CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1822, 24 October 1884, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To THE EDITOR,

Sir,—Kindly allow me to say that after due deliberation on my part concerning the charges I have made about the County engineer administration that I have better reasons now than ever for asserting that the engineer and those in his department, and others, have perpetrated gross jobs in their public duties, Now, Sir, this is a very serious matter, and 1 submit that my action was both called for and opportune in the best interests of all concerned and all wo wish for in conneotion with this affair is that the fullest enquiry will be insisted on, and that your able pen will advocate such a course of action. Yours ike, Alex Reese,

(To the Editor,)

Sib.—l see in your issue of the 23rd inßtant you have came to the conclu* sion that Mr Reese' allegation re timber in the Mnngapakeha Bridge is correct, yet you cannot see the necessity for sending men to prove that fact. I believe the faot you mention is not the only fact which Mr Reese (and in fact all or most of the contractors in the district) wish to have enquired into, Another fact is the inferior work that has been passed for the olcer'e staff which would not have been passed for any other contractor in the district. This fact proved by a competent engineer in the case of the Mungapakeha bridge would doubtless lead to an enqniry as to other and more gross jobbery and- neglect on the part of the Engineer or Inspeptor on other contracts which have beon completed by their friends and relations, I hope you will use your best efforts to have the matter thoroughly investigated, so that justice may be done and either King or his accuser proved in the right. "Perish policy and cunning, perish all that fear the light, Whether losing, whether winning, trust in God, and de tho right,"

We shirk no enquiry and rather than the County for lack of funds should shirk their duty, let the County nominate a thoroughly reliable and competent engineer, and we will guarantee his expenses if we fail to prove our case.

I am, &c, T, P, Girdwood, Contractor. Masterton, Oct, 24th 1884, [''Perish policy and cunning" by all means, and let the inquiry be a full and a fair one.—Ed. W.D.]

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MR BUCHANAN'S SPEECH ON THE EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY BILL. ■■;....

Prom Hansard. ;; ; Mr Buchanan.—A few minutes ago I had no intention whatever of making any comments upon the Bill now before the Houserbut several matters alluded to by the honorable member who has just sat down have induced me to say something in the way of reply, i am not speaking without a considerable amount of knowledge of the country—no matter what rjute is adopted—through whioh tbe East and West Coast Railway will pass. I hive been to a large exYent.over the most of the country both on the east and west Bide of the dividing range, It is well within my recollection the agitation that took place at Chnstchurch about the year 1864, andthe various public meetings that took place, on a. question of forming a road to the: West Coast, Knowing the country so well as I did, and knowing the line, the traffic to tho West Coast must follow, it was a matter of surprise to me to hear the views expressed at these public meetings, Statements were made to the effect that the produce of Canterbury would go by this road to feed the people on the West Coast, and that the escort would bring gold back again in payment for this produce. I will not attempt to detail the ridicule that was cast upon tho gold escort. I dare say there are honorable members in this House who have a recolleolion of it. It is enough for me to say that the expectation of the Christchurch people with regard to the gold escort were juet as fallacious—or, rather, the result was just as disappointing—aa were, their expectations 'with 'regard to this road.' Ttiey found that they had to take their chance with the rest of the colony, The road,'of course, turned out of considerable valueas a nieans of getting stock to the West Coast; but, even from that point of view, I maintain that it never paid' the interest, or anything like, upon the money that was expended upon its formation. Long before the road was opened stock found its way to to the West Coast On various occasions during the agitations which have taken place in Ohristchuach with regard to this line, I could uot help comparing what took plaoe in 1865 with what is now taking plaoe; and I am as satisfied now as I was at that time that the result which will be reached for many years to come from this railway, if opened, will bo asdissappoimingaswasthecasein respect to the road, I have listened to the argil" ments used on both sides of the question; and, taking one matter which was referred to by the last speaker as a casein point, I mean to show the