NELSON AND MARLBOROUGH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5446, 10 September 1878, Page 3

NELSON AND MARLBOROUGH.

The following letter has been addressed by the Bishop of Nelson to Sir. G.eorge Grey Dear Sir George,- -I trust to the importance of the interests involved to justify me in resorting to the rather unusual course of addressing you publicly with regard to a measure proposed by the Government of which you are the head. ' I do not take part in politics, nor do X wish to do so. It does not affect the discharge of my duties, so long as the Government of the country is honestly conducted, who is in the Ministry or who is in the Opposition ; but when any great wrong is being done, and when the temporal interests of those whose welfare I try to seek are imperilled by action that can be prevented, I consider that I should be unworthy of my post if I did not take every means, at all events, of exposing the wrong, and endeavoring to get it redressed. Such a wrong is, I conceive, on the eve of being done, in the departure, with regard to the Northern portion of this island, from the general scheme of railways which was promulgated and accepted by the Legislature as a scheme to be carried out in its entirety before any further proposals were entertained. I cannot believe, sir, that you can be aware of the distinctness of the undertakings and promises made to this part of the South Island, and especially as regards Nelson, prior .to the Public Works policy of 1870-73 being adopted; made at a time when as yet you had not returned to political life. In the first place nothing can be more certain than that the line from Nelson via Foxhill to the West Coast was on the eve of being constructed, but was withheld from being floated on the sharemarket on the understanding that the wants it met would be provided for by the general scheme. It was not an unreasonable request that the private line should be withdrawn, but it was a thoroughly understood condition of withdrawal that it should be'replaced by an equivalent. But even had there beeni nothing of the kind, the schemes of 1870-73 certainly contemplated the creation of great trunk lines ; opposition to other measures was silenced, and-this Was 'accepted as it was, because it formed an equitable and statesmanlike proposal to make a lino from one end of the island to the other in both cases.

The particular route was not fixed, nor do we complain now of its being fixed in one place rather than another, but the various routes were plotted on tho mavs published by authority, so that by one way or another, by east or by central lines, it was unmistakably stated that tko policy of trunk lines was proposed, and it was accepted by the country on the understanding that until this scheme was carried,out it would be an infringement of a public national compact to. propose; any fresh disposition of mew lines of railway. I think, sir, I am justified in saying that every £1 spent in land aud improvement of property in the provinces of Nelson and Marlborough since that time has been spent with a knowledge of that intention existing, and this in no speculating spirit, but by way of fair ex-, pectation and investment. Men thought they could trust'Governments and successors to Governments for the maintenance of leading schemes, that they would not repudiate engagements upon the integrity and stability of which the very life of commerce and trade depends. The working man, the artisan who is able to enjoy the privilege of his much coveted own house and land, however small, made his purchase quite as much as the man of ample means on the faith of the policy laid down and agreed to being carried out, and there are not a few of this class in and about Nelson and Blenheim who will he seriously affected by the Government proposals.

; If the "scheme be carried out, what rauso ensue? The speedy departure and extinction of the West Coast trade, such- as it is, from Nelson, and that implies a great deal of suffering'and privation, which it is the business, I should have thought, of a Government not to inflict, but to avert.

! There is no necessity to dnw pathetic pictures of "what will certainly be the case, as to the upsetting and destruction of the homes of, I may fairly say, some huudreds, if not far more, of working people, who I think deserved |.better consideration at the hands of the Government ; I cannot, however, forbear calling to mind the touching picture you yourself drew of the poor man's family, whom you represented so graphically to us at Nelson as suffering St the hauds of the squatter. At whose hands is he now-suffering ? Nelson and Marlborough as a rule are not the ernpo-,' riums": of "capital or capitalists; they , are colonised by working people for whom we were told so much was to be'done; but instead thereof what do you present us with but the enforced destruction of trade and the arbitrary. uncalled for departure from recognised engagements and well attested promises. . I fear ] the promises made to other localities are so unexpectedly greatbeyond their largest hopes that they, have no care to consider such distant places as Nelson and Marlborough, and it is therefore only in appealing to your sense of honor that we have any hope. There must surely be some measures which descend from Government to Government which are outside the pale of ordinary polities, and if any are such, surely this was one 1' We admit.thoroughly that such an arraugement was only confined to the trunk line, and that all future arid larger developments were to be matters for discussion, and were not, as iu the point - at issue, matters of what weiriaycall national agreement. ,

