THE OAMARU-KYEBURN RAILWAY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 332, 17 May 1877, Page 2

THE OAMARU-KYEBURN RAILWAY.

PUBLIC MEETING.

The public meeting called by his Worship the Mayor to consider the matter of the proposed line of railway from Oamaru to the Kyetum was held last evening in the Volunteer Hall, and was attended by a lai'ge concourse of people, amongst whom we noticed nearly the whole of the prominent men of the town, and many residents of the country districts. At the time announced for commencing the meeting the hall was well filled, and altogether there must have been fully 400 parsons present. The utmost interest was displayed in the proceedings, the meeting being one of the most orderly and enthusiastic that has been held in Oamaru for a long time. In front of the platform was exhibited a very excellent map of the proposed country through which it is proposed to take the line. This had been prepared specially by Mr. M'Lsod, the Corporation Engineer, and was taken great interest in by those present. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair, and the following gentlemen were also on the platform : —Mr. Hislop, M.H.R. for Wailaki ; Mr. De Laufcour. M.H.E. ' for Mount Ida ; Messrs. Sumpter, O'Meagher, Headland, Gihbs, and Booth.

A telegram was read by the Cliairman from Mr. H. Council, stating that owing to being detained at Hampden by pressing business, lie was unable to be present, although he sympathised with the object of the meeting. The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said that having been the proximate cause of their assembling together that evening, it naturally* fell to him to explain why, in his capacity as Mayor, he had invited the citizens to meet for the purpose of diking concerted action. The advertisement which lie had inserted iti the local papers, and which he would now read, placed the object in view definitely before the public, it being, as the terms of the notice showed, to promote the extension of railway communication with the interior, by linking up by rail the gap at present existent between Oamara and the Kyeburn. (His Worship then read the advertisement calling the meeting.) He had no doubt, from the very large attendance, that public opinion was in favour of the proposal, and that one and all were fully

alive to the importance of the question under consideration. The only question which was likely to arise was as to whether the junction should be effected nia Waiareka or via Duntroon ; but this was a matter of detail which might be left to the Committee, which if, was proposed to form, and whose duty it would be to make inquiries as to the advisability of taking the line from Ngap:u\i or Duntroon. Generally speaking, whatever, might be ultimate decision on the point last referred to, they would all be agreed in thinking that, if possible, Kyobum should be linked with Oamaru by rail, and it would bo for them to show, as both Pahnerston and Outram were in competition for the same trade, that what he would term the Oamara route was the preferable of the three. As to the minor matter —as to which of the two existing branch lines, the Awamoko or the Waiareka, should be adopted, sj far as it went, as part of the road to Kyeburn, he might make a remark or two farther on ; but would first address himself to the chief question of communication with the interior by either of the three alternative routes, viz., via Oamaru, via Palmerston.. and via Outram. He mentioned them in this order because he thought that this was the order in which they stood in point of general advantages. As to the desirability of a railway being carried to Kyeburn from some point, the partisans of all three routes were agreed, and it needed very little to be said in advocacy of the obvious necessity for the construction of this section of what must one day prove the main interior line of Otago, a line which would probably be ultimately extended to Clyde, and possibly also, and that at no very distant date, to Lake Wakatip, thus opening up several most extensive areas of valuable agricultural land —aline which would do more to promote settlement, and, he verily believed, would yield, in the future, better traffic returns per mile than any railway that had been yet constructed. In opening the meeting it would not be his province to trench, too deeply upon ground to be opened up by the gentlemen upon whom would devolve the task of moving the resoluthms, on the specific subject of each of which the meeting, no doubt, would be put in possession of much valuable information. There were one or two things which he might touch upon generally. He would state briefly why he thought the line into the interior should be taken from Oamaru. In constructing such a line it would be necessary to take into consideration the nature of the country through which the line had to be taken, the mileage of railway to be made, and the quality and extent of the land which the line would open up for settlement. He thought they would be able to prove that in every particular the line from Oamaru would be found the best. With regard to the length of the line, he might state that, whereas the effecting of communication by rail between Oamaru and Kyeburn, via Maerewhenua, or via Waiareka, would only involve the construction of about 31 miles of line, to link up Kyeburn with the railway system via Strath-Taieri and Outrain would require the construction of about 70 miles, and via Palmerston and Waihemo, of a not much less mileage—say 60 miles.

