The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1884. THE WELLINGTON-MANAWATU RAILWAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1647, 29 March 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1884. THE WELLINGTON-MANA-WATU RAILWAY.

At a recent meeting of the North Wnirarapa Settlers! Association tho subject of the West Coast railway between Wellington and Foxton was discussed. The principle of giving a largo endowment of land to a private company was condemned, but we fail to seo that any great 'objection, can bo taken to the Government contributing •land to any corporation whichwill return a quid pro quo by opening vip new country and giving a market value to crown landg which would otherwise bp unsaleable. The' great fault we have always found with the Government in Wr dealings with ibis.and similar enterprises is that they become parties to the construction of public works which they have reason to believe will be unremunerativa. The Government appointed ail independent commission to report on the proposed WellingtonManawatu railway, and that commission advised that the line would not pay, Now if that line would not' pay the Government it certainly would not pay a private company, For though the latter might obtain a bonus of 150,000 acres of land, the former had at least 500,000 acres on their hands which would'be benefited by railway construction, If the Governrnont honestly held, that this or any Other lino would be unremunerative it was their duty to oppose it. The position taken by the ■ Government was virtually this "we cannot make the line directly because it won't pay, but will help a company to make it." There is also apparently a sort of understanding that if the line pays it will be the property, of the company, and that if it does'nt pay it will become the property of the colony. Though the company advertises at Home that i'.s landed endowments are worth. 1548,000, a sum,sufficient to make the whole line and in excess of the nominal capital of the company, it is a significant fact that its shares now are not at a premium,

Wo have great doubts as to whether this line will pay, When completed its passenger traffic will be far greater than that which the Wairarapa lino enjoys, but its heavy goods-traffio willbe far less, We fail to see how it can compete in heavy traffic with coasting vessels which are even now. carrying cargo at a rate which it would be ruinous for any railway to charge, It is still an open question whether the line will pay, If the opinion given in the first instance by the railway commission is a sound one, it is a sound one still, No amount of financing can alter the position. On the other hand Wellington merchants and the Wellington Press hold that this opinion was not a sound one, and we may have to wait some years before the point can be absolutely decided. When the Government fails to make.a line pay, the deficiency for interest comes out of the consolidated revenue, and if the West Coast railway fails to pay, the deficiency for interest will have tocome out of the pockets of shareholders, unless the Government of the day will take over tlio line and saddle the deficiency on to the. consolidated revenuo. It may be taken to be admitted now that the Government is not justified in directly constructing unprofitable railways, but we would go further than this, and say that tlio Government is not justified in indirejtly constructing unprofitable railways, and that when tlio evidence in the sion of Ministers is adverso to any proposed line, they should not encourage its construction by endowments. The prestige of the colony must suffer if lines are constructed; through a Government endowment which prove to be unremunerative. We trust that the success of the WellingtonManawatu lino will prove that the opinion originally formed by a respon sible railway commission was a . mistaken one, but wo consider that the Government in dealing with this line were boifnd by it and ought never to have made any concessiou to a company to form it till they were in possession of some further independent evidence which would justify them in ignoring the report of their own commissioners. Political pressure was put upon the Government to become a sponsor to the Wellington-Manawatu line, and political pressure is no doubt now being brought to bear upon fclem to do as much for other lines. The time has arrived when a stand ought to be made against the construction of purely speculative railways, If a line proposed to be constructed by a private company can stand the test of an independent and impartial investigation, we do not see why the Government should not assist it by land grants. The assistance to bo given by the Governirent should, however, depend upon the commercial value of the under takr ing and not on the amount of political pressure it can bring to bear.