THE RAILWAYS.

Southland Times, Issue 699, 22 July 1867, Page 2

THE RAILWAYS.

... "'"'" " — — -*r - The following correspondence between His Honor the Superintendent and the Colonial Secretary" • is— published- for general information. It "will . •be seen that His Honor 'has unflinchingly advocated the construction of railways, .indeed. the whole subject will require to .be opened up ;irt; the new Provincial Councils' ; ; lt; will depend upon the members returned^ ! whether ■ ' the _. railway scheme^ecdmes a reality or not :— L - Superintendent's Office, f * Southland^ 6%" Jurie, 1867. Sic,— l have "honpi* to acknowledge the receipt* of your letter^ df -25th May, informing me' what terms the G-eneral Government would agrSe to a contract being entered into for the completion of the Greti Railway. I 'beg to thank you, for the- concessions you have therein made towards; l facilitating the getting of tenders for this wort, but regret that you have' still retained the condition (No. 2.) , that "The cost of the work as estimated -by our Engineer, approved of by" the- Greneral and Provincial Governments,' be the contract price to be paid in land for the execution of the work." As I stated before; in my letters of the 13th May, and, for the reasons therein given, the contract price for land can never be at so low a rate as for cash, and the effect of this condition will be to prevent any tender from being sent in, since, an engineer calculates the cost, of such works according to . the price of labor and material. I am in hopes, however, that the retention of this condition in your letter of 25th May, may be an oversight, since you, in the same letter, agree to the Provincial Council asking for a grant of land for the Oreti line of 60,000 acres ; whereas the highest engineer's estimate, for cash, is £50,000 r the lowest, £46,000. ■ " J . As I feel sure that the retention of this condition (No. 2.), will effectually prevent any tenders /being sent in, ; I. would respectfully request your're- ' consideration of it. . • Of course 'these arguments do not i apply to the Eastern Line as proposed ,to be carried out by Dr Knight, and i partly agreed to by . Messrs Douglas, ALderson and .Co. I regret to say that I have as yet received rid" answer from, these gentlemen in reply . . to my letter to them on the Isubject. lam told Mr- Douglas is absent 'in the North. — I have, &c, Jno. P. Tatloe, Superintendent.".; The Hon. the Colonial Secretary," ■Wellington." •

; ' ]STo. 304. ! Colonial Secretary's Office, ' ' 'Wellington, 2nd July, 1867. ■Sib,— l hay to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter of the 12th . ultimo, relative to the conditions of a contract for the completion of the Oreti Bailway. ' The opinions expressed by your Honor as to the maximum limit of cost, ■will receive consideration, and probably ' the Greneral Government will, if the work is proceeded with, waive the conditioa originally suggested of making, in

- the call for tenders, the engineer's estimate, the maximum limit of price to be accepted. ■ ; The Government concurs with your Honor in thinking, for the reasons assigned in. your letter, that the Eastern line sho aid for the present terminate at Tuturau, and that no decisive steps can be taken with respect to ' this line until the reply of the company is jeeeived from Englari'd,. ..■: • , „x . \ In respect to your enquiry whether thb Greneral,Grovernment T will. temporarily advance funds for the survey of the Oreti line, I may 'observe that, even, if such j funds were available. for such' a purpose, 1 which_is not the case, it does not clearly appear why a further survey should /be ! made, when two' suiveys of that line already exist; It does riot appear advisable to spend any further sums atpresent in making surveys, until it is positively der terminedi that the line should^ be coni structed and paid for in land ; but as yet the Provincial Council has not recom 7 mended, although invited to do so, that any specific extent of land should be granted for the construction of the line ''• in question, and until it has done "sbj there is no power under the Southland Waste Lands Act to appropriate any portions of the Waste Lands of that Province to meet the cost, of construction. — I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, . : (Signed) \E. W. Staff.okd. > His Honor the Superintendent, Souths land. . :

Superintendent's Office, Southland, 6th Juue, 1867. Sib,— l have the honor to forward a copy of a resolution of the Provincial Council, having reference to the ■ construction of the Oreti -and Mataura Railways, which, being somewhat different in phraseology to the one I anticipated would be passed, necessitates explanation. „■.'-•, . . : The late Exeoutive brought under, the consideration of the Council a resolution, a copy of -which I enclose, not merely embodying the principle that the railways are desirable, but that the Council should take the initiative in the : matter, by specially recommending His ! Excellency to reserve a specific acreage; for the accomplishment of- such- works. The majority of the Council, whichi acknowledged their desirability, v "appear, by the resolution passed,* to desire that the initiative should be. _ taken -by the 'General- Government, .notwithstanding that they have failed to indicate, as you desired, under what? authority, (viz.,) the 36th section of the " Southland Waste Lands Act, 1865," and to state precisely what number of acres would be required for the two undertakings. The general wish to have these works executed having been so clearly expressed. I presume there will be no difficulty on the part of the Colonial Government in carrying out the intention of the Provincial Council, namely, to reserve the land with the view 'of executing the work on the plan proposed by Dr Knight.' • .. :.--.■. H The expression ■-. in the resolution, that a further ' preliminary survey ' shall be made before ' proceeding with the works,' seems to me to have no meaning, inasmuch as the preliminary surveys of the Oreti Line have already been made, and a sufficiently reliable rough estimate arrived at by Mr Dundas of the cost of the Eastern, to guide the Government in asking for a' certain number of acres ; seeing that no more of the grant can be expended thereon than the General and Provincial Engineer's sanction by their acceptance of contracts for cash, and in neither case can the work be 'proceeded with' without a perfectly acaccurate survey and specification, the cost of which would be too great for the Province to incur until the grant of land was assured. Whether, under these circumstances, it may be necessary for His Excellency, in order to carry out this resolution, to resort to the power of makiDgLandEegulations, eonferredby the " Southland Debt Act, 1865," is a question which I would leave for your consideration. I would only urge upon you the importance of immediate action in the direction indicated by the resolution. — I have the honor to be sir, your most obedient servant, Jisro. P. Tatloe, Superintendent. „.. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington.

314. Colonial Secretary's Office, ■Wellington.. 9th July, 1867. - Sic, — I lave to acknowledge the re- ; ceipt of your Honor's ' letter of the 6th instant, transmitting a copy of a resolution of the Provincial Council of .Southland, on the subject of the proposed construction of the Oreti and Mataura Railways ; and in reply to state that there is no power in the Waste Land Law in force in Southland to make such a reserve as that recommended in that resolution, but if a contract were wada for

the" cdristruction of works" (under ; the "36th section :of the '< Southland Waste Lands Act, 1865,") to be paid -for in laiidrtheh, in that case, the land, the subject of such contract, would, by such contract, be bound, arid in such a case the land would -be,— by _the contract, .reserved.—l have the honor to be sir, your most obedient, servant, i „_.;-.■ ,- , W.';S*APFOSD. M \ \ • "■ ' — . ' !

Monday, 22 5.1 a.ml, 5.19 p.m., Tuesday, 23X.., 5.38^ „ j ....... 5:57 „;