INLAND COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1075, 27 May 1873, Page 4

INLAND COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE.

[by the -miEY I'itKsa cuuhvoy.* vr StEPCBTGB.] Mr Acton Adams said, now that the rough dtaft'ef t'ue report was ready, the apothecary**) plan would have to be adopted to 'the mhabittvjts of the South West portion of the proviuee. The draft would have to be disguised so that tbey might it. Ii its present form it was -tso tianseous that the very smell Of it wou'd make them ' heave, and he would advise that a little sv up of poppies be>used as a vehicle ; had Mr Donne any suggestion t<> make. Mr Donne thought>that the Goldficids Dist:ictßill was in itself a sufficient t 3\veeteuer; what could be more to the •taste of a simple 'miner, than its preamble, setting forth that the object • of the .Li!'l is to " promote the growth • of that good feeling between different . sections of the connnui.ity, so neees- ••-• sary to 'mutual and permanent prosperity, and the practical recognition ' of the rights of the inhabitants of the goldfielas to an equal participation -in ■ the' Government of the Province, snd r ;its legislation, which relatively cous sidered, they arc reasonably entitled to expect." The -milk-mium, as shadowed forth in the bibical hyperbole, as the lion laying down with the land), was but a weak image to that presented to the mining and bucolic imagination, aud was in itself sufficient to cause such a conglomeration of feelings ; hitherto antagonistic that the inhabitants of the South- West portion of the province would readily acquiesce in the appropriation of auriferous land i for pavment for the construction of a railway to cut the throat of every pore on the West Coast to the exclusive benefit of this city and its immediate surroundings. Mr .Donne concluded by remarking that the present was the driest Committee he had ever sat on. Mr Shepbard said he never drank in Committee, but if members would support the estimates he would get Curtis to put on a sum for evidence and incidentals in connexion with their labors, that, would justify them in having what ever refreshments they wanted. Without involving personal liability, he thought £3OO would make things pleasant. Mr Adams hoped he wouldn't make such another mess in doing it as lie had in his explanation of bis vote against the Stafford Ministry, or else tbey woidd all get stuck for their own expenses. Here Mr Curtis entered, and said ho knew what they were driving at, tbey might make themselves easy about the reckoning, he would see to that, but the Committee had already lost sight of the object for which he had set them to work, namely, to get the Grev and Brenner Line into their owu hands, because any line that might be made anywhere else in the Province would never pay like that ono,-and there was no doubt that if our representatives but banded together, the Assemrdy, and especially Vogel, will be deaf to the weak voice of Westland ; it would bo drowned, although the line is to he constructed on its guarantee. Besides there was the highest moral and religious grounds for annexing that portion of Westland. Mr Donne wanted to know what the devil they were. Mr Cartis would illustrate his meaning by an anecdote. Shortly after the Pilgrim Fathers settlement was a. success, they desired to increase their territory, and endeavored to obraiu from the Indians an additional tract ofcouutry; the Indians resolutely refused to part with any more laud, although these honest patriarchs ottered them any amount of looking-glasses, beads, colored calico, and bad rum. So the Fathers held a meeting, duly opened with prayers; the first resolution carried, was, the earth is the Lord's ; the second was, the Lord hath given the earth to his people ; the third, we arc the people of the Lord, and fourthly, and lastly - , therefore, the laud is ours ; consequent thereon, they jumped a -pretty considerable slice of country. lie (Mr Curtis) thought the case of the Pilgrim Fathers was exactly parallel with that of the fossilized fathers of kelson. Mr Adams wanted to know whether Mr Curtis could, humbug I'olleston as to the existence of a company which would construct the FoxhilJ and Brunner line to meet that of the great Southern Trunk. Mr Curtis said it was time refreshments were brought in, when members of committee began to talk at random. Of course llollesion wasn't on tor alienating land for contract payments, but the communications on the subject, passing between himself and the Superintendent of Canterbury would hoodwink the mining community, so that his sincerity would never be questioned, and while negotiations were pending he would be tided safely over his own re-election. Mr Kelliog didn't- ihin!< Westland hail any right to bo thought of in the mailer, it was time the General Government wiped it out of the map of New Zealand, but ■ he thought the Provincial Council ought to go further, and legislate for all the rest of the Colony while they were about it. Air Beul thought that as Mr Curtis and his coadjutors had been mainly instrumental in inducing the Government to construct the Brunner liaiiway, the Grey representatives were bound by common gratitude to do everything in their power to place the hue in the hands of the Superintendent of kelson and bis satellites. Mr Shepbard said the mticipated roturus of tho Brunner 10 ought to bo placed on the estimates, although it was not yet con-

structed, the data would bo as reliable to frame expenditure upon, as the suppository amount now and heretofore set down. Mr Donne said it was a mistake on the part of Curtis to put down the expected rovenue at tho tall ■figure he had, because it showed on the face of it that two-thirds of it was derived from the goldftelds, and that necessary works thereiuwere neglected as evideuced by the small portion thereof appropriated, and made it at once transparent that it was the goldfields cowthatwas everlastingly milked to succour metropolitan mendicancy, and sustain the pauper educational establishments of the Capital. Mr Curtis said Donne was making a doukey of himself; if they talked for a mouth they would not get any further, be should just collar the report of the Committee as it stood and bring it before the Council, he would undertake to recalcitrant members to their senses before the Council met; they were straining at gnats now, but he knew precious well they would swallow camels rather than lose their portfolios. Hero our reporter left tho Committee refreshing.