THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

Southland Times, Issue 702, 26 July 1867, Page 2

THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

(fO THE EDITOE OP THE SOUTHLAND" TIMES.) /' Sib,—Let me inform you. that, a hole-and-corner meeting was held at Puettel- : kow's Hotel, composed*of Lumsden and ' Co., who are doing all in their "power to .prove that they are strong supporters of * the railway scheme," aiid" "that they. rwere ithe independent men'^existence j during the last Council.-* - 'But those subiterfuges will not answer. Does not the (letter^ of the-;Coloiu7al.iSectetaryr",t'd'"His IHonor the .SuperintendenlFstate that theland cannot be set aside by the stupid"' jresolutiPn^cthat was* passed' )sy k Lumsden iand Co.'—a -fesolutioh^'tfiiit'"' waSj" lam informed drawn out" by Dr Menzies ;himself, and ..greedily- adopted by^Lums;de^"and'o|iiers.77 lieiyiapt the. eleclorslbe:; l^dj astray by. anythiiig thatcan-be > said' 1 at ithe; j meeting:- to-morrow evening:'?l. If' 'such^men'are agaittflerifrW^ the raiiway.questio^i'will-a'Ssuredly suffer. [Will .Mr Lumsderi' pledge himself not to vote for -a- Saperinterideni^"^rho""is" a" squatter ? . Did-he-sign the railway petition?— Yours, &c., i , .. -, .Bbogbbss.V j-'--; ■"" ■ » ~ l/OL

: (i|o THB KDITOB 0F ; £HEf SOUTHIAITD'JinirES.) | S/b,— As there is-to-benew men elected to represent Southland; I do, -sincerely hope that measures will be brpught forward bj them, "suitable, to our present Wants; of the past.?, we ought to have learnt -a lesson, ; and, there is jnprneed for similar recurrences if good hone^+^men are voted into the Council ; they," in all likelihood^ would paWs" bills "in which we Would see' "tMture^^qsperity; to_ady.apce_ our positioner the .oa^eesty arrangements md management is required ; situated as we^arg; it; is n"gt twiseYJb Be 7 constantly 7 contracting for fresh loans ; in fact we VouldYinucE lik'eYtb-i hear -tff 'diistikg debts being paid off ;--te- do this we can ?see no . other Cpliuf. thkri- -^thfe :i i.ccl are say we have as .jyet gpt&j good deal of land that belongs entirely to. ourselves ; ■delimit -'find 1 ,; £$OU,OOO -, 'if we :let this debt •• -eta^d 1 with its- accumulating.iinterestj mebwiil, to ; our cost, : find ourselves i^ie slough of des* pond, and those from whom ; ; we have, borrowed will have-it-on. their power to do anything they please with us and ours ; but in this, r ;tbe general; mass '.\pf j the populace are to be blamed, for while even „we.JhamYan acre -of land- ■- therewill always be -parties ready to -advance money on it. Some now seem very anxious to advance money for the building of railroads, not' Tor" the benefit that, railroads^ will confer on existing popular, tion, but because, such an, undertaking will be of advantage to their own interests j strange indeed, that some people ( will* do almost anything for giiii, whether unfavorable to the; interests pf the. people' or not /.those iare reverenced and held in. highest estimation, and considered' well disposed, and practical. In many cases' money is. lent with an interitibn quite the reverse ; to speak facts^l doubt whether" one farthing would. be v lent, unless where: is given sufficient security. , i' ■■■ Supposing the Government* ; were. to to say we will not : -have' railroads unless on those, terms, that is, vfehat jgjentlenjep. sufiieieiitly wealthy do .'f.unite together and form a company, c th% cpmpany to bviild a railroad as faconto the interior as they mayytlmko.ifit,7-ja*ridi 5 also work tHenv beaxLthe loss, or if otherwise, re.ceiye the gains, We imagine if these

propositions* were offered, a thousand would be the objections made, and of a consequence, would be . thrown . back in the face of the Council, as a cranky piece of nonsense, and of course would meet with refusal ; ;: why because the company know it .would not pay back -the . one 'thousand part of money expended,, and the loss fall entirely on themselves ; aa matters stand at the present day, the people of Southland . seem willing to bear the whole cost themselves, providing each person bears an equal share again ; some are disposed to involve us in still further difficulties ■ they of course have noyintention of stopping to bear any- part of -it unless for ■ the short time they are pleased to sojourn* here with false colors ; they often accomplish their principal object, self, by their persuasiveness and entreaties ; we become wonderfully infatuated, and follow any course they choose to direct, whether attended with ruin or not ; having witnessed the rise of 7 Southland, and if we dare call it its subsequent downfall, things of this nature are easily seen ; every, inch of this unfortunate place has been ransacked for the treasures it contained ; many ran .. bravely, rushing forth with heedless ferocity, grasping. . anything which is valuable. I may as well give, a specimen, no sooner than. a Government, is formed, and allowed a -few sittings, when apparent zeal arises on 7 the part of the opposition, and accordingly they are ousted as unfit for such a high position. The opposition party thinking that the Ministry have had loaves and fishes, long enough, contrives there and then plans to upset them, all with an eye .to business ;• then some again, if they cannot get office, as. a matter of trade, send in their resignation ; no money, no work is our motto ; to speak of the cßlacklock Ministry,- we consider fairly, that I they :n haye v .been -the best men. we •have had in the Province of Southland, acting as they did upon sound- principles, vbecause they were not wiliing to jeoparidise Southland- into;. further difficulties; they— were with but little- consideratkmsbundled. . r from office ; they, -as, men? done their- ""'"best to defend" Southland's interests ; they opposed this railway fanaticism which did -not - meet with the_ a,ppiobation.'Of opposing: this., the, r^Cinistry .. done ; what every seri^ sible man should do; they were. >quit€is willing to give tup office sooner than -sell themselves. ....... „: , Q -. ■.-._ : „., WhatTsort'ofmen mil the. next Government be^tsdm^osed ""of P^By.^hat,., can be. gleaned,, none will be voted in unless they...;p|,ed^is^themselyes to. .do their iitmpVt .to.'in^' e p^ ■quande^-.awiiy ourr land,; selling. all that we areY- •possessed 'of, .'and leaving Southland the* slaughtered victim, of selfishness ahd'Snioition" W^enfvnll the 'whirlwind, thjs;tears^ ppw.erohe.: abated ?-.■-■■■< When /will its desolating- ravages^be^ stayed'?- - When shall thia-crafty -tyrant'be -conquered ? ~Wh§ii ; "■" we have sound working 'men and sound_ prifidples "brought into "effective" 7 operation, then we' may break forth with enraptured emotiofis— we y are '-"free '! we are fiee ! Irr-.l^am^G;, 7-- ■•-•- ■ ---pHYSic.yy ; Waikivi Bush, Julh 20th. > _ ;j c.-.-i

