Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1894. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4854, 18 October 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1894. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Tm; Midlaudßailway lias discredited the Colony for tho past dozen years, but it remained for Mr Seddon, the non-borrowing Premier, to cap the follies of past years by proposing toj borrow three quarters of a million of money for its completion. When the line was first surveyed it was ascertained beyond all doubt that it could never bo made to pay during the presentcentury, and that it would be a bad bargain for the first half of the next one. Railway rings will not, however, tako " 110" for an answer, and in this instance the ring attached to tho project, finding that no Government was mud enough to undertake the work, fell back on a London Company, and it was agreed that, the Company should make the lino out of land grants, The Company tried its best to pull the thing off and failed. Now it lias asked the Colony to give it 1618,000 iii lieu of certain valueless land 'grants, and our non-borrowing Premier had the effrontery to back the request, Well might Mr W. C. Buchanan declare that the thing was g, resurrection," an old job. which .ought t,o bp dgiidan^lfuried,brought! to light ipiii;' fo l'eniembfljL' many years agp before J|ie iinje ,of the London Ctoinpam'i opt jn our columns thai if tlie line ppjd pay the Government ought tp ljifike it, and that if the line would not pay a Company ought not to make it because tlie failure of tlio Company would ultimately reflect on thecredit of the Colony. What we said then lias come to pass,the line is a failure and Mr Seddon wants the Colony to relieve, the Company of its foolish bargain—to bear the loss, which from tho first was inevitable if tho line wore constructed. Wo do not 1)1 ame the Company "asking for n#re" like Ojjyw Twist, we are iiflt suraßd qyi)i) to l/qar jf Jbajtit lias |je,en |9l)(jyiiigmeiii|evsin support of the Bijl,"' Ij^ jnpney is at stake,and ui)lgs3 it can shift the Jgjs.sonlto tliesliofilders of the Colony it must KR. TJie (3o ; vernmont again speaks of a, completion of a great national work, but if the House had agreed to the Bill' it would have been tlio consummation of a great blunder. Even Mr Seddon failed to get a loau of three-quarters of a million for an admittedly rotten investment, hisown followers deserting liiin when it camo to the vote. •,