Roughly, then, it would be found that the mileage to be constructed via Oamaru would be one-half that by either of the other suggested routes. Then, again, looking upon the matter .is regards the distance between the place of production and the port of shipment, there was a great advantage in favour of the route via Oamaru, as m the case of a line from Nr.seby via Pahnerstou there would lie the mileage from Palmerston to Moeraki, as the nearest port, to bo added, and in the case of a line via Strath-Taieri, the mileage from On tram to Port which he presumed would be the port of shipment. Of course, the nature of the country, and the comparative cost per mile, would have to be taken into account, but lie believed if the matter were investigated, and reported upon by competent professional authority, ic would be found that the engineering Vlifiieulties toJ>e encountered in taking the line via Waiareka or !■(«. Ma.rewhonua would be much smaller than some persons supposed, and, indeed, that thoy were certainly not greater than would be met with by either of the other proposed routes. As, for instance, a. water-race had been brought from near the Pass to Maercwhenna, at a fall, as lie was informed, of seven feet to the mile, and lie was confidently assured that whore that race was taken a railway could be taken. He was unable at the present meeting to state the exact height of the Pass, but the altitudes of the various Trig, sections on both sid.s wore as follows : —Raid's Table, 10G2ft. ; Livingston Cemetery, lo.llft. ; Trig. DO, f> miles nearer the Pass, ISSti.t. On the Kyeburn side, the elevation on a hill to the left of the Kyeburn River was 2300 ft.; and that of the Kveburn township itself, IGOOffc. Allowing for the fact that these trigs, were generally erected on commanding spots, he. t'umg'-t it might, be assumed that the height of t!io Pass was roughly, at an outside estimate, oOOOr't. Of course, if a tunnel were pierced, the height to be reached by rail would be by so much reduced, and allowing for a short tunnel, and dividing the altitude then to bo readied by the mileage, he arrived at the following as probable approxuu i.te results for a line via. Ngamra. Taking Xgapara as abor.t S'JOh. above the level of the sea (which was, he thought, an approximately correct calculation), there would be between this point and Livingston, a dis-ano of 7 miles, a ris.; of about 500 ft., or say a gradient of 1 in 7--- ; from Livingston to the Pass, about G mih s.ji, rise of 700 ft,.. or say a gradient of 1 in -to. On the Kyeburn side, there wouid be a descending grade from the Pass of say 1 in 80—gradients which would bear wry favorable comparison with those of several other lines in the Colony, as, for instance, the Tokomaiiiro-Lawreiiee, where the ruling grade was 1 in ill.. He had heard much more favorable estimates than tins, as respects both the Ingapara and .Dnntroou connections, but clio general <\)kwnstn: of testimony so far appeared to be that the engineering dimeultics were not by any means of unusual magiiitu le. As there were two ways open to them of effecting railway communication between Oamaru. and Naseby, it was desirable that both should he in vest iga. ted carefully, and without prejudice, and that the better of the two should be _ a:.opted. There must be taken into consideration, as a most important point as regards the question of relative a Ivantagg the area, quality, and tenure of tie land which would be opened up by either route, and on this point he might say that the advocates of the route via Ngapara stated that they were prepared to show tuat the balance lay in their favor. T.'iat, however, was a matter which he in no way wished to prejudice, but would say that it should be owj for careful investigate Me might, however, here inform the meeting that the large owners of freehold on bolh vont-.'s werj willing to give the laud necessary for the line, so f;ir as r.he : r properties extended ; at any rate lie could speak wi-h certainty for Mr. _ Menlove, through whose land a line via Ngapara would" pass for four miles of its length, and he had reason to think that the large freeholders through whose properties a line via Dnntroon or Maerewhenua would pass, would also be willing to give the neccss-uy land. If the route taken ran through the property of the Hon. R,. Campbell, he was authorised to state that this was the case. A great deed of land on either route was in the hands of the Crown, and the enormous enhancement of its value, which must result from its being opened up by rail, should lie a principal inducement to the House and the Government to further the construction of the line by vvovy means in their power. As to the traliic, it was calculated that as regards one_ item of freight alone—wool —at least 25 -stations, sending down from 5000 to GOOO bales, would use the line, w.iile a large grain freight, and no inconsiderable passenger trafiic'might safely be looked for. He thought he had said enough to commend the matter to their most careful consideration, and their most eavii.st efforts, and would only add that he was sure the meeting would join him in an expression of satisfaction at the cordial manner in which, tire effort they were entering upon had been joined in by the people of Naseby. As a further proof of the evident desire of Naseby cordially to co-operate with Oamaru in the matter, he had only to point to the presence on the platform of Mr. Do Lautour, member for Mount Ida, who had very kindly undertaken to move one of the resolutions. — (Applause.) At the same time they must not expect to carry their point easily. They would require to put their shoulders to the wheel and keep them there for some time. They would have to encounter a considerable amount of earnest opposition. Already the people of i Palmerston were taking steps to urge the bringing of the line their way. in I

