✨ Correspondence regarding Nelson railway proposal
109
If there be any reasonable grounds for these conclusions, then I think it must be admitted that if a debt of such magnitude is to be saddled on the Province, other ways of spending £300,000 to its more immediate and greater advantage might probably be devised. If anything like that sum, for instance, were judiciously expended in due proportions for the introduction of immigrants, and the making the districts best adapted for immediate settlement easily accessible from the natural outlets for the produce of such districts, I believe the benefit to the Province as a whole would be incomparably greater.
If the main object, however, is to prevent the possible separation of the western portion of the Province from Nelson by making Nelson the outlet for the produce of the Buller and Grey districts, I do not think there is any evidence to show that such a reversal of the ordinary results of the natural configuration of the country could be brought about by this or any other railway.
The Government, therefore, have no hesitation in acceding to your Honor's request, that no decision in favor of this project should be come to until an opportunity has been afforded for acquiring the additional information, alluded to by your Honor, especially as the influx of a large body of gold diggers would most materially alter the whole aspect of the question.
I need scarcely say in conclusion that the fact of the nearly equal division of opinion in the Provincial Council, and apparently in the public of Nelson, for and against the scheme, is a strong confirmation of the prudence of adopting the course suggested by your Honor.
I have, &c.,
ALFRED DOMETT.
PRINTED FOR THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF NELSON; BY R, LUCAS, BRIDGE STREET.
Nelson Provincial Gazette 1863, No 25
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
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Response from Colonial Secretary regarding Nelson railway loan proposal
(continued from previous page)
🏗️ Infrastructure & Public Works26 August 1863
Railway, Loan, Nelson Province, Colonial Secretary, Infrastructure, Finance
- Alfred Domett, Colonial Secretary