shallowness of the arguments used and the fallaciousness of the reasons brought forward in support of this line, The honorable gentleman has jest said that there is a largo area of country on the Weßt Coast fit for settlement, and presumably the conclusions he wished us to arrivo at wore that this largo area of country was to bo benefitted, was to bo opened up, was to be settlod with a produoing population by nieans of this railway. Several speakers have told us that the difference between the price of produoe on the West Coast and Christohurch amounts to something like five hundred per cent—the price of grain and various other articles of Canterbury produce \i five times tho price on the East Coast. If that is tho case, and if we find from statistics in the possession of honorable members that no progress whatever has been made on tho West Coast in the way of settlement, notwithstanding the stimulus of suoh prices as those that rule on the West Coast-that practically no settlement whatever has taken place on the West Coast—what is ihe inference! Why, that the land is unfit for settlement .There is no getting over that j no amount of argument mi the part of honorable members oan get over that conclusion' from the facte. I would ask the honorable gentleman, then, what weight he can expect his arguments to carry in this House, if this is a specimen of them ? If I had had any intention of addressing the House upon the question, I could have had in readiness very many points equally telling as against tl)e arguments brought forward in favor of this Bjll, Another point is the question of timber. We have been told that the West Coast contains large areas of valuable timber. There can be no question as lo the area; but my observation, extending over a very large portion of it, leads me to the conclusion that there is not a very large amount ol timber mere fit for building or other purposes; and, with regard to its value no arguments have been brought forward at all to show that the timber is anything but the lowest class-that is, timber which is very plentiful in other parts of New Zealand, and muoh more accessible, Rimu, for instance forms a very large proportion of the timber on the West Coast. We have plenty of that throughout New Zoaland, and the price it brings in the market is sufficient proof of its value for general purposes. One thing that has struck me very forcibly is that no attempt has been made by any of the speakers to give us an idea of the present value of land on. the West Coast. The Government has left ua completely in the. dark ou the. question, and .tbe. other; speakers have thrown no, light, on the subject, As on the.value of the land depends the. area to he granted to- the' constructingicompany, this seems to me a very important question, The area, along whatever route is followed is limited, and if the value is put at a low rate, it follows that the company must get land elsewhere to meet the SO per cent, on tbe cost of Ihe line,. I would give something of an idea, as far as J know, of the present value of the land on the West Coast. I know a settler there who, some years ago, paid 10s to £1 an a'ore for some land. He went to a considerable amount of exponse in trying . to make something out of. it ; but what has been the result 1A miserable failure. The grass seed he sowed on tho land resulted in a crop of rushes, If that has been the case upon a selooted block of land, what can we expect from the general run of the conntry 1 I am in a position to say that the election was a good one; that it would be difficult over any considerable area of the West Coast to make a better selection than was made by this gentleman, whom I know to be a thoroughly practical settler, If the facts I have stated are worth anything, what is the conclusion we niust come to! It is that, when the arbitrators appointed under this Act make their valuat'on, tbe value of the land will run down to ss. or 10s. per acre, possibly to the lowest figure; because, upon a calculation being made upon the basis provided in the Bill as to what can be got out of the land, apart from the value conferred upon it by the making of a railway, the actual value for settlement purposes must be the decision of the arbitrators; and if I am right in my conclusion that the value may possibly be not exceeding five shillings, what then have we got to face? We have to face this: that the company must come on to the east side of the range, or perhaps into some other part of the colony, to get the value in land that they have contracted for with the Government. Under this Bill and several other similar Bills now before tho House, we are bound to have a very large expenditure of pubhemoney, amounting to; seven or eight' millions, Wages throughout the colony, despite the faot that we have in some portions of it the cry of the unemployed, are pretty much on a level with what they have been for

soma years. At all events, there cannot be a question that, if suoh a large expendi«. lure of D'nbl'e money as this takes place,, we shall have an enormouß accession to our population from other colonies and from Home. When the Loan Bill of 1882 was before the House one of the strongest arguments in its favor was that, if a cessation look place in the public expenditure, we should have men, women, and children starving throughout the colony, and that, from that point of view alone, it was incumbent upon the Government to Bee that the public expenditure should not cease. Now, if within a few years we have this large expenditure of public money, shall wo not have a repetition of the same sort-of.argu-ments, and have the strongest compulsion put upon .this colony to go on with, the continuous borrowing which has caused tho finger of various countries throughout-the worldto.be pointed at New Zealand. To refer again to the land question. When the amending Land Bill of 1882 was before the House, if there was any one portion of it about which a general unanimity was shown, it was with regard to the. point that the colony should not part with any more of its auriferous land. I myself, although a general supporter of the Government of the day, strongly opposed what is known as the perpetual leasing portion of the Bill; but, as applied to the auriferous lands of the colony, I thoroughly agree with the Government. Bearing in mind the complications that have arisen in other colonies, and the difficulties that have arisen even in Now Zealand, with regard to mining on private land, 1 was strongly of opinion—and so was a very large majority of the Housethat the Government should not part with any more of the auriferous land of the colony, Has any sound reason been given by those, who support this Bill for a departure from thatprinciple ? I have not heard any. If our gold, as a-means of employment of labor has been of large valueto the colony, what do you look to in connection with tho West Coast with the greatest amount of hope at the present time? I think there will be but one answer to that, and that is, to its coal mines.: Taking the various gold bearing oountries, the record has been a rush, a lerge excess of population at tho outset j and, afterwards, despite the .Cheapening of provisions, as in California, where you see the farm alongside the gold mine, a general diminution of population of population after the first two or three years. The record of the West Coast has followed these lines; and if, therefore, we are to maintain a very large population, upon the West Coast, is there any hope that we can maintain that population from the produce of gold mines ? ,1 do not think so. I see no indication whatever of it. Then what follows? That settlement upon the land being apparently hopeless, we have no resources to look to for the maintenance of our population except the coal mines; and yet this Bill proposes to handoverto this company land with undoubtedly a very large area of coal beneath it. And I would ask the Houso to note this point '. It has been already noted by other speakers that no other route has been determined upon—no point of departure, no terminus. During the course of the construction ot this line, the promoters of this company will havo an opportunity of looking closely into this question of coal. It will have an opportunity of dlsooveing the most likely places for valuable coal mines, and undoubtedly the route of the line will be largely determined from that point of view, Are we therefore wise, as trustees for the people of New Zealand, in parting with such a valuable estate as this.. Ida not think so. Qn the contrary I believe that tli's line and Other lines jn the Colony of New Zealand ought not tq be constructed until they are constructed jn the ordinary way, and that is by tlje colony gojhgdjreotly into the money markets of the world and borrowing the money for tho construction of the works. There is another point which 1 should like to refer to, whioh just: as strongly illustrates the fallacies put forth by the supporters of this Bill as the first case which I put to the House, The honourable member for Bruoe, in speaking on this question confessed himself at a loss as to what olause 5 meant. It was difficult to understand what "the balance" mentioned in that clause meant Well, I had not paid particular attention to that clause boforo, but now it appears pretty plain to me what the effeot oi that clause will be. These are the figures I arrivo at. Mr 11. Maxwell, in reply to a question put to him by tho Royal Commission appointed by last year's Parliament, taking as his basis the gross receipts from the line to bo £120,000, estimated the working expenses at a similar amount, Taking as a further basis _ the gross receipts at £210,000that is, admitting, for the sake of argument, tha' the hopes of some of ihe promoters Of _ this line will be realized-he estimated that in that case the working expenses would be £165,000. Now, lotus sqo the result which would be arrived at if clauso S were put into operation in connection with these figures. In tho caso of £120,000 gross receipts and £120,000 working expenses, tbo Government would retain, as the 65 per cent, which they are entitled to retain, £78,000. That is to say they would have to payout in working expenses £1 20,000, and would only get £78,000 to pay it with, leaving the tax payer to find the balance of £42,000. • That would give a net return to tho company ot 4 J per oent,, that is, assuming 'that tho'cost' ofcoQstruction would be £1,000,000, and that there was a deduction from that of the million of acres of land to bo given. Applying tho 65 per cent, to the other figures, where the working expenses are estimated at £105,000, the receipts of. the Government would be £156,000, still leaving a deficiency of £9,000 to be made up by'the general taxpayer; while the .•company .'would receive a, sum of £BI,OOO, ..an- amount which would; yield a ...dividend on theworkingoapital of 8} per cent. Now, I have.no. wish to attack the. present-Govern-ment faotiously—and Ido not .think, that they can say that any sp'eeoh I have made, or any proceedings of mine in this House since they have come into office will bear that intrepretation-thak I would ask the House to consider very carefully any proposals that emanate from a Gonemment which could frame suoh a olause as this, showing as it does litter recklessness and disregard for the interests of the country, For my part I was pefeetly astonished to find the way in' which those figures worked out, and if I am wrong, and if those who support this Bill will show where I' em wrong, I shall be most happy to withdraw what I have said. There was a remark made by the honourable "momber for Avon, lam soiry that he is not in his place. I have not got his words down verbatim, but what I understood him to mean was this—ho was quoting from a Christchurch paper at the time-that it was ridiculous to think that a fcw thousands of pounds would induoe him to aot contrary to the general interests, that is, when it was pointed out that he was acting a3 a promoter, or in the interest of i a promoter, of this measure. Personally, I am not aware whether that is a fact or not, bnt from the general tenor of his remarks I think 1 am safe in concluding that it is so. A few days ago thisHoi.se had to deal with the. question of the honorarium to be paid to members, and the Ust seotion of the Bill was to repeal tho section of tho Disqualification Act whioh makes it impossible for a member of this or the other House to receive more than his travelling allowance if serving on a .Royal Commission. The House, despite the strong opposition of the Government, almost unanimously threw out that clause. I would therefore ask the honourable member fer Avon what oxplana tion ho would give with regard to this statement. Either one thing or the other is true: Either the sense of this House in regard to members being ipterested in matters which are brought before it must be wrong, and the honourable member for Avon is right, or the reverse. I myself have no two opinions on tho subject, and I tHnk the House wasperfeclly right in the stand it took against any practical repeal of the Disqualification Aot, There are several other points to which I should like to refer, but, as I have Baid,. I rose without preparation, and I will now merely conclude by saying that I have opposed this Bill from the beginning 1 have felt from the first that the Canterbury members will be utterly disappointed in regard to the results of this Bill on- that part of the'

country, Knowing the country as I do, f? has seemed to me a matter of wander and surprise that they should be seiaed with suoh an infatuatioo aa they have been with regard to this hue. If the Bill should get into Committee, I shall do all I can to amend it, and in tbe meantime I shall oppose the motion for going into Committee.