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laid down for the rule of our province,
viz., economy, simplicity, and efficiency.
We have thirteen rooms in our public hall,
and they will, I believe, be found amply sufficient for all our present requirements, in
the departments for which they were constructed. The contract for the building
was £1000, and it has been very honourably
fulfilled: a further sum will be required to
enclose the grounds round the government
offices and gaol, and for erecting some neat
palings round the whole of them, and furnishing the inside of the
them. This will, I hope, make them both as
complete and efficient for their size, as
any buildings of the kind in New Zealand.

One of the principal matters that made
me call you together thus early was the
necessity of conferring with you on the
construction of a Railway from Picton to
the Wairau, to take complete advantage of
benefit that nature has given this province,
viz., one of the finest ports in New Zealand,
which, since the 5th of April, has been a
port of entry. It is necessary to make the
transit of goods, &c., as easy and speedy
as possible between the main producing
parts and this port, and that can only be
done efficiently by a railway.

By constructing a railway from Picton to
the Wairau, you bring the harbour of Picton
to the centre of the district, and make it
nearly as available as if it abutted on the
Wairau Plains. I look upon the construction
of the railway to be one of the most
important works for the prosperity of the
Province that can possibly be undertaken,
and will give us a certain outlet for our produce, by opening to our producers the advantages of a foreign market, instead of
being, as at the present time, wholly dependent upon home consumption or local
dealers. The farmers at present cannot
reap the full benefits of the rise in the prices
at foreign markets, being truly at the mercy
of the local traders, and in case of a large
produce there would really be no sale at all.
And, again, in the commodities required
for clothing, and for use, at present we pay
in nearly all instances 50, and in many
100 per cent., more than we shall have to do
when goods are imported direct to our own
port, and transmitted at the small cost they
can be by rail. At present, foreign goods, in
most cases, cost as much in transmitment
to us, after they arrive in the colony, as the
freight of them from England or elsewhere;
and add to that the profits required by the
hands they pass through before they reach
the consumer, the cost becomes such that
the farmer cannot afford to supply himself
with efficient machinery. If he does, he
has to purchase it at a ruinous price. This, if
not remedied, must check most materially
the prosperity of the agricultural part of
this province.

And another of the many and great ad-

vantages to accrue from a railway from
Picton to the Wairau, will be the delivery
of stock, coal, sawn and fencing timber, and
firewood. The almost entire absence of
timber in the Wairau plains and Awatere,
which has long been felt, and the cost of
transit of the same, is one of the most costly
items in the expenditure of the householder,
farmer, and others. By the railway this,
to a great extent, will be remedied; and
hereafter, by lengthening the railway (which
can be done at a comparatively small cost),
over the levels of the Wairau to the very
centre of the requirements, goods, timber,
&c., can be brought nearly to every man’s
door. I shall be prepared with evidence,
(that you can call before you) carefully
founded upon data, to prove to you what
the estimated cost of the railway, stations,
rolling stock, &c., will be, and the probable
amount of capital required to be borrowed.
Also the probable amount of passenger and
goods traffic, and the estimated cost of
working and keeping the railway, &c., in
order, with the necessary working staff,
showing the probable revenue to be derived
and the expenditure required. I am happy
to be able to state to you that the cursory
calculation already made, shows a very
favourable result; and we must bear in
mind the great increase of traffic railway
communication will cause, the established
rule being, that a railway increases the
passenger traffic fourfold, the goods traffic
twelvefold. And, again, with the advantage
we shall then possess, our trade and cultivations will multiply enormously. If farmers
can live and prosper with the great incubus
of paying so highly for all they consume
and require, possessing only a home
market for their goods, besides having to
deliver them at an immense cost of labour.
For instance, every ton of produce, before
shipment, either by the labour of their
own teams or by the payment of freight,
costs the producer, on an average, at least
£2 per ton for delivery alone. This is a
dead loss to him, and as long as this lasts
the disadvantages to the producer places
him in such a dependent and losing situation
that agriculture, unless assisted, can
never flourish in the province.

Look at the other side: take a comprehensive view, by looking forward to what
this province may be, with the advantages
of railway transit, and I feel convinced the
gentlemen of this Council, having the prosperity of this province so much at heart,
will use their best endeavours to give to the
settlers here all the encouragement and
advantages they are justified in granting.
The progress that has been made in this
province during the last nine months, has,
I trust, proved to the most sceptical, that
separation has already been a great benefit
to us. When dependent upon Nelson