South Canterbury Times. MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2192, 29 March 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1880.

The City of 'Wellington is rapidly acquiring Ihc notoriety of being the rendezvous of schemes and schemers. Judging from the items of news that arc constantly telegraphed, it is becoming quite a hotbed of selfish intrigues, the great object of attack being the Treasury. Under the circumstances it must be a source of gratification to even the political opponents of the Ministry that the gentlemen who hold the purse-strings are in one respect unlike their predecessors, not over indulgent. The Hall Cabinet is not without its grave imperfections, but one of its redeeming virtues is, that it keeps a watchful eye on the little artifices of the cormorant family. Wellington has for some time past been perplexed with a variety of urgent “ wants.” This is

not an exceptional state o£ things, for it is well known that this unhappy city has always been afflicted with an insatiable greed, and that since ccntralistic administration was substituted for local rule, this capacity for swallowing the consolidated revenue in wholesale fragments has been greatly augmented. Among its numerous “wants,” one of the most important for some time past has been a railway to the West CoastThis project has the merit of being tolerably reckless, because it is the opinion of excellent authorities that, owing to engineering difficulties, (lie construction of such a line would be exceedingly expensive. Besides this it is understood to be highly improbable that the line when made would return more than two per cent, of profit on the capital invested. But the railway projectors of Wellington have no special interest in the remunerative nature of their scheme, and they are unable to perceive that the rest of the colony has any right to object to be taxed for their benefit. Hence for months past—all during the parliamentary recess, in fact, —they have been watching the arrival of the Premier and his colleagues in their midst, to trot out this West Coast railway, .scheme. If statistics, carefully gathered and duly certified, could convince, the Ministry must have been convinced long ago that this pet railway is a most promising undertaking. But Mr Hall and Mr Oliver evidently regard it as a permanent investment — so permanent that capital once sunk in it would not readily be realised again. The various artifices which the promoters of the West Coast railway in Wellington have called into requisition arc familiar to all newspaper readers. First of all, shortly after the prorogation of Parliament, the Premier and Minister of Works were interviewed by influential deputations. Then the pressure of outlying districts with their respective delegates was brought to boar. Next public meetings were convened, and resolutions in favor of the immediate construction of the Wes t Coast railway were passed. An unemployed agitation was initiated in the hope that the West Coast railway would be commenced, but the Government sent the hungry ones to the Waimatc Plains, to assist and protect the armed constables. Now we arc informed that the Mayor of Wellington, at the request of a number of working men, has convened a meeting to consider another scheme for constructing this pet railway. This latest scheme is called “the land settlement plan ” and it is certainly ingenious. The Government is to survey settlements along the line at distances of ten miles apart; these settlements are to consist of twenty-five acre sections to be sold to the railway navvies, at £2 per acre, on the deferred payment system ; the navvies are to receive Gs, 7s, and 8s per da}-, and the Government are to provide them with rations at the rate of Is 3d per head, each man receiving 10s weekly as pocket-money, and having the privilege of deciding “ whether he will accept a full ration for each member of his family or not.” There are other conditions which we need not enumerate. It will bo perceived from the above that the Government are about to receive a most liberal proposal,—not from the unemployed, but from the working men of Wellington. We have no doubt it will be a subject of lasting regret —in Wellington at least —if the advantageous terms on which this railway is proposed to be made, are not taken advantage of. The Government of New Zealand has long been in the habit of receiving all kinds of extraordinary favors at the hands of benevolent Wollingtonians, but this spicy piece of spontaneous charity eclipses all their previous efforts. We question if any similar proposition for the easy and inexpensive construction of a railway line has ever before been made by the working men of a British colony. Imagine a Government being seriously invited to go into partnership with a labor gang in the cabbage gardening and railway business ! And then everything has been so beautifully arranged, so as to avoid all disputes between the employed and their employers. Even the price of the rations which the hardfisted sons of toil are to receive has been fixed, quite independent ef quantity, quality, or variety, the only stipulation being that, having the option of putting his wife and family on half allowance during pleasure, the ruling deity will have the opportunity of maintaining a feast or a famine within the domestic tabernacle.

Let us hope that the Government will consider this scheme as favorabl}' as possible. Should they entertain it, we would suggest the expediency of extending beneficially the privileges of these bashful settlers. Through an oversight, which wo trust is inadvertent, they have forgotten to specify besides rations and pocketmoney a daily allowance of grog and tobacco. Neither have thc3 r considered that' when they get settled on their twenty-five-acre sections it will be necessary for the Government to provide them with horses, cattle, pigs, and poultry to commence with. But perhaps these working men of Wellington have a keen eye to business, and arc of a speculative turn of mind’ Their intention may be to sell out, and not indulge in bona fide settlement. At all events, they deserve to bo successful, and we heartily congratulate them on their ingenious scheme. Should they fail there is another project which they ought to bring under the

notice of the Government. After alluding to the depression that prevails in Wellington, and the necessity that exists for the establishment of soupkitchens, they might suggest the expediency of starting a Government boarding-house, where working men, with their wives and families, besides being sumptuously entertained) would be initiated in the mysteries of cookery, so that they might afterwards be enabled to hire themselves out as station cooks or pastry bakers. Training establishments for telegraph operators and civil servants arc already in full swing, and a national school of cookery would relieve the needy and vary the monotony.