THE MIDLAND RAILWAY DIFFICULTY.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 206, 11 June 1887, Page 5

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY DIFFICULTY.

The information which I supplied to your readers with respect to the delay in signing the Midland railway contract, and the fact that certain lands had beon improperly withdrawn from the operation of the East and West Coast Kailways Act, was confirmed in the course of a discussion which took place in tho House this evening. The matter was raised when in Committee on the Public Revonues Bill by Mr G. F. Richardson, who said that no information had been given with regard to tho delay in signing the Midland railway contract, The original contract signed by the syndicate terminated on January 17th last, and so far as they knew, no new contract had been signed. Ho asked what contracts had been let, and the value of them. As far as they were aware, the contracts now being undertaken were let in England, and not by public tender. Another matter upon which information was required was, how was it that in the " Gazette " of January 20th no less than 632,556 acres in the Provincial District of Nelson, and 145,938 acres in the Provincial District of Westland, making a total of 778,494 acres of the low-lying lands of the West Coast, were exempted from the operations of the East and West Coast Railway contract ? It appeared to him that this proclamation approached, if it did not amount to, a breach of contract on the part of the Go-

vernmenfc with the. Company. By an Act Parliament had set aside a certain large area from which the, Company were to take, the land as prescribed,, as an inducement for them to undertake the work. After the passing of this Act it appeared that by proclaraatiou the Minister for Mines had picked the eyes out of the district, and had left nothing for the Company to take uj>. Members would not be doing their duty if they allowed matters to pass without obtaining the fullest information. The Colonial Treasurer : If the hon. gentleman will look over the agreement made by the syndicate, he Avill see that the contract was assigned to the present Company, and that they arc working under it. Mr Richardson : The contract terminated in January last, unless the time was extended by order in Council. Sir Julius Vogel explained that a new contract had been prepared and approved by the local representatives of tho Midland Company, subject to tho approval of the Boai d at Home, and no reply had yet been received. It might bo necessary to have further legislation to deal with this matter* The Government did not consider it expedient to lay before the House the contract, which had not yet been accepted. Mr Richardson ; No explanation has yet been given Avith regard to the Government AvithdraAving a large area of land, and how that afreets the colony. Mr&eddon thought the explanation would be found in the 3rd section of the amended Act of last session. It had been decided to give the Government pOAver to reserve all lands Avhich vrevo likely to be necessary for mining purposes. After being a party to assist the mining industry and members of the West Coa;>t to get this concession, the member for Mataura found fault Avith the GoA'crnmunt for doing that which they Avere expressly authorised then to do. The land withdrawn from sale in Westland Avas the gullie.-, adjacent to the gold workings. Mr Richardson : All the alluvial lands. Mr Seddon : They are not alluvial lands, and my hon. friend knows little about it. The Midland Company are able to take care of themselves, and if the Minister for Mines had not taken care of the goldfields, he Avould not have been fit to occupy his position. Mr Rolleston complained that three-quar-ters of a million of land ostensibly set aside for the fulfillment of this contracthad been reserved by the Government. Last sebsion he had raised the question of auriferous land. The same difficulties Avould arise if the Company were to be alloAved to select lands under this contract free from any restrictions, but he Avas now unprepared to break faith Avith the contractors. He understood from the neAVSpapors, and the statement was apparently made by authority, that the proclamation withdrawing the lands had been revoked. The Colonial Treasurer had referred to the necessity for further legislation. Was it intended to keep the Canterbury members chained to his chariot wheels through the agency of this Midland Kailway ? He (Mr Kollcston) Avarned the Canterbury members lioav they acted Avith respect to this contract. ! Mr Pyke said it had been stated in I black and Avhite, on the authority of p. Minister, that a proclamation re\'oking the lands leserved had been signed by the Governor on March 11th last, but the revocation had by the mistake of some clerk not been gazetted.. It seemed to him that the Governor had been induced to sign a revocation of lands reserved on March 11th, and that thi.i had been carefully pigeon-holed cA T er since. Of the land reserved, one Avas a strip of four miles in width, and another seven miles in width. That meant positively that every bic of level land in Nelson and Westland had been absolutely taken aAvay from the operations of the contractors. The Treasurer had stated that he could not divulge to the House the present position of the matter. Did he mean to say that there Avere things that must bo concealed from. this House ? He could not understand how members could haA r o the slightest confidence in the gentleman sitting on Treasury Benches Avhen they were informed that Ministers dared not divulge to this House circumstances in connection Avith this railAvay contract. (The Premier : Oh, oh). Did the Premier think that his senile laugh Avould satisfy members of this House? (Laughter.) It Avould not satisfy members or the country Avhy the proclamation cancelling the reservation had not yet been gazetted. Sir Robert Stout : It is here in the Gazette, No. 31 (June 2nd). Mr Pyke : And what is the date of the proclamation and the Governor's signature ? Mr Stout : March 11th. (Laughter). Mr Pyke: Then Avhy has it been concealed all this time? The conduct of the Government in this matter is unAvorthy of gentlemen professing to be the GoA'ernment of the colony. The position is this :If it had not been detected and discoA r ei*ed that this ex traordinary reservation had been made, that withdrawal proclamation Avould have never seen the light of day, It had been, forced and dragged from the Government. Sir Robt, Stout said that the eloquent and very able speech just made showed, if true, that the GoA r ermnent ought never to alloAv railways to be constructed by private companies, and Avhen the Otago Central RaihA r ay came to be discussed in tho House, he should read from that speech to prove that the Avork should not be undertaken. (Laughter.) It Avas a most eloquent speech against the construction of railways by land grants. What Avas the meaning of this eloquence and talk of breach of faith ? The member for Geraldine Avas speaking through the newspapers and Hansard to the electors of Canterbury. The proclamation which had excited such dire anger Avas signed by the Governor on the lltli of March, but through some mistake in the office ib Avas not thought it required to be gazetted. When it Avas pointed out that it ought to be gazetted, that was done. Those interested in the contract did not know of the existence of tho proclamation till six weeks or tAvo months after it had been rescinded. I Major Atkinson : Why Avas it issued ? Sir R. Stout : The first proclamation Avas issued on the suggestion of tho Chief Surveyor at Westland, reserving these different pieces of land for mining purposes. Looking at the contract noAV in existence — not the contract that was sanctioned by Parliament under Avhich the contractors are working — the Government had no authority to take the lands reserved under the first proclamation* They did not deny their right to reserve lands that might be requiredformining purposes, and no doubt that right Avould be judiciouslyj udiciously applied by any Ministry. It was unfair that this Chamber should be turned into an arena for electioneering purposes. Mr Pyko said he must protest most strongly against the breach of faith on the part of the Government. If he had been subjected to the same treatment with regard to Otago Central Railway as the Midland Railway Company had been, Ministers would have heard from him very quickly. Sir Gcorgo Grey remarked that as far as he understood the matter, a proclamation Avas issued withdrawing large tracts of land from the Company, which they had a right to consider themselves entitled to, and the fact of their being so withdrawn waa

