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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4416, 15 May 1875, Page 2

The Superintendent of Nelson, in his speech on the occasion. of opening the Provincial Council the other day, made a statement regarding the Brunner railway which has just enough truth in it to remove it out of the region of pure fiction. He said ;—“ The Brunner line, “that remarkable specimen of political “railway making, after a struggle of “ four or five years, affords some promise “ of being open for traffic before the end “ of the year. The first estimate of its “cost, for which a vote was taken in “ 1871, was £26,250. In 1872 the esti- “ mate was raised to £54,400, or more “ than double, and a vote was taken for “ a difference of £28,150. In 1873 the “ estimate was raised to £74,000, and a “vote was taken for the excess' of “£20,000. In 1874 the estimate was “ raised to £84,000, and a vote taken for “ the additional £IO,OOO ;-and this year,

“I believe,'a further sum of at least ‘ ‘ £15,000 ;4ui: be w required. Whether “the line can bo maintained at all in “ the present positipn of things without “an enormous cost, or whether it will “tumble into the river, are questions “ which time alone can decide. I believe it will be found necessary to “ abandon it, and to reconstruct it on the “ north bank of the river, with the £( terminus at Cobden. ,> The pith, or a woman’s letter is usually in the postscript; and the point of Mr. Curtiss complaint lies in the last sentence : ‘ I “believe it will be found necessary to “ abandon it, and to reconstruct it on “ the North bank of the river, with the “ terminus at Cobden,”—in the province of Nelson. The political grievance is simply this, that the General Government would not build the Brunner railway on the Nelson, or northern bank of the river; and it is regarded by Mr. Curtis as a cause for satisfaction that the Colony will lose £IOO,OOO in order that Nelson may benefit by a similar expenditure. But we are not disposed to let Mr. Curtis flap his provincial wings and crow so loud. We take exception to his statement of the case. He knows perfectly well that the first vote, in 1871, was taken for seven miles of ordinary country, a survey not having been made. In 3872 a survey was made, and an appropriation taken for the line from Greymouth, on the south, or Westland side of the Grey river, to the mines.. This accounts for the increase in amount between the vote of 1871 and that of 1872. The first was hot acted upon further than that it enabled the Government to proceed with a survey, and come before the House with an approximate estimate of cost. We now come to the vote of 1873, which Mr. Curtis led his Council to believe was an increase of the vote of the previous year, and for the self-same work. But it was not so, In 1873 a vote was taken for some £20,000 additional, for a bridge and extension of the. line to Brum ner mine, on the Nelson side of the river, and for- wharf -works at Greymouth. This appropriation, it will be seen, was for entirely new works ; but it gives an outlet for the coal deposit on the Nelson side by Greymouth, to the intense disgust of Mr. Curtis, who would doubtless prefer to let the coal remain unworked to having, it shipped from an adjoining settlement. Such is the narrow and injurious influence of provincial feeling upon the minds of those engaged in active provincial administration. But the statement, as of fact, made to the Nelson Provincial Council; was deliberately erroneous in this particular, as we have pointed out, and as a reference to the records of Parliament will show.-

We now come to the estimate of 1874, whichfurnishesMr. Oyaxis another handle for misleading his council. The increased estimate of £IO,OOO was not for the railway, but for wharf extension, and the vote was specially taken for extension of wharfage accommodation. Mr. Curtis knew all this ; but he preferred to gratify his dislike of political opponents by the suppression of facts and the suggestion of a wrong inference. This is not the position which a high executive officer should occupy before the eyes of the country, but it is the one which Mr. Curtis has seen fit to assume for himself. It is his own choice, and we are reluctantly compelled to show how unworthy an one it is. - ■ . •'

With respect to the anticipated disappearance of the Brunner railway into the Grey river, we have a word to say. Large land slips have taken place, causing much expensive work to be done : but land slips are not confined to the Brunner line. They occur more or less frequently on all works where there are deep cuttings or sidings along high and steep banks, and they cannot be provided for in advance, nor guarded against entirely while the works are in progress. That landslips have occurred along the Brunner line should be matter for regret with men of well-balanced minds ; it appears, however, that they give an occasion for political exultation to the Superintendent of that most wretchedly managed district, styled the province of Nelson. About £20,000 has been spent on the bridge and wharves at Greymouth; and if this money had been expended on works at Cobden, we suspect we should have heard nothing from Mr. Curtis of “ that re- “ markable specimen of political railways “ making, the Brunner line.”