addition to this opposition they would have to contend with a very powerful metropolitan influence, which was sure to be brought to bear in favour of the line from Oil tram via Strath-Taicri to Naseby. But he thought that the promoters of the Oainaru-Kyeburn route had the best case, and it was for them to make the most of it, and lie earnestly hoped that the result of the present meeting would be to secure the making of Oamaru the terminus of a great interior line, and the depot and entrepot of a largely extended trade. Mr, De Lautour had travelled from Naseby to Oamaru purposely to take part in the proceedings, and their senior member, Mr, Hislop, would be the mover of the first resolution. He had asked Mr. Shrimski to take charge of another, but that gentleman, though expressing his readiness to forward the wishes of the meeting, thought it better not to take so prominent a, part. He wished further, before sitting down, to : xpress his acknowledgments to Mr. M'Leod for the great (rouble he had taken in preparing a ma]) showing the route of the proposed railway for the information of the meeting. He would now call upon Mr. Hislop to move the first resolution.

Mr. Htsr/ir, on comhig forward, was greeted with applause. He said he was sorry that on this occasion he would not be able to make a lengthy speech. When he undertook to propose the resolution which had been placed in his hands, lie did so on the understanding that lie would not be calb'd upon to make a lengthy speech. His first reason for so doing was that lie thought that the map which was shown there that evening spoke more eloquently than he could do wiih reference to the proposed railway; and the second reason which would prevent liim entering at length into the subject was fhat lie was almost totally ignorant of the nature of the country through winch it was proposed to take the line, after it pissed Livingstone. Still there were one or two thoughts which had suggested themselves to his mind in reference to the subject of railways. One of tV s ■ wis that the OovernmenHiadpro ress-d in the wrong-direction. They had allowed the opuiingupof the country <o follow colonisation, instead of preceding it. Taey .should first have eonslrueted the railways, and then sold the land for the purposes of sell lenient, wh'.jri as th'-y had sold tlie land first, and

