RAILWAY COMMUNICATION" BETWEEN NELSON AND THE WEST COAST.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1028, 10 December 1872, Page 2

RAILWAY COMMUNICATION" BETWEEN NELSON AND THE WEST COAST.

MEETING AT NELSON.

We condense from the Nelson papers the reports of a meeting held on the 2nd instant, convened by circular, for the purpose of discussing the steps best to be taken to promote railway communication between Nelson and the West Coast. John Sharp, Esq., in the chair. Sundry suggestions regarding the propriety of forming a tramway from Foxhill through to Lyell and Reefton were made, but the general idea appeared to be that a continuation of the projected railway thence would be the wiser and better plan. The proposal received most favorably was one for the borrowing of a sum of money under a Provincial scheme, with the concurrence of the General Assembly, for carrying out the through communication.

In the course of the discussion, the Chairman suggested that if it was necessary to go to the General Government for money to make the through railway, they would be asking for nothing unreasonable, nor more than Nelson had a right to claim as her share of expenditure under the Government scheme of Public Works. He said the apathy which had hitherto characterised the people of the province in relation to their public works had been used as a weapon against them, and he was glad to see that, although late in the day, they were at last sensible of the necessity of not trusting to Governments or representatives, but of relying more upon themselves to obtain any great object which they had at heart.

Mr Luckie deprecated the idea of the members of the province abandoning political principles as the price of obtaining a local work, however important it might be. In the late session of the Assembly, when the immediate interests of the province were at stake, thero was no difference

of opinion among their representatives as to the course they should take. Ho did not think the Tramways Act of the late session could be made applicable to the construction of a railway from Nelson to the Buller. Mr Pitt concurred with Mr Lucfeie as to the inapplicability of the Tramways Act to the object the meeting had in view. He had only given tho Act a cursory reading, but as far as he could see it was framed to meet totally different circumstances.

Mr Elliot said anyone who knew the character of the country through which it was intended to carry the line, would dismiss the idea of the Tramways Act being utilized. Rates could not be collected from Crown land, and there was no adequate population to be rated. Nor did he think a local company could be got up with sufficient capital. If under any of the existing powers possessed by the province for giving land for public works, land could be given for the construction of the railway, whether to a company or to an individual firm like that of Brogden Brothers, the work might be greatly hastened, provided the Brogdens, or any associated body of gentlemen could be got to give the scheme their attention. Such a power did exist, and he thought the Committee, which he presumed would be appointed, should direct their attention to it. If it was necessary to form , a preliminary company in JNelson in order to influence capitalists at a distance to take the matter up, much might be done by combined action; and although the whole capital subscribed here might be small, if it embraced a large number of people the effect would be good. Mr Acton Adams said he thought it waste of time to discuss the question of bringing pressure on the General Government. Negotiations too, in London had been carried on for the greater part of ten yeara, and as he must admit had failed. He felt that whatever was done would have to be undertaken by themselves. He had travelled down the course of the proposed railway, and he would divide it into two parts, one of seventy miles from Foxhill to the Lyell, where no very heavy bridging beyond the Motueka would be met, and another from the Lyell to Reefton of about twenty-five miles where the bridges would cost a mere nothing. At the Lyell, however, the Buller must be crossed, and that meant something like £5030 for a bridge. Now from inquiries he had made, he found that a line with wooden rails could be laid for £SOO per mile, as it would run through heavily-tim-bered country ; and he thought that for another £.300 per mile, making £IOOO iu all, the wooden rails could be covered with iron, and with a light engine this would stand for many year*. By the Tramways Act, the Provincial Council could make any grants of land they thought fit in aid of the line, and two-thirds of the ratepayers could raise a rate to pay the interest on the money. Waimea and Motueka Valley were even more anxious than the townspeople for the line, as it opened a market for their produce; aud if the Eoad Boards of the two districts were to take the matter up, then the money could be easily raised on the joint security of the rates, and the land so given by the Council. It was only asking the Boards to lend their names, and no doubt the Council would during the two years the line was being constructed, vote the interest, which would only be at six per cent., £6OOO a year. [Mr Adams apparently omitted to mention whether he would approve of this sum of £6OOO per year being charged on the whole revenues of the Province, or debited to the districts reaping advantage from the proposed railway.] Mr Akersten read some data relative to the cost of a tramway to the Upper Buller, setting forth the approximate cost, including stations and rolling stock, at £IOOO per mile. Mr Sclanders thought the Eailway from Nelson to the "West Coast was to have besn one of the trunk lines of communication which the General Government would construct. If the province was to be thrown over with this small sop, it was well it should be understood, and then the people of Nelson would know the position in which they stood. He was afraid 'by their excessive modesty they had damaged their claims to consideration by the Government as well as by the rest of the colony. Although Nelson was not so large a province as Canterbury or Otago, it was entitled to be treated fairly and justly in the distribution of public works. Should it be necessary for the province to undertake the construction of its own railway he hoped the work would be of a permanent and lasting character, and that mere cheapness would not receive consideration.

Mr A. S. Collins said Nelson had great and undoubted claims on the Government. Had it not been for Mr VogeFs great scheme there could be little doubt but that Mr Brogden would have undertaken the construction of the Nelson and Cobden Railway, the negotiation for which had first introduced his firm to New Zealand. He had been asked the question, whether he thought Government would carry on the line from Foxhill to the Buller, and he found some difficulty in answering it. It was pretty well known that the present Government entertained no very friendly feeling towards Nelson, but if the claims of the provinco were properly stated in the House, and the true character of the proposed work

shown, he believed it would be fairly treated there.

Mr Eichmond thought that to be successful, they must be precise. There was much work to be done. An accurate view of the resources and prospects of the districts to be opened by the line was wanted. He hoped it would be a sober business-like view. They had to define the sort of works necessary He did not think that they could hope to do a large trade by railway with Hokitika, or places much outside the Buller basin. He did not wish to dogmatise, for there was much reason for qualifying opinions on such matters ; but considering that with all the perfect appointments of English railways they could not afford to carry coal by them more than about 120 miles or so, it would not do to calculate on heavy traffic beyond the Lyell and Inangahua. The Upper Buller wae, however, an important and promising district, all the gr eat tributaries yielding gold, and in spite of great difficulties retaining a small population for ten years. The Committee would have to discuss the finance of the question, and they would have also to look into the subject of the main trunk liae from "North to South of the island, with a view to making their plans agree with that line. This was a Colonial question of high political and social importance. The country would never be politically or socially one, solong as communication between its distant extremities was only by sea. He hoped the Committee would bring up such a report as to win the cocfidence of sober business men.

Several other gentlemen addressed the meeting and the business ultimated in the following resolution ; " That a Committee be formed to collect information with reference to the practical carrying out of a railway through the interior of the country to connect Nelson with the West Coast; such Committee to consist of the following persons-.—His Honor the Superintendent, Messrs Luekie, Shephard, Eichardson, Parker, Collins, Sharp, J. C. Richmond, Austin, Pitt, Aeton Adams, Darnell, Elliot, Thornton, Sclanders, Akersten, Blundell, Levien, Stavert, H. D. Jackson, E. Burn, and the mover; five to form a quorum ; with power to add to their number." Carried unanimously.