THE TOKATEA TRAMWAY.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 122, 29 February 1872, Page 3

THE TOKATEA TRAMWAY.

To the Iv.litur of Tim Thames Ciaudia.n Sin, — In your issue of this morning i observe a statement .in reference to tin Tokatca Company at Coromandel that “The company will have to erect a tramway from their low level to the saddle oi the hill at the cost of about £I it >O. The Government have refused to aid in the work, and the whole cost will dcvolvi upon the company.” Now, Sir, 1 have lie doubt the company can afford the whole expense, but at the same time I don’i think, considering what a great advantage this tramway will be to the neighbourhood, that they should be called upon t< do this entirely at their own cost. Tin Tokatca Company, by the development oi thvir mine, has done a great deal foi the whole district, and although theyhavi done this of course for their own benefit, they have indirectly contributed to tin benefit of the whole district. The Govern liient has been at all times very stingy b the Goldfields, and to Coromandel especial ly so. At a public meeting held at. tie Court-house two years ago, Dr Nicholson then Provincial Secretary, stated that tie Province would have been better witlimr a Goldfield at all, and threw cold water o: on all applications for Governnicm assistance. His successors have been ■" little more liberal, but have not dealt a they ought with the Goldfield. Privah enterprise has done a great deal for Coro mandel, and the Government very little. The place, however, is going ahead rapidh and promises to rival the Thames, and J am very glad to see it, but I should 1 i 1:* to see the Government officials a litth more alive to the necessity of fostering the Goldfield interests. A few hundred spent in aid of the tramway alluded to conditionally on its being open to genera, use, would lie a very proper expeuditun in my opinion. As to the power to ex pend money in this manner I have not the least doubt the “Delegate” has the power, if he only had the will, to upset this and much more. As your report says the Government has refusal to aid iu tin's work—and I have no doubt the report is correct —I don’t suppose there’s much chance of anything being done, until the next sitting of the Provincial Council, albeit it is a long time to look forward to, and by that time I have no doubt the tramway will lie finished, but that does not alter my opinion that it is a shabby trick of the" Government to refuse assistance in the matter. —1 am, &c.,

A Coromandel Miner, February 27, 1*72,