb the Company. Ibe Poab declares thab ib has been in possession of tbis precious piece of information for Borne time, on conditions that precluded its use. The facb, however, happens to ba bhab this is nob the charge originally made by this Company againab the Government The Company's Chairman, Mr Salt, nob long ago wrote to Lord Ripon a letter ot a very remarkable character. Before be wrote it, ho had told his nhareholders ab a general meeting in London, bhat were he not speaking of British colony be would say thab the Company had been outrageously trotted. The letter in'ormed the Secretary of State thab the Company's Directors had every reason to believe bhab, pending the arbitration proceedings the Government of New Zealand intend noxb session of Parliaraenb to geb an Aob passed of a confiscatory character dealing with the Company's interests. Having given the information the writer proceeded (o request the Secretary to instrucb the Governor of the colony to withhold hia assenb from such a measure to reserve ib for the Queen's pleasure. Lord Ripon, in reply, treated tbab requesb in the manner ib deserved. He refused to believe such a thing was possible, and he declined to give to Lord G'asgow any instructions of bhe kind requested. Wbab the information was on which Mr Salb took the very 8 rious step of writing such a letter we have, of course, no means of ascertaining." This afternoon I called upon the Chairman of the Midland Company and asked him ti favour me with his version of the affair. Thia he conDented to do, nr»d I subjoin his statement. The Midland Kailway Board, aaid Mr Salt-, was pressed sbrongly, up n the advice of a person interested in the Company, to call at the Colonial Office in order to mention the possibility of a confiscatory Acb being paEsed by the New Zealand Governmenb with respecb to the Midland Railway. This was nob represented as a probable bub as a possible action, and the course taken was indeed to be merely precautionary, in the evenb of an extreme and unexpected contingency. A letter was written to tbc Colonial Office, requesting thab any such Acb mighb have »pecial considera tion. There was no intention or expectation thab the requesb would be dealb with in any way or communicated to any person whatever unless the occason 6hould arise, obviously a most unl kely event, bub still one absolutely ignored, Tho suggestion would bavo received littlo or uo consideration from the Board of Directors if they had nob bid broughb before their minds, decidedly and somewhat painfully, tho evidence given by Mr Beddon before tho Parliamentary Committee of 1892, in reply to quesbions 102, 13, 14, an follow : "Mr Bell— l do not know whether you have bhe power to take the railway ab any time. Mr beddoa — Ye 3, we can take any section of ib. Mr Bell — You say you have bhab power ? Mr Seddon — 1 think so. Mr Bell— You might take these two ends and complete the space between bhem ; but if the railway is to be constructed you would noli take these bwo ends which, you s*y, are worthless without making the line between them 1 Mr Seddon— l think thab would be a matter for consider j tion. You do not take into consideration this facb, thab should the Company do nothing under the contracb there is such a thing as a Parliament iv the country. Ido nob think Parliament under the circum stances would be dead altogether, ' Continuing, Mr Salb said bhe Board of Directors hoped and fe'b that this statement mighb be a perfectly harmless interpretation, and they had no wish to take any etep thab would cause annoyance either to the Minister or to the colony. The communioation was intended to be of a private nature, and ib was the necessary duty of the Directors to exercise every poasiblo precaution after the harassing experiences of 1892 3-4. It was in facb a step for self-preservation in case the possible danger ever became actual. The Poab says : "It is ratbor lato in the day for Ministers to poie as defenders of the honor of the colony in relation to the dealings wibb bhe Midland Railway Company. So lar ao they are its guardians lhab honour waa sacrificed when, before a Parlia« mentary Commibtoe, they called tho evidence of their own officers to destroy the Company's credib, by proving thab the^land endowment the colony had given to bhe Company under a guarantee that ib was of a cerbain value per acre was nob really worth anything like the guaranteed amount. A more discreditable bbing was never done than bo try and prove that the colony h*d tricked the Company into undertaking the construction of bhe railway in return for land enormously over, valued. There is nob much room to talk of the honour of the colony after fch s. Thab the Company's credib suffered severely in London, and bhab its resources were crippled by this proceeding so thit its power to raise capital to carry on the work was curtailed, cannob be doubled. Ib is, we beleive, one of bhe strong points in the Company's o'aims for arbitration. Thab, after tbis experience, tho Direc tors of bhe Company should entertain the deepest dtabrust of the Ministers, and believe them oapable of any injustice, is surely nob bo be wondered ab, nor will the dodge, by which the arbitration proceedings have been defeated for a bime, bend to weaken or remove thia opinion in the mmdi of the Direobors, or of an honesb and impartial publio acquainted with (be fatt The idea q! the threatened

notion at law by the Government against tlio Company boing undertaken 10 vindicate or proteob the honor of tho colony is proposterous. The change of venuo from equity to law ia nob sought in the interosta of jus'ice. The action at law, if it bo ever in reality instituted, will be simply for the purpose of preventing the fuller and fairer trial of the merits of the issues between tho Government and the Company, which would result from the arbitntion proceedings. Of course, no sprious hope of obtaining damages from the Company can be entertained, oven if a legal or technical breach of contract m the Company's part Bhould be established. Tho legal proceedings when commenced, however, will stop public discussion or comment on the merits of tho case, aud the Government is very anxious to do so. It desires to gag not only Press comment) lut Parliamentary discussion by tho plea that the matter issubjudice."