const ruclcd the railways afterwards. By this mains a i'o'.v persons, through their ;'iit ",']ii'isi> in purehssing large blocks of 1 n:d, had risen to wraith and alllncnce. If t!i < proper mode had been pursued, tlio whole of the commonwealth would have been vcv.;i •>!(-]. ami Urn bulk of the peoplo would have be,n in a better position than vhcy are aI; )nv:;n', T.;c railways should have beet fii'ih constructed, raid the land then laid open for :; ■(tlouemt, instead of first allowing a few speculators to purchase the land, which land was afterwards improved by tie; (lovernmeiit opening railways t! rough if. Yi'ith regard to the eomtrucdon of the. line to the interior, tho erreat e cur-deration shouid bo tho opening up of the Maniatolo. K-e thoivrht, t'le country should In- considered, and !.Et nmroly the towns. Tlu-y should bear in mind that tho towns u ore made for tho country., a..id me, tho country for tho tn.v;is : for upon the'country districts lvsful I'm ]>v >sj>..;-Ji y ~f |.'n! town. Un-fo'-tuna' uy, !;.; (?!". Had .:•) had boen preceded liy the C '.'a'rni in, and tlioro was not, theiv. fore, mm;:, hit for bun to say I with rcr i,rd to the data, obiained in reference to the proposed, roiiie, for tlio Chair-. man had given muo'i heller than ho (tho speak a') could have done all available information on the subject. With regard to en giueorin ' diilir,ultie-\ there was no doubt, that this line presented far less than a number of lines c >:i -traded in this and the neighboring colonies, notably ono over the fJi'uo ,'i lU.ita.'iia, in New South Wales, and tie: Tua.o. ha, line. From all ho coiil 1 learn, it was ouita evident that tho carve, and era din would be higher and much more acute than in tlio pro-po.-.csl ra/Uva.y iY >m Oama.ru to Kyeburn. He would not detain them any longer, as he was to lie. foilov.e \ by a gentleman who took- a great in'"iesr, mi tlio subject, .and whom ho wa.s 'dad to sea upon the platform, lie alluded b. Dr. D! Laufour, j the member of (he ii-.ai<e of Representatives for Mount Ida. That ganthunan, during- ilio last session of Parliament, iua.de an ebbrt to obtain the construction of ,-i grand interior railway to open up tho country, so that, all the magnificent land in tlie interior would be rendered available for .'settlement and cultivation, and tlio produce sent down to the different ports for shipment. lie hoped that by quietly pushing the movement along, success would ultimately crown their efforts. When they wen: obtaining the formation of this railway, they were also improving tho country for settlement, and thereby adding to its wealth and pros >rrit.\ Ho had great pleasure in moving tho following resolution :

"That, in the opinion of this meeting, it is highly desirable that cheap and easy means of communication with, the interior of the Province should be secured at Iho earliest possibl) dare; and (hat, with a view to this end, a railway should be constructed, uniting the Kyeburn with the port of OamaiM." Mr. H. Dansey seconded the resolution, saying that he believed the l-eason of his having been requested to do so was that lie knew something of the country through which line would run. He could not give any definite information as to the engineering dilficulties, not being art engineer.; but could only speak from what he had seen when travelling through tho country. He would givea general ilea of tho way which he thought the line might be taken. He then, jointed out the direction in which the- hue might bo formed, and said that ho did'n"t think any very great difficulty would be v>xpbriencod

