The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1866.

Southland Times, Issue 559, 12 September 1866, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1866.

The discussion arising from the recent meeting on the Railway question have assumed a personal character. Many have rushed into print, and made bold assertions upon matters on which they are but very imperfectly informed. The object of the meeting was ostensibly to elicit information from the Government as to the opening of the Bluft Harbor and Tnvercargill [Railway, and the position it held with reference to the present contractors, and the dispute between it and Messrs Dalgety, Rattray &c. • His Honor the Superintendent we think fairly supplied the information sought, without going into details of the various transactions. There can be no question as to the G-overnment having maintained an objectionable silence as to its do ings and intentions — a silence which has given the discontented and suspicious a text from which to discourse — and in doing which they have in some measure courted censure. The tone and temper, however, of the censurers, has led them, or some of them, to overstep the bounds of discretion, and fling recklessly accusations and insinuations as groundless as they were slanderous. It is not our intention to offer any apology for the mistaken policy the Government may have adopted of withholding information from the people in which all were interested and desirous to obtain, but we do emphatically condemn those who have directly or indirectly endeavored to fix the odium of corruption on legislators and private individuals, with reckless impetuosity and unwarranted boldness. Although the majority of the speakers carefully avoided making any direct charge there ■« as a tinge of suspicion in all that was said. What did it all amount to ? Simply that a contractor had changed his account from one Bank to another, and had received part payment for work actually done, when "the popular belief was, that he was enti 1 *d to nothing until the entire contract Jwa; completed. We have taken some trouble to unravel the mystery that seemed to cluster round the transactions between Messrs Smyth, Hoyt, and Co. and the Government with reference to the completion of the Bluff Harbor and Invercargill Railway, and shall detail the result of our investigation as briefly and clearly as possible. In January last tenders were calledfor the coir - pi etion of the line of Railway from Invercargill to the Bluff, the successful tenderer toreceivepaymentinland. Messrs Smyth. Hoyt,& Co., were the successful tenderers, and immediately prepared to work in earnest. It was shortly afterwards discovered that owing to the action that Dalgety, Rattray, and Co., had taken respecting a claim on the G-overnment, which the latter refused to acknowledge, the contractors wore unable to get possession of the entire line, and therefore were entitled to throw up the contract and sue for large compensation. This was not done. On representation being made to them that a difficulty had arisen which would preclude the Government from giving possession of the whole line for a short time, Mr Smyth agreed to go on with the works at the Invercargill end, and forego all claim for compensation for ! the inconvenience he might be put to j from not getting possession of the whole line. At the time this agreement was made, neither the G-overnment nor the contractor imagined that the difficulty with Dalgety, Rattray, & Co., would be of more than two or three weeks duration. It proved, however that both were mistaken, and the dispute is not yet ended. The contractors proceeded with their works as far as the upper sections were concerned to the satisfaction of the Railway Engineer, and were prepared to complete the line months since had they been able to obtain possession of it, but not being able to do so, they asked for payment in part, for what had been done, and the justness of the claim was acknowledged — the Railway Engineer, Mr Paterson, recommended it as just and right, and the Government gave 10,000 acres of land, but not until £15,000 worth of work had been done. This we believe to be a truthful statement of the whole transaction. We shall not attempt to go into the matter in dispute between the Government and Dalgetty, . Rattray, & Co. That it ought to have been settled or taken to the Supreme Court long since is clear, as by that course much loss to the contractors and annoyance to the people might have been saved. The desire we now have is to plainly show the nature of the transactions between the contracting parties. To Bum it up in a few words ; the Government could not perform their part, and the contractors generously debarred themselves

from seeking compensation and never asked or received the smallest consideration, except an instalment on account of work actually done. Having placed in a eleai' light the position of the Government and contractors, we come to certain charges that have recently been made and long insinuated, viz. : — that through the intervention of Mr Calder, the contractors had been favored to an extent that was not legitimate. It is contrary to our rule to allude in any way to the private commercial transactions of anyone, but in this instance wn feel bound -.to do so. It. h-is been broadly stated that the acommodatinn required by the contractors from their bankers^ was refused because the securities were not fortlvo ning — that the Government refused to give them. Tin's we believe to be part true, :>nd in part a mi^statement. At the time the difference between the contractors and their B 'inkers arose, the Railway Engineer's certificate had not arrived at the Government offices, and therefore, although it was known that the work had been done the Government could not recognise the claim. The contractor, as all business men would do, applied to one who he believed able to help him to what he required, and he succeeded. Mr Calder had a purchaser for for land and the contractors in the meantime, having arranged with the Railway Engineer and the Government had land to sell, and the bargain was ln.ide. Unlike the banker who would do nothing until the parchment was absolutely in his hind, having faith, that on the security offered was genuine, he closed the transaction. It is not to be supposed that any business man would enter upon so heavy an undertaking without making enquiries beforehand. But in what way is Mr Blacklock connected with the transaction ? As Treasurer, he would naturally be applied to for information which he supplied, but beyond this, as far as we can learn, he did nothing. Still, this simple commercial transaction has been twisted and turned — made the subject of sensational articles and frequent assertions, that there was corruption in the camp — that all who were involved in the transaction — a purely business one — were public swindlers. We believe that we have given a correct version of the transaction, and the public can now judge as to the full value — a fair and open, every-day business transaction ; so much so that now the whole facts have been brought it seems wonderful that the " storm in a tea cup " should ever have been deemed serious, and have called forth so great an amount of effervescent political thunder.