A stranger looking at the map of Nov/ Zealand, wilE its'i-ailways marked thereon as your Government proposes to nviko them, would, when he segs the hai'bpre, 'rivers,; and general contour of the country of the northern third part of tho Southern Island/ be surprised at tho abrupt termination ot the railway system, and would say, this country must suroly be destitute of timber, or, water, or coal, or opper, or slate, or marblei or gold, or soil, or inhabitants, otherwise what can account for tho profusion ofrailways elsowhere andtheir sudden stoppage,here; if these thiugx were in existence V 'There would surely bo,, at least as much as one main line with plain roads feeding it. .: It'must consist, a stranger would think to himself, of barren hills, of an, jinclement climate, of worthless ground that can grow no crops, no wool, no fruit. You, Sir George, know from your own knowledge how far this conception would be from the truth, and yet it would be no unfair inference from an inspection of a railway mnp of Now 'Zealand,' deliuoated as Mr.'Macandrow proposes, with two linen ."southward of New Zealand to tho -West .Coast, and cutting off an area of nearly fifteen million acres from participation in thj) privileges of the rest. , -.'.:■ So far from this bemg-tb.o,.case, , l submit that considering ,th< population of .Dunedin and Ohristch.UJ.ch, and we may add Melbourne, of which Greymouth is now called a suburb ; it might, perhaps, bo: i worthy of a statesman to provide, for jßufehi nopulatlcmiy atfeesa to and

from a place like Nelson,' for evidence is forth-o->ming that many derire to settle- permanently in New - Zealand, if i such a'place as Nelson is moderately accessible to the centres, of business. '• • '£/)/ ■ . Even if we wero"asking for a new Hue to a hew country, subb-as this is, which inquired opening up, we should be juscified iu doing so, for the climate of Nelson, which is a permanent aud natural, not an artificial endowment, is more than a mere pleasing accident, it- is of marketable value. • Tliero aro a soore of places in lOngland aud Wales—Scarborough, ilhyl, Bournemouth—which - are nothing in themselves; but the enjoyment of a ; few more elements of ozone or sunshine during the year has made all the difference in Them, and they have become/ simply from climate, centres of population, and I hesitate not to. claim the same for Nelson; I have .lived .hereJor-the Inst ten years, but you, Sir George, have known it longer, aud it is needless now to insist upon what is almost a world-wide proverb,; the beauty, pleasantness, and healthiness of tho climate of • Nelson. This is a commodity sought for; sought for -by Victorians, Indians aud English, and it is a commodity which will bring, if fairly treated, a large capital into the-country, not only to Nelson and Marlborough, but to New Zealand.; Indians will not settle in more southerly local!-ti-'S, but they come here with a certain capital, and* they only need the inducement of a regular communication between tho place where they reside and the places in which they very naturally wish to invest their capital. In common with many in NelsonT cannot think that your Government wish unncces sarily to attach to their memory tho record of vhat appears to the people of this part ofithn South Island in the light of a great political fraud. If you can show us that no promise or implied undertaking, direct or iudrect, was made as to a trunk line, I will gladly withdraw my. application, and the imputation which, if true, it involves. Bat the. more I look into the matter the more I feel confident of : the justness of the cause I am thus advocating, and also the more persuaded lam of the duty-of making every protest against such wrongful dealing wi'h such large portions of the community which do not deserve such treatment.

If I interpret rightly the feeling of our people I may say we do not exaggerate the probable result to ourselves of your colleagues’ Bill. We know it will bo too late to lament when tho Bill is past, but we hope there exists in tho Ministry aud in the House enough men with a sense of honesty strong enough to prevent the passing of so unfair a distribution of taxation, and so unequal an expenditure of money, which will have to be guaranteed, if not raised, by a common widespread taxation. We do not envy others, we are not envious because they have a aop given them to hush their complaints, and we only complain of broken promises, violated compacts, and the disregarding of reasonable expectations. Surely, Sir George, it U worth while pausing before an Act is passed .which will create a permanent feeling of wrong. ■. . It is my duty as a Christian minister to urge men. to contentment and to moderation, but it is no duty of mine to encourage them to allow themselves to be trodden on and despised.- ' You may have the power, the actual number of votes to carry this or any other measure sacrificing tho interests of minor portions of tile country, but neither you nor your colleagues can expect that we shall for five years sit down in silence beneath a .blow, which, taken in connection with the previous circumstances and understanding, attains the proportion*of a tyrannical action, and which must recoil ultimately on the heads of those who make it.

We do not grudge others, we do not wish to deprive them, w© only ask for the carrying out of the original plan, which was certainly not drawn up regardless of the interests of the two (former) provincial districts, Christchurch aud Otago, which now intend to absorb all that can be raised in the next five years. In a word it is so unjust that I cannot anticipate any other result than that as our members have already demanded, an alteration must be made. Nevertheless as through pressure of business or the loud plaudits of those who are % benefited by the scheme you may not be aware how deeply seated is the feeling, and how permanent will be the sore if the blow falls, I have had recourse to this unusual means of. addressing you publicly as -Premier.

At a recent visit to Nelson, after you had received several public deputations, and made promises to .attend to their wants, you did me the honor to ask if'there was anything you could do for mo. .1 declined with thanks ; but little did I think that I should ha urged by my own sense and fear of impending wrong to address this appeal to you; which, with all respect, I trust will not be made in vain.—Your obedient servant, ' Andrew Burn Suter, Bishop of Nelson. Nelson, September 5, 1878.