The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1884. DISTRICT RAILWAYS LEASING AND PURCHASING BILL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1803, 2 October 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1884. DISTRICT RAILWAYS LEASING AND PURCHASING BILL.

The second reading of the above Bill was carried in the House on Tuesday last by 45 votes to 17. We were very pleased to observe that Messrs Beethasi and Buchanan, the represents tives for this district, were amongst the handful who opposed the Bill. Of couvso, iu this district, we are not behind the scenes and do not understand the influences that have been brought to bear to carry this measure, but without any special information on these points, it is impossible to mistake the rank smell of political jobbery which the Bill emits. It proposes that the colony shall take over certain district railways of an aggregate length of 125 miles for the sum of £600,000, These railways are the property of shareholders who are tired of their bargains, and they aro partly maintained by local rates over the areas benefitted, To relieve these disappointed shareholders and unwilling ratepayers, is the object of the Bill, Sir Julius Vogel says the lines are to be taken over on profitable terms, but we fail to see how profitable terms will compensate for the acquisition of unprofitable lines, A white elephant is a white elephant under any circumstaces, and no amount of financing will change it into a profitable beast. We are given to understand that in this colony railways have been projected on the following admirable principlelt they turned up heads the shareholders won, and if they turned up tails the colony lost. In other words, if they failed, the shareholders, who subscribed a nominal amount of the cost of them, should pocket all the profit, and if they proved unprofitable, the colony should take them over,. It was on some such terms as these that the Wellington-Mauawatu line was floated, but this particular railway is not constructed under the District Railways Act. Sir Julius Vogel's task in furthering the District Railways Leasing and Purchasing Bill is a difficult one. He has to show that the burden which oppresses the shareand ratepayers of the district lines ceases to be a burden when it is placed on the shoulders of the colony, It is painfully obvious that shifting a burden is not equivalent to getting rid :if it.' Every mile of unprofi mil way which ihr C"iouy ■•itlim* constructs or purchases is an absolute loss to the country and an actual and. appreciable addition to both its public debt and to its taxation. No amount ,of financing will couveit ut dead liw-t into a live profit, and fnm 'lrs point of view Sir Julius Voukl's Hill is an to tli • i'"iiiiiiO i| Ik; wuiJttit'B Vi'disf.

that the colony will get a good bargain by purchasing theso railways, but wc fail to see how, If thoy are worth twenty : five shillings in the pound the shareholders won't sell them, and if they are only worth fifteen shillings in the pound the colony cannot very well make a profit on the transaction,