20

from sale, and the Superintendent to make a contract
with any person for the construction of a railway,
"pursuant to any act or ordinance of the Superinten-
dent and Provincial Council of this Province, which
may hereafter be passed."

Having seen the country through which this rail-
way would have to be constructed, and the land it is
in our power to offer as payment, honestly compels me
to say that I cannot undertake that any so large and
a work of such magnitude will ever be completed on
the terms proposed, or indeed on any terms which
this Province could prudently offer. But as I feel
that it is of great importance to set so large and
interesting a question at rest, I have placed on the
Appropriation Bill to be submitted to you, a sum of
£1000 under the head of Railway Report, which sum
I should propose to expend in the engagement, if
possible, of a thoroughly competent practical man,
entirely unconnected with local politics and preju-
dices, to travel over the proposed line of railway, and
furnish the Government with a report both on the
probable cost and practicability of the railway, and
the apparent value of the land through which it is to
pass. This idea is suggested to me by the course
that is now being adopted by the Auckland Provincial
Government. After having expended an almost
incredible sum, and yet having entirely failed to com-
plete even the fire or six miles of railway required to
connect Auckland with Onehunga, across a narrow
neck of land in which no rivers, mountains, or any
other engineering difficulties are apparent, Mr.
Russell had been authorized by the Superintendent
to consult with Mr. Brassey, a well known English
engineer, on the subject, and the result of that con-
sultation was, that at Mr. Russell's urgent request,
Mr. Brassey "agreed that Mr. Ogilvie should pay a
visit to the Province for the purpose of
inspecting the line and reporting to him
upon the nature of the works to be under-
taken, and of the security which the Province
could give. Mr. Russell is also reported as having
stated to the Auckland Provincial Council that "he
was sure that Mr. Ogilvie was in Mr. Brassey's
closest confidence, and he was "a man of known
ability. His actual salary was £200 per month
and Mr. Brassey had consented that the amount
to be paid should not exceed what he himself
paid him." I cannot of course say that Mr. Ogilvie
could be induced to visit this Province or to report on
the Nelson and Cobden Railway; but it does appear
to me that if the question of that railway is to be
entertained at all, an effort should be made to obtain
the opinion of such an authority, an authority that
would be respected amongst foreign capitalists, as well
as being placed above suspicion in this Province.
This comparatively small outlay would probably be
the means of saving this Province from those great
and expensive Railway mistakes which have impover-
ished and destroyed the steady progress of several
sister Provinces and injured the credit and added to
the burdens of the whole Colony.

17. It is perhaps unnecessary for me to remind you
    that under the new Audit Act a Superintendent
    cannot act on the resolution passed by you on the
    3rd of May last authorizing me to take such steps as
    he might think best calculated to bring the Railway
    scheme under the notice of capitalists," and pledging
    the Council "to cover by vote any expense the Govern-
    ment may incur in endeavoring to carry the resolu-
    tion into effect," as the Provincial Auditor cannot now
    sign a warrant even on the authority of a resolution
    of the Provincial Council.

18. If Mr. Ogilvie can be induced to devote some
    little time to the work, the opportunity should
    not be lost of getting his attention, and through
    him the attention of British capitalists called
    to the really practicable work of connecting our
    vast and excellent coal mines with the Buller
    Port, by means of a short railway, a work that
    could probably be completed for a smaller sum than the
    Colony now annually pays to subsidize steamers, and
    which would add far more to the real wealth and
    steady progress of New Zealand, than all the artificial
    assistance such subsidized steamers will ever do. I
    trust that the fleet of ships employed by the West
    Coast Gold-fields, and the increased population that
    is being attracted to the neighborhood of the Buller,
    will soon render it impossible that this evident source
    of wealth and permanent prosperity should no longer
    be neglected.

19. In addition to the forty or fifty miles of road
    already mentioned as in progress, and to be completed
    next month, a packