The Tuapeka Times.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 121, 2 June 1870, Page 4

The Tuapeka Times.

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1870. *' Measures, not Men." It is always amusing as well as instructive to watch a man who has a •particular hobby, especially when he rides it to death. Such a maa i^the Superintendent of Otago. A railway and an immigration scheme ! have been M?r. Macandfew's hobby ! for years past. He has devoted all j his energies to these two visionary | schemes. W"e well remember when the Balelutha bridge was opened | the Superintendent deeply regretted j thai) such a noble structure would so soon be superseded by a railway bridge. His Honour is naturally of a very sanguine temperament, aijpl his speculative turn of mind has given birth to many grand projects, few or none of whioh. he has been enabled to accomplish. Were he left ko himself, with an endless borrowing, power at his command, and freed from the cumbrous machinery of a government, he would in a few months make the wilderness of Otago blossom as the

rose. But, unfortunately for Mr Macandrew, Otago is under a Constitutional Government; and it is the natural result of all such governments that progress, instead of being erratic and spasmqdic, is, slow and steady, leading from precedent to precedent. The last outflow of His Honour's busy brain will be found in another column, under the heading of " Proposed £650,000 Loan." This sum he asks the Council to recommend for reproductive works. Of that amount, £400,000 is allocated for the Southern Trunk Railway ; and before referring to the security His Honour proposes giving for this extensive loan, we migl^t ask, Is this railway likely to be a reproductive work ? We are very (doubtful if it wquld pay working expenses for a good few years. In his message to the Council, His Honour states that the amount required annually to keep the Southern Trunk Road in repair wo.uld b.e almost sufficient to pay the interest on the sum borrowed to construct the railway ; but he must forget that the railway will take a considerable sum also — perhaps more than the road — to keep it in repair ; and besides, that even with a railway the road cannot he abandoned, but must be kept up.. Until the population is greatly increased no railway in Otago will be reproductive. Then as regards the sum proposed to be borrowed for immigration purposes, that will not make the country prosperous. We have repeatedly attempted to show that no immigration scheme will succeed until inducement is offered to people to immigrate, and at present we fail to see any inducement. We can neither com,pete with the American continent nor with the sister colonies in our inducements for immigration. Had His Honour made some effort to. barrow money to. compensate tbe runholders, as suggested to him by the deputation from the Tuapeka Land League eighteen, months ago, he would then have adapted a reproductive scheme in every way practicable. Instead of entertaining the suggestion, however, His Honour said a great monetary difficulty stared him in the face. The amount required for compensation would be £70,000, and how that sum could be raised he could not conceive. It is surprising how soon His Honour devises a , scheme to overcome the great monetary difficulty of a railway and other great works on which he hat set his heart, although there, is not a pressing necessity for any of them. We are thoroughly convinced that had that £70^000 been borrowed and several large tracts of land thrown open for settlement, there would have been by this tin>e a revenue from agricultural and (depasturing rents alone which, would have covered the interest on the amount, and besides, there would have been the increased revenue from a larger population. But what kind of security d,oes His Honour propose to give fo-r this £65,000; loau ? Why, none other than the pastoral rents of the provin.ee> to the extent of three million acres' producing an annual revenue of £32,000. Does it not show a foolhardiness almost beyond endurance on the part of the Superintendent %o su-b-mit such a scheme to the Counorr in the presence of facts which transpired only the other day. it was only the week before last that an almost unanimous resolution was passed by the Council that they would not recommend a loan for any purpose whatever on the security of the pastoral rents ; and yet in the face of that His Honour will submit a scheme for the borrowing of upwards of half a million of money on, that security. But we need not lose our temper over the affair, as there is hardly the skadow of a chance of the Assembly giving its sanction to the loan. We sincerely hope, for the. good of the province, that it will not.