in forming the line. The only difficulty j \[o be met with would be at the Gorge : j but even there, he thought the line may | he constructed at a very small gradient. ; Jhe whole of the work to bo done would j be of the ordinary description. \ The Chairman- read the res -lotion, and ' asked if anyone present wished to address ; the meeting or propose an amendment, j a ncl there being no response to i'.\ * invitation, the resolution was put, and carried unanimously. Mr. De Lautofr, in rising to propose the next resolution, was received with applause. He said lie felt, like his friend 3lr. Shrimski, somewhat out of place at snch a meeting, at any rate so far as taking an active part in the proceedings went. Still he had always found that in pnhlic life—although he had not been in it long—when he got into a scrape ha ifftjnerally managed to get out of it. The district he represented took an especial interest in the proposed railway, but they Trere at present somewhat embarrassed owing to the number of different routes bv which it was proposed to take the line. fhey were in the position of a 3'oung lady with two strings to her bow, and did not wish to be off with the old love before thev were on with the new. They were not" sufficiently patriotic to accept any cjarse which might offer itself irrespective of chances of success. He was glad to see the manner in which the people of Oamarn had taken up the subject:, which showed that they were fully alive to the fact that Oamaru's destinies as a prosperous town were linked with these of the country. Oamaru must become the outlet of a large part of the inland country to the north of Duncdin. Of course, Dunedin would be a great city for years to come ; still, the time must come when other towns, like Oamaru, would trespass on her traffic, and compete for a Luge amount of the trad a which she now carries on, more particularly with regard to the interior. T:'ere was one objection which he had to the resolution that had been placed in his hands to propose. He would read the resolution first, and then point out »vhat he considered a great mistake. The resolution was as follows : "That, whereas such a railway as proposed would be the means of opening up tor settlement a large area of valuable Kiricultural land, and- as the traffic re:eipts would, in the opinion of this meetng, yield a profitable r-turn for the outay involved ; further, that s-nc'n rallway ixtension as proposed is one whic'i, for •easoas of public policy, deserves the suplort of the Government and Parliament of :he Colon}', and that therefore Pail'ameiil je asked to sanction and further the project, either " 1. By cons!meting the line as a Government lir.e. or "2. By facilitating its construction by private enterprise, by giving a guarantee of inierest on the o-'t!;iv. n-j by granting a conees---io;i . : land, at a fixed acreage ~-,•,, ?'::' •■•■■■ onion read very n:e ly, ; ~! hj, . ■•■ -d with the spirit of ;■ ,• I.;;: ~',•!.• was a master of de- ::.,!, ■; he O-idd like to see alrc-ed. ; i -' ; ;■,_■■ .Ooldd not ask t':e C>- ■ . .... ;; io :y, :hc tho line. He was ..•:' "piniou that time ha I e--no rlieii they should cease going to Paikanent. and asking f-r the copstrue■ ion of llih.vays. If t.heV did. so til-. V would imply be tying the hands ef_ their n:em)urs and himself. Though they got the aibvay—which they cerfauny v.oio.i u o~ hey would have two other purely polii;- J al lines constructed from d: tic rent parts ■ I the country out of i >tago laud revenues , s a quid pro i'r--o. There was no reason rliy the Waitaki County Council could .i>tm:dv; the railway itself, it was a very age and wealthy county, and should be hie to undertake the work. Ac any rate, t should b.- aide to do so with the as-isi-ne3 of the Maniatoto and A lucent ?.»unties ; and he did not see any reason dry the work could not be taken in baud iy the combined counties, and the. first oil of the line turned within s;x months. f the Counties were to be of any use at H, they should certainly be able to nnderake a work of this kind, lie k'O no tesitation in saying that the framers or he Counties Act never contemplated that hose bodies would be nothing more than xtended Road Boards. The borrowing oivers of Waitaki were for any special ■ork fully L24.0Q0, and if Maniatoto and iacent went iu too. would be over i5D,000. Tiieso powers, it necessary, otild be increased. Then, again, the line ight be male by a private company, rovided Parliament granted concessions f lanel to the company to cover the cost. le intended pointing out the same view f the matter at the meeting to be held t Palmerston on Friday Light. It was eserving of notice that there were cxtmsive coal pits in the Kyeburn, which ould fully supply traffic when grain was ot ready for forwarding. He would sugest that tiie engineers employed should e instructed to report on the extent and alue of the coal. Oamaru would ultilately pwe the grain emporium of the iorth of Ocago. Yv'heat had been grown fi all sides of jSTaseby, returning fifty usheb to the acre. They had as yet- no lills, and population was scanty-. Still the md was there, and they only wav.ted good onmmnications. The alliance was worth hurting, and if the Oamaru people were etenutned, they would very shortly have y.nplefce railway communication between hitiiru and Kyeburn. Mr. O'Meagher seconded the resolution, nd did so in a highly interesting and, at he came time, amusing speech. Mr. Campbell having atldressed the leeting, the resolution was put, and. caried. [Owing to the length of our report, and he pressure of other interesting matter jpon our sp;iee l y.-e> aro unable to publish ae speeches of* the other speakers until

j our next issue, but will simply give a i brief account of the business done.] I The following resolutions were also 1 carried unanimously : I Proposed by Mr. Geo. SrMirrEK, I seconded by Mr. Headlaxo : "That this meeting learns with s.-.tis- : faction that a public meeting has boon j called for Monday evening next, by his Worship the Mayor of Kaseby, for the purpose of taking concerted action with Oamaru in this matter, and resolves that the following gentlemen be appointed a Committe tolake such action, in conjunction with any similar Committee appointed at ISaseby as_ may be deemed desirable, viz.—the Mayor, Hon. E. Campbell, Messrs. Meniove, M'Master, Eeid. Gibbs, O'Meagher, W. H. Dansey, J. Bee. J. Booth, \V. Sutherland, J. T. Evan:;, A. J. S. Headland, and the mover, with power to add to their number." Proposed by Mr. Gibrs, and seconded by Mr. Booth : ""That the Committee have authority to open a subscription-list, for the purpose of raising a sufficient sum to be olacstl at the disposal of the Joint Committee, for defraying necessary preliminary expenses."