The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1882.

Temuka Leader, Issue 910, 28 January 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1882.

Thgrc are two things which people in New Zealand must eradicate from their minds if they want to succeed in developing i dus'rial enterprises in this colony. The first is, they must give up looking to Government to do everything for them. The past Governments of this colony borrowed money freely, and in many instances expended it not alone lavishly, but foolishly. Hitherto wherever a road, a harbor, or a railroad was yvantcd, representations w'ere made to the Government, and in many instances-as the price of tfie vote of the local representative, a sum sufficient to carry out the work was placed qu tfie estimates. This sort of thing cannot go on any longer, and in opr opinion, fr is aa well for the connfry that it should not. It had two bad effects : It tended to corrupt oyr members of Parliament, ‘ for when they returned to their constituents they were not asked Low they voted on colonial matters, hut why they did not get mobey co build such a bridge, or make such a road ? and consequently, instead of colonial statesmen we have had mere local agents in our Legislature, whose highest aspirations were the securing for their own, districts as much as they possibly could of the contents o| the public purse. It had. also the effect of too. much dependance being placed by the upon the. Government till in fact they haye. lost confidence in any work of magnitude being carried out unless taken in h,and hy Government. It killed, in fact, that spirit of self-con-. fidence and self-reliance which ajone can make a people enterprising and perous. Now, Government, having, run the colony head and ears into debt, can* - not continue constructing public, works, as heretofore, and people may as well open their eyes to this fact at once., Th e y may as well Ippjc ayoimd them, and' observe : that public companies haye done more in other countries than Government has done in this, and if they unite in forming organisations for developing the industrial resources of this colony, as the people of other countries have done, the same measure, of supcess, will eventually crown their labors. The next thing is they not expect 100. per cent, interest on. th,o i.npnpy they invest in developing local because even if. they do not get immediate direct interest on t ier investment they will get it, in? directly in the shape of additional value to property in the locality where the new industries haye been started. For r in r stance, if a paper mill had bepn in existence in, this district every farmer would derive more than the interest on the amount he invested in the Company from the sale of wh u he must npw. burn to. out of his way. But that is not the ques. tion, we dosife to,'discuss npw. What we want to draw attention to is the extraordinary report aijbmitted, by the Commissioners appointed, by the Christchurch, Chamber of Commerce to. report upon the line of railway, proposed to be constructed between Christchurch and the West Const We have not space to give the, report in full though, it is a very cramped and meagre one,, but it may be summarised as follows .— *■* Along the proposed route there, is timber-Of the best kind in abundance, there are vast coal fields, an immense quantity of building stone, the gold mining industry is evidently only n its beginning ; the- ranges seem to,teem with all kinds of minerals, and there are prospects of new gold fields being found ” AH’ these the wise-acres of Christchurch found, but they reported, notwithstanding that the line would not prove remunerative to the. shareholders if a Company had been started to construct it, and said it was the duty of the Government to construct it immediately to developo the untold wealth which is now. comparatively dormant.” When in, the commencement of this. article we said that the people of this colony were wanting in self reliance, through having been accustomed to look for everything to Government, we felt that our readers, would repudiate the assertion with scorn, but really, after reading the report which the Christchurch Commissioners havemubmitted, we cannot see how any one can differ from our views. These are men chosen out of a whole community to report upon the prospects of an enterprise in which the greater part of this Island ia interested and they come back with the story that there is no hope of it proving immediahly remunerative to the shareholders of a company ■ started to carry it out, hut that the Government ought to construct it to develope its untold wealth. The way it would enhance the value of property, the fact that it. would make this coast, and Christchurch especially, the emporium of the West Coast, instead of its trade going aa it does at present to Sydney and Melbourne, is altogether left out of the reckoning, and nothing is considered except that the cent per cent interest is not to be made out of it. We do not know the Commissioners personally, but wo think they belong to that numerous class who will do nothing except for immediate gain. What a logical conclusion they come to. It would mot pay a company, but the Government ought to make the railway to develop the untold wealth of the district ! Could anything be more nonsensical than this? Why should Government make it if it would not pay

any ffiore than a private company ? la . not the Government overburdened with I 4ebt already, and is it right now for it to add another political ' railway to the many already in existence 1 Jt would, we are of opinion, he very wrong on the part of the Government to do anything of the kind, when the people who would be immediately benefitted by it look so gloomily on the prospect of it provirg a reproductive work. What a nice thing tq asl? the various constituencies in the island to pay for developing “ untold wealth," for the people of Canterbury, and the West Coast, while their own railroads are yet unmade. The coolness of the proposal takee one’s breath away* We are glad to find that the original promoters look upon the m tter from a more business-like point of view, apd hsve determined to inquire further into the master- A serious impediment has been thrown in their way by ti e unfavorable rep Art of these chicken hearted commissioners, b.qt we trust they will persevere till they connect the two coasts by a, line of railway. We think that notwithstanding, the illogical conclusions come to by the. commissioners the facts that have been already elicited are to warrant them in Undone to carryout the scheme. per cent of the land along the line," which, the Government is prepared in jqd of constructs ing the line, the proceeds front the traffic on the line are. estimated as, follows :■ —. Goals, 60,000, tons at 9s freight I timber, 14.000. wool, grain, hides, freight, £15,000 ; 40,000, tons merchandise, equal to 2 tons, per head of population on Cnast, at £1 horses and cattle, 4DOO head at £1 ; sheep, pigs, etc., 25.000, at 13s ; passenger traffic, 200 heed pet week, at £1; mails, say £2OOO-; •parcels, £I,OOO ; ; sleepers, piles, etc., £4000; building, stone, sand, gravel, £10,000; which makes np a total- of, £184,0000; With such prospects before them, we cannot see why they need be. afraid of the venture. If is, not what it would yield immediately they should look at, but the great benefit it would confer on Uj# people living on both sides of the ranges, the additional value it w’puld give to property along.the line, and the impetus it would give trade, and com merce. We sincerely trust the committee who haye now the matter under consideration will not be influenced in any way b}' the report of the commissioners, aud that they will persevere till- they are successful ip floating a company that wjl.l carry out the. work.