The Westport Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 1873.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1077, 3 June 1873, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 1873.

His Honor O. Curtis, Esq., M.TI.K.; AEEXAKDBE ScLANDfcBS, Esq. ; AlBEBT PITT, Esq. G-EBTIiBUBN—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your memo, respecting the railway from Fox Hill to Brunnerton, and to state that I have brought it under the notice of the Cabinet. Tho queotion to which if; is understood you desire the Goverrm nt to reply is, whether, in'the event of their receiving an application to tl at effect from tho Superintendent and the Provincial Couucil of ?- r clson, they will ask tho assent of the General Assembly to a Bill authorising tho raising of a loan of £500,000, on behalf of the Province, for the construction of a railway from Pox Hill to the Brunner, on condition that the Proviuce gives special security for tho same, by making over to tho colony 1,400,000 acres of land, in addition to giving a lien on the line giving tho usual security over tne revenues of tho Province ? In reply, I have the houor to state that the Government have carefully considered the question set forth, and

have come to the conclusion that if the railway is to bo made out of borrowed money, it should be constructed by the Colonial Public Works Department in the same maimer as other railways ere being constructed, the Province giving, as special security, the land indicated by you, in addition to the Province being generally and ultimately liable, as in the case of other Provincos within which railway works are being carried on by the Public Works Department. The decision of the Government, whether they will recommend the Assembly to sanction tho making of the Fox Hill and Brunner line on the terms stated, will in a great measure depend upon whether the Superintendent makes the application with the cordial consent of his Executive and of the Provincial Council. The decision of the G-overnment will also depend, in a measure, upon the value of the land proposed to be set apart; and in order that knowledge of the nature and value of the land may bo obtained, an officer of the Public Works Department-will boat once appointed to report upon it to the Government, if such a course is in accordance with the views of the deputation. I have the honor, &c, Julius Vooel. General Government Offices, Wellington, May 21, 1573. The foregoing letter conveys tho sum and substance of tho results so far achieved by the Inland Communication Committee. Whatever hopes might have been entertained at first in Nelson for tho construction of the projected railway from Foxhill to Brunnerton by a company to be endowed, as cooly proposed, with a monopoly of a huge slice of Provincial territory, the idea found no favor in other portions of the Province, nor at any time have there been sufficient grounds for believing, even in tho event of such concession being granted, that capitalists, either within or without the Province, would be eager to speculate. Tho laud purposed to be given is all, or j nearly all, auriferous, and to offer such as a bonus would have been offering hind, valuable indeed as Waste Lands of the Crown, but of little marketable value in tho hands of a private company, seeing that the right of possession or trausfcr must have beeu subject to, and tosomeexteut nullified, by the restrictions necessarily to be made in protecting tho miningindustry. Tho West Coast members made it porfectly clear to Nelson men, both in and out of Council, that their constituents would not submit to any action tending to interfere in the slightest degree with the privileges at present held by tho gold miner, and it ultimately dawned upon the preceptions of ardent railway enthusiasts that the sale of land to bo given as a bonus for the construction of tho railway, would be seriously retarded, if not altogether prevented, by tho very nature of the restrictive clauses necessarily to be enforced by each deed of sale. The unexpected offer of the General Government to embody tho scheme as part and parcel of the Colonial Public Works at once clears away all difficulties and objections, and the Inland Communication Committee may well feel elated at the successful turn of affairs, which has in truth saved their elaborately impracticable and Utopian scheme from proviug an egregious failure. Tho Provincial Couucil and Executive having given the " cordial consent" required to the Superintendent making formal application to the General Government for the construction of tho line upon the special security stated, it may be assumed that the valuation o\ the 1,400,000 acres to bo made over to the colony will bo sufficiently conclusive to obviato any hitch in the ncgociatious, and that the sanction of the General Assembly will follow in due course. No valid objection can bo raised to the schemo in its present aspect. The question for consideration on the Goldiields is why caunot the projected work comprise also the original plan, contained in the Nelson and West Coast Railway scheme ISGS, of a brauch line from lnangab.ua to Wostport ? As a feeder to the main line its value would bo unquestionable apart from considerations of its great local utility. From the published report of the proceedings of the Inland Communication Committee it appears that to avoid the dolay and expense of a Parliamentary survey for the Foxhill and Brunnerton line it is agreed that Mr Wrigg's survey shall be adopted, and no fresh outlay will be required till after the line has been authorised by the General Assembly. Mr Vogel has further promised, under tho special circumstances, not to insist on a certificate from tho Chief Engineer that the line will from the first pay workiug expenses, admitting that a couutry now chiefly traversed by pack horses could not bo expected to furnish sufficient evidence. A precisely similar course might be adopted with tho brauch line to Westport. the survoy having been made concurrently with the survey of the main line, and tho only question needing adjustment between tho Provincial and General Governments would be the extent of additional laud to be given as special security.