THE HUTT-FOXTON RAILWAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5440, 3 September 1878, Page 2

THE HUTT-FOXTON RAILWAY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —In Saturday’s issue you urge upon all the settlers who are interested in opening up tiie large district on the West Coast, south of Eoxton, to furnish information, and to give such assistance as they can towards the finding of a good line for the proposed HuttPalmerston railway. All who have considered the subject must agree with yon that the work is “ one of great importance in the interests of Wellington generally,” to say nothing of the immense boon it would be to tbe West Coast settlers. And now that we. have a somewhat distinct assurance from the Government in the Public Works Statement, that this railwaywill be undertaken as soon as certain preliminary difficulties are surmounted, I have no doubt that exploration will commence in earnest, and that a really practicable line will soon bo fouud. But even if no better line should be discovered than either of those described by Mr, Kaorpp in his official report, I can see nothing to be alarmed at, either in the engineering difficulties he mentions, or in the probable cost of construction. The whole cost, including the purchase of the country through which the line is to pass from the native owners, would not, it appears, amount to halt a million of money ; and after all, what is such a sum in comparison with the advantages of opening up and developing so large au extent of fine agricultural country. It must bo remembered, also, that the work itself would be a reproductive one ; for, under proper administration, the land along the line might be sold in such a way as to recoup, to a large extent, the first outlay. That this railway will sooner or later be constructed is with myself, in common with many, others, an article of absolute faith ; but what the West Coast settlers are now most concerned about is to see something done in the way of a beginning. Sir. Macaudrew (accoiding to the newspaper report) told a recent deputation that the Government do not possess an acre of land between Waikanae and the Manawatu River ; but this is evidently a mistake, for, according to a return laid , before the House last year, upwards of 100,000 acres had already been purchased from the natives between those boundaries. No doubt, however, the slow acquisition of native lands on the West Coast is at present the stumbling block to our getting the railway.

Mr, Travers stated at the Chamber of Commerce meeting that the natives would readily give the land required for the line ; and I believe they could easily be induced to do this. But it is hardly likely that the Government will (nor is it desirable that they should) expend anything like half a million sterling in constructing the line whilst the bulk of the land remains in the hands of the natives. To my mind this is the point to which the attention of Ministers should be directed—the taking of some more active steps for extinguishing by purchase the native title to the unoccupied West Coast lands.

The statement made in one of the evening papers, on the authority of a correspondent to the Manawatu Times , that certain largo blocks, of which the names were, given, have been acquired by the Government, is hardly correct. Most of these blocks are still in the unsatisfactory position of lands “ under negotiation ” that is to say, lands on which the Government agent has-paid “deposits,”—thereby shutting them out for a time from all private competition, but the actual purchase of which is, in many cases, apparently as far off as when the negotiations were commenced. The Commissioner has been “ negotiating” for these lands for 5 or 6 years, and, to measure his success by his own report presented to Parliament last year, he acquired in all that district only some fifteen hundred acres in the course of twelve months. The report showed further that some £B4OO had been scattered over these blocks as “ deposits,” and what may have been paid since it is impossible to say. I do not mean, however, to reflect on the Commissioner, for I understand that he is never allowed to remain many days in any one place, but having numerous other functions is called off from time to time on other Government business, often dropping his negotiations just at the critical point, and coming back afterwards to pick them up, perhaps only to find the natives scattered and dissatisfied. The fault I find is with the system of purchase adopted by the Native Department, which is an utterly bad one, and quite different from the course that would be taken' by any man of business employed to buy land for private individuals or speculators. In some cases payments have been made without any previous agreement as to the price to be paid for the land ; and as a consequence vendor and purchaser have come to a deadlock, the former either repudiating the transaction in toto or tendering back the deposits. Altogether the laud purchase operations on the West Coast arc in an unsatisfactory state, and it will tax the ingenuity and patience of the present Native Minister to set them on a right footing. That of course will be a matter of administrative reform ; and no doubt their will ere long be a change for the better. But having the Hutt-Palirerstoa railway now in view, it is of the first importance to urge upon the Government the completion without further delay of the Crown title to all lands “under negotiation” between the Waikanae and Manawatu Divers. Then, but not till then, may we hope'to see a beginning made with the railway.—l am, &c.«

Walter L, Buller. Lower Terrace, Sept. 2.