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4cept back from them for a long period of time. This appeared to him to be a gross breach of faith, calculated to alarm the Midland Company, and must shake confidence in the colony. How was it that such valuable information had been withheld till the proclamation was now obliged to be revoked so that no injury should be perpetrated ? Mr Richardson felt that 1 evoking the original proclamation had tared the colony from a whirlpool of arbitration, invoking probably los* to the colony ot half-a-milliou of money. Mr (innoncl said this was a colonial matter, and the House had a right to be informed as to whether the Government had guaranteed the present contractors. The Premier replied that, the c edit of the colony had neither been pledged nor injured in any way. Mr Rulleston, leplying to some remarks by Mr O'Cailaghan, said that the member for Lincoln' would have enough to do to • explain to his constituents his support of a Government ho were acting so as to bring the credit of the colony into disgi ace over this contract. In reply to Mr WakeficU the Piemier explained that the position was that the syndicate in Christchurch had sold the original contract to the London syndicate, who wero now soldly -responsible for the woik being carried X)n. The Government had no responsibility whatever. Mr Wakch'eld said that was a very satisfactory position. Mr Fergus thought it clear that the Government had not exceeded their power, and that thcicfore no injury could result. This being so, it would bo as well to let the matter drop. Sir Julius Yogcl said the new contract explained to the Company fully the reservation of land proposed by the Governso en t. Mr Richardson said the' discussion had been useful inasmuch as by the admissions of Ministers and by their silence the Hou»o learned that the Government were not responsible for the works in hand; that some provisional agreement existed virtually extending the original contract pending the signing of the" new contract ; that " the "Gazette notice witluh awing 778,000 acres on the AYest Coast -was cancelled in yesterday's "Gazette;" and that until the now contiact .va«« signed the Company could select any land, auriferous or not, excepting only "abandoned and actual gold workings at the date of the passing of tho East and West Coast Railways Act of 1883. The Minister of "Works then road a riepaitinental statement showing the exact position of tho Midland Railway question at the present time, and tho di&cuwaion dropped.