THE PROPOSED RAILWAYS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 903, 21 December 1871, Page 2

THE PROPOSED RAILWAYS.

BY ELECTRIC! TELEGRAPH. The following has been officially supplied to the Wellington " Indepen. dent," and is telegraphed free to the press of the colony : We understand that the question of the construction of the railways authorised by the Assembly has constantly occupied the attention of the Government since the close of the session, and that after considerable negotiations with Mr James Brogden, preliminary arrangements have been made with that gentleman on behalf of his firm, and a determination has also been generally arrived at respecting all the authorised railways. The arrangement come to with Mr Brogden is to this effect —with as little delay as possible the Government will place in his hands data sufficient to enable the firm to tender for the construction of the various railways. If the Government be able to make arrangements with Messrs Broaden for railways to the extent of £700,000, then Contract No. 2, as entered into by Mr Vogel with the firm in England is to be cancelled, otherwise it will reraeiu in force. Several months must elapse before the necessary data as to all the railways can be given to Mr Brodgen, but as the data for each line are given, he is on behalf of his firm within one month to send in a tender for its construction and, if the Government should not consider such tender to be reasonable, they will be at liberty to call for public tenders for the particular work. During the interval before final arrangements can be completed, the Government give to Messrs. Brogden and Sons, the construction of such portions of railways as may be resolved upon, and the works are to be executed under the direction of the Engineer-in-Chief, the firm receving as payment ten per cent, over and above the actual outlay. All expenditure being under the control aud by the direction of the Government, this provision will enable work to be commenced without delay upon such lines in different parts of the country as the engineers may have ready for commencement. It is provided that if the contract for railways to the amount of £700,000 is arranged, or if negotiations for that contract fail, aud Contract No. 2 i» consequently revived, the Government may include in the works to be done under either contract any railway or parts of railways confided to Messrs Brogden to be constructed under the ten per cent, arrangement ; so that, that arrangement, really enables works to be commenced in anticipation of the coatract finally to be made without necessarily importing auy additional terms of agreement. On the other hand, if the railways be not iucluded in the contract, the Government have power at anv time to end the ten per cent, arrangement, and to call for public tenders. The following is a list of the railways concerning which it is proposed to make arrangements with that firm :

Duuedin to Clutha, such portions as are not being constructed under contract. Blenheim to Ashburton, Ashburton to Temuka, Temuka to Washdyke, Invercargill to Waitaki, Auckland to Drury, Drury to Mercer, Wellington to Hutt Valley, (20 miles), Waitara to New Plymouth, Napier to Pakipaki, (20 miles), Bruuner to Greymouth, and Kawa Kawa to place of shipment. The last two conditional on satisfactory arrangements being made by the Government with the owners or lessees of the coal mines. In respect to the Bruuner mine, arrangements have already been provisionally made with Superintendent of Nelson. As we have said if the £700,000 contract will cease to be of force and should the No. 2 Contract be brought into operation, the railways enumerated will be railways to be constructed under the contract to the extent of half a million. In either ease the construction of lines not coming under the contract arrangements will be let by public tender. As to the authorised railways or works not included in the list we have been given to understand that the Government have agreed as to the plan of procedure which may be stated generally as follows: Tramway from Napier to the Spit to be pushed on expeditiously. Waitaki Bridge works to be carried on by the Government, and proceeded with expeditiously. Kaipara to River Head or to Auckland, the contract to be proceeded with, and the question of diversion to be left for consideration. The Hawke's Bay Railway (continuation), Pakipaki to Ruataniwha, to be proceeded with leisurely after the length Napier to Pakipaki, has been completed. The works to be extended over four years. Hutt Valley to Masterton, to be proceeded with leisurely until the line "to the Hutt Valley has been completed, and then to be pushed on expeditiously. Tramway from Manawatu to Wanganui, to be completed in four years, but between Rangitikei and Manawatu the works to be proceeded with quickly by local labour. Nelson to Foxhill, to be commenced at once, to be proceeded with leisurely, and to be finished in three years. Rangiora to Kowai to be commenced when the line to Rangiora has been completed, and then to be finished in two years. Selwyn to Rakaia and Timaru to Washdyke, the works now in progress to bo each proceeded with as quickly as possible. Winton to Kingston, to be constructed in four years. Tokomairiro to Law-

rence, to be commenced next and then to be completed in two yearn Wanganui to New Plymouth, to be commenced when the line from Waitara to New Plymouth has been finished (say a year hence), and to be proceeded with leisurely to suit the progress of settlement. The Canterbury four branch railways (for which the funds are partly supplied by the Provincial Government) to be completed in four years. Westport to Mount Rochfort, to be proceeded with expeditiously, as soon as the direction of the line has been decided.