South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2339, 15 September 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1880.

The members of the Queensland Legislature arc evidently endowed with a more than common stock of human sagacity. They have just passed through committee a Railway Extension Bill, the provisions of which arc calculated to seriously revolutionise the schemes of modern railway speculators. One of the little games constantly indulged in by the average land jobber in the colonies is to purchase areas of land in advance of railway construction in the hope that by watching his opportunity for rolling the political log and agitating local opinion, his pet claims will be jumped by the railway department. A good many members and cx-members of the Colonial Legislature have in this manner ascended the ladder of fortune and paved the way for becoming wealthy absentee proprietors. Capital invested in hank and insurance shares has rapidly grown in value, but no ordinary joint stock investment has ever been known to prove half so lucrative as the purchase of land with a view to its subsequent improvement at the cost of the State. Political railways have always been a prolific, source of political corruption and the member of Parliament who at some period of his history has not had an interest in some of these enterprises may be said to have sadly neglected his opportunities for personal aggrandisement.

The Queensland Railway Extension Bill aims at destroying one of the chief incentives to parliamentary distinction. Next to payment of members or the honorarium question, political railways arc iudispcnsiblc to the survival iu parliament of that kind of democracy which is aptly represented by such gentlemen as Mr Vincent Pyke. Take away these lines and the convenient axes available for grinding purposes when the estimates arc on the cards, would he terribly diminished. The Queensland Parliament, with singular self abnegation, appear bent on the removal of some of these axes. We readily accord the promoters every credit for their acumen and intentions. Their action, should they succeed with this Bill, may blight the hopes and future prospects of representatives, who have no hesitation, when the thing can be done quietly, iu dipping their hands into the public treasury ; but it will have a innovating effect on the political institutions of the country. The nature of this somewhat novel and startling Bill has been briefly telegraphed. Under its provisions compensation will be given only for land actually taken, less the deduction of the estimated enhancement in value of the property by the railway. Owners of property who have succeeded iu improving their estates with the aid of railways, will he

unable to obtain full compensation for the land absorbed and at the same time enjoy the profits arising from the enhanced value of what remains. In this way an enormous amount of money, which at present finds its way from the public exchequer into private pockets will be saved to the colony and the public. It is not at all improbable that the features of this new Bill will have an influence on political circles outside of Queensland. This new measure of our Australian cousins deserves the early attention of the New Zealand Parliament.