! : ..."■■-.' "» 7: ' - ... ■'■' ■.-■':. BQSS : 4Hp.^J&&i^ .(TdTHE EDITOB OP TBiE SOUBHIkND TIMES).. L ' "; " Sis,- — Through, the medium . of^your - ii valuable columns :I- would: feel "obliged by your giving insertion to the following statement -of facts'- in connection with the decision lately^ given by our ' Itesident V Magistrate in the * above case. - '-. The question' in. dispute arose out -of : ; a inisunders'tandihg as^tp theprice of "conveyance perv.7loot) of bribks from Buxtons brick-field. to; the terminus at the Makerewa, adjoining my . property, a distance, of .103 chains,; the; plaintiffs stating that the agreement was at the" X ;rate of 35s per 1000, while I maintained,^ and had a witness to prove, the plaintiffs**.; 'agreed to 5s per 1000. The arrange- ."77, ment was of' course," and unfortunately, ;•:: Verbal.^ c --.-;i'.y.- ■■•'-■•.. -,„ ■ y-j.-Ayrji v - 'VL j v The bricks (34,500), were duly livered, and' l was some what ..surprised" to : X_ -receive plaintiffs, account (andsummons) therefor,: amounting to £60 7*7s 6d,- ; cal- ' : ' culating freight, &c, at : 35si per 1000. ; ' At ,the,.fir^t hearing of '.'tjie 'case,-! the^Y Be^d^tTMa^^ :in consequence of the .contradictory - r nature'of the evidence, iie considered i^ * a I case for a^bitratipn, ; and stating' he would appoint an arbiter- and communi- - ,'eate with parties before the j day of next bearing, whether they would agree, $q-_ l - the' "decision of the .arbiter chosen — adjourned the .case. Whether plaintiffs or their solicitbr*?received any communica^; . tipn"! am unable to say— certainly I received none, j However, on -Thursday ■ following His Worship commenced - : -by declaring he had changed his Ppihipn . ..., as to arbitration, arid that he would decide the case himself, allowing plahitiffs at rates what: he chose tbTcall" equitably 1 ' charges," ;; viz:, 18sj freight, per IOOO' along the line, for^a j distance of I|* miles, a,, rate. t w|iic&, r -for -.the^hole > distance from ■'"' IHvercargiir to Makerewa, woulof to 31s 6d per ton, whereaa the Government charge per ton, wag

LOs y~ otherwise, the" Eesident Magistrate's equitable charges from Invercargill to Makerewa, amounts to £4> 14s 6d per 1000, for the mere drawing along the line, while the Grovernment charge is 30s per 1000. I was also charged 7s; per 1000 for loading, unloading, and freight from Buxtons, no mention in my original agreement even having been: made by the plaintiffs of this item, and. which they- were bound to do. An allowance was also made plaintiffs for a; siding which certainly I had nothing to ; do with, as' I have always understood that in cases of contracts to convey goods, or anything else, the contractor is bound to find his own roads to i;he place of delivery, as pointed out and agreed upon to be taken to. I was, too, in a position to prove that even this infliction of £o, was in excess of what actually "was paid by plaintiffs for this siding, the amount paid by them being exactly one half, £2 10s. On application for a re-hearing on this \ and other grounds I was refused. What puzzles me is how it was that the Magistrate arrived at his equitable charges ; and how, after at first declaring he could, from its contradictory nature, make nothing of the evidence, at the same time giving credit so far to plaintiffs, and ignoring my evidence altogether as to distances, corresponding freights &c. People ought to be very cautious before they enter into agreements, verbal especially, which afterwards may lead to the requirement of the valuable assistance of our wPrthy Eesident Magistrate, if in addition to such exhorbitant "equitable charges" they are held -liable for road making, cuttings, loading, unloading, cartage &c., without any right of appeal. lam Sir, Your obedient Servant, Hugh M'Lean. Wallacetown, July 17th, 1867.