MARLBOROUGH.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 417, 22 October 1861, Page 2

MARLBOROUGH.

PICTON RAILWAY LOAN.

Colonial Secretary's Letter to the Superintendent.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, . sth September.*lß6l. Sir—l regret to be under the, necessity of informing you that his Excellency has been advised to refuse his assent to the Picton and Wairau Railway Loan Ordinance.

I have to call your attention to the following extract from a despatch of the Secretary of btate of the 15th September, 1857, published in the Government Gazette of the 15th December, 1857. \ * I have, therefore,- to instruct you; in exercise of the powers vested in you by the Constitutional Act, to require that all Bills of Provincial Legislatures, for the purpose of raising moneys by loan, shall be reserved for your assent; not to give such. assent in any case unless either the amount is inconsiderable and the purpose temporary, or the exigency appears to you so great as to render departure from this rule essential for the public convenience; aud if ever loans to any serious amount should appear to be required by a province, to require that the Legislature should present to you resolutions to that effect, in order that you may confer with her Majesty's Government previously to the introduction of any Bill for. the purpose.' , ■ ; :

The conditions imposed by the Home Government not having been complied within the present case, you will perceive that his Excellency cannot assent to the proposed measure. / ,' ; .... r: .}~.'. But, apart from this, I am anxious to convey to you the views of the Government on. the subject of the proposed undertaking. ~.-.•■; ; -,

The Government. sympathise*s with the object in view, namely, the opening of a communication between Queen Charlotte's Sound and the valley of the Wairau. They are alive to the. importance of this work as affecting the interest of the Province of Marl borough, and will promote' it to the; extent of their power, and so far as they properly and prudently can; but it is impossible for them to regard an undertaking of this kind, involving the necessity of a large loan, as a matter of mere locaL concern. Every Provincial Loan, though primarily chargeable on the revenues of the Province, must necessarily affect and practically limit the credit of the Colony as a whole. For these reasons (if for no other) it would be the duty of the Government to examine the proposed undertaking with reference to its financial Tesulfa; and I must observe that neither in tlie evidence taken before the Committee of. the Provincial Council nor in the Select Committee of the General Assembly does it appear that any reliable data are furnished for such examination. I nowhere fiud a calculation, other than purely conjectural, of the estimated cost of maintaining the proposed railway, nor of its expected returns. Without such data, it would be impossible for the Government to form an opinion themselves, or to offer a suggestion to the Home Government as to the policy or impolicy of acceding to the proposed loan. . .

I venture to point out to you, for your future guidance, the importance of your supplying the Government with these requisite data. Setting aside any expected returns from the undertaking itself, the Government are t under the necessity of looking to the proposed loan with reference to the resources of the Province and its ability to bear so heavy a charge. The population of your Province does not" at present exceed, according to the best estimate that can be obtained by the Government, 2000; and its estimated ordinary revenue' from all sources, according to the estimate of the audk tors, does not exceed ,£1.707 4s. lid. per annum. The ordinary current expenditure of the Prevince, exclusive of immigration, public works, &c, fijr the year appears to be about «£4539 5a.; and the land revenue for the same period is £27,985 Is. 2d.

It does not appear to the Government, under these circumstances, that the ordinary revenue of your Province is equal to so large a loan aa £60,000. It is probable that the proposed tforlc, when finished, would bring with it an increase of revenue and ''population; but it ought not to be based on merely conjectural estimates of this kind.,. .. .;.; ,_■. .' . . ;:.,,■;.-■'-.; ■ i*;.; Your land revenue, no doubt, is,at^ present considerable; but the land fund is precarious. The Government-have reason to suppose, that; the bulk of the agricultural land of the Province has been already sold ; .and as the rest of the lande will probably be sold within a limited period, you cannot count on this as a permanent: source of revenue. Besides this, the districts from which land revenue accrues are assumed to have claims 'on that fund, which are, in general, so'great as to leave little, if any, surplus available for works of this description. Will the remote districts of the Province, from which' alone the land revenue will come, be satisfied with the application of a large portion to a work from which they will derive but a remote benefit ? The lands to which immediate value will be given by the work lie in the lower part of the valley of the Wairau, to which it will open access from the sea. These lands are in the possession of private proprietors, some of whom hold a very large extent of country, purchased at a rate varying from ss. to 18s. per acre. ■ I venture to submit for your Honor's consideration, whether, under these circumstances,. it will not be proper, in any plan for establishing the proposed railway, to provide that a fair portion of the burden shall, by direct taxation, be made to fall on those who will be mainly and directly benefited by it. .-•.■'■'■ •'■■ • Begging to assure your Honor of the earnest desire of the General Government to co-operate with and assist the Provincial Government of Marlborough in any undertaking calculated to advance the interests of the Province, I have, &c, William Fox.

His Honor the Superintendent, Marlborough.

Enterprising Traveller. —Among the number of emigrants from Victoria, who lately paßsed through Wagga Wagga, we noticed one whose mode of locomotion was certainly peculiar, and spoke well of his perseverance. He had travelled from the Korong goldfield in Victoria, a distance of nearly 400 miles, which he had accomplished in six weeks, driving before him a wheelbarrow, laden with his goods and chattels, the gross w'eiglit .of Hie vehicle and its loading being 128 lbs. He was wending his way onward to the Turori dig* gings, a further distance of fully 200 miles. He estimated his expense while on the road at the rate.' of X2s* per 100 miles.--FFfljsr« Wagq*E%tms