TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 937, 25 June 1878, Page 2

TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1878.

We are indebted to the Hamilton Corporation for the perusal of a copy of the draft of the "Thames and Waikato Railway Bill,?' which has been forwarded to the several local bodies interested m its construction, but which the Government has not (at least m our case) forwarded to the Press. The Bill provides for the construction of the line by any company, whose first duty will be to cause a plan of the railway and a book of reference to be made, showing the lands required to bo taken, and the names of the owners and occupiers thereof A copy of such book and plans must be deposited m some public place m each borough, county, and road district, within which such railway is proposed to be constucted, due notice of which being open for inspection is provided, while, m addition, owners of fche land proposed to be taken will have individual personal notice ser ved upon them. The lands through which the railway passes and tbe lands affected by its construction will under certain conditions, be declared a railway district by the Governor, and the lauds therein will be classified for the purpose of a railway tax into four t different classes— A, B, 0, and D. The classes will be determined by the distance of each from the centre of any station, the actual distance defining each class being afc present left blank m the Bill. The outer ov least-hea-vily rated class, D, will include all the lands m * the district outside class C, whatever distance from the centre of a station. The rate to be levied, m respect to the various classes of land is provided as follows ; — (Sixpence m the £ on the. rateable value as shown by the

various valuation rolls -m force within s-ich railway district which it is found necessary to raise on cl Si D;ono sliil;ing,ii'i the.£on clas-sC; quo shilling; and sixpence m the £ on class B; and two shillings m the £ on class A, and m the same perportious, either increasing or deereasin as may be necessary, so as to raise the sum req.uirud on the whole, shall thy tot.nl amount lv-i raised. The sum to be raised by this rate is the proportion paid by the lands of the district towards the o-iiiirantee of interest, to tho company on the cost or construct on of the line. By clause 68 of the Bill, the company is guaranteed interest on the cost of the railway not exceeding 7 per cent, per an nam. Of this amount, so long as lands m the possession' of the aboriginal natives are n ot rateable properties, the Government will pay 5 per cent, out of the consolidated revenue, leaving to the settlers to raise by rate 2 per cent. But, should the lands held by natives become liable to be rated, or should three-fourths of the lands m the Thames-Waikato Railway district become by any cause liable to be rated, then the guarantee will be a cbarg-e of only 4 per cent, on the consolidated fond and of 3 per cent on tho settlers. It does not, of course, follow that the whole guarantee will be required, but simply so much as will make the protib on workiiiiV the line come up to 7 per cent., for if the profits of the company amount to 7 per ceut. per annum, then no rate at all would be needed. The guarantee is proposed to be continued for fifteen years, and to ensure fair play the Governor will appoint the auditors who examine the • company's accounts, and clause 76 provides that, after the expiration of five years from tha opening of the railway for traffic, not loss than 30 per cent, of [h.t gross receipts shall be deemed to be profits derived from the working of it. Whilst on this portion of the Bill we nsay mention thtb it gives a twenty-one years' possession to the company, with a right after that period to the Governor, on six months' notice, to purchase, the price being fixed by arbitration. The guage of the line is set down as three feet six inches. To return to the early provisions of the Bill. Within seven clays after the deposit ol the plans and book before referred to, the company is required to transmit to the several local bodies interested a statement of the maximum rate of tolls for all classes of goods and passengers proposed to be charged and a statement of minimum number of trains proposed to be run daily, and any such local body may within thirty days of receiving such deposit of plan book of references and statement, object, by petition to the Governor, to the construction of such railway or any part of it, or to the route laid down, or the position of the stations, rates of tolls and charges, or any other 'matter. The company, at the same >ime, shall afford similar information to the Governor when making application for his approval of the construction of the railway, and within two months of such application and deposit of information it will be signified to the company by notice m the ' Gazette ' teat the Governor either approves or disapproves the work, as. the case may be. The Bill goes on to give the usual powers for taking land and providing compensation for the same ; for inspection of works by the Governor during construction ; for entering on and working thelineatcostof company if the latter neglect their part of the compact ; to construct a telegragh along the Hue, and other matters. There is also we see a very excellent provision contained m clause 57 which provides that local bodies raising guaranteed interest under the Act. may at a meeting duly convened fix fares at which not oftener than three times, a week the company shall carry passengers and goods to any stations on the line and the times of arrival and departure of such train, such fares to apply to second class passengers only. This train will be called and appear on the company's time table as -the L.B. (or local bodies) train, and will we suppose be somewhat analogous to the so-called "Parliamentary" train running on the lines at Home. The Bill, too, not only provides that when the line pays 7 per cent, the subsidy shall cease, but m clause 60 gives power to the Governor, when he finds that the railway is earning a clear profit exceeding 10 per cent per annum, to reduce the maximum of fares, &c, so that the clear profit shall no.t be less than 10 per cent. These are the principal provisions m the draft bill, which will shortly be taken into consideration separately and jointly by the local bodies directly interested.