The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1888. The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2867, 7 April 1888, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1888. The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company.

There has been a flourish of trumpets over the annual meeting of the Wellington and Manawatu Bail way Com-' pany, and a stranger might have imagined from the enthusiasm manifested at the lato gathering, that this local enterprise was a dividend paying concern, and that its shares were a long way above par, He would, however,-have discovered by inquiry, that the real source of congratulation was that the Company had turned a corner; had weathered a difficult point, and had not, as was anticipated by some, gone on to the rocks. The question which for some years past, independent observers of the gallant struggles of this enterprising Company have been putting was" when will the Colony have to take over this railway,'' It has been quite an understood thing that if the project came to grief the Colony would step in to its rescue, but thanks to the brilliant management of the directorate, our parliament has not been called in as a tug boat, but the Company's vessel has been financed along with a dexterity which has excited the admiration of all onlookers, We always expressed an opinion that railways of the type of the Wellington-Manawatu line should not be constructed. Iu this particular instance a million of money carefully invested is producing at the utmost a nett annual return of £29,000, a sum insufficient to cover interest on the worth of debentures which have been floated, What the position of the Company would have been had the management been weak instead of strong we are afraid to estimate, but at the worst the Colony, which richly endowed the Company at its birth, would have stepped in to its relief. There is, however, no doubt that the construction of the line has largely benefited Wellington, and that the £160,000 of capital that has been locally placed in the concern, has. added perhaps half a million of money to the vfthie of Wellington properties. Of course with the concentration of trade in the Empire City there has been the usual contraction of business in up-country towns'," the j-eal profit of the undertaking has largely pie lo tlje bjg Cjty maw.. Long lengths of line competing with water papiage, cannot be made to pay dividends in JJew Zealand. The Wellington-Mau&watu Company will, no doubt, pull through, hut fo'j* some years to come it can hardly be expected to become a dividend paying concern, even with the friendly assistance wjijeh a s.tron? political party in the Assembly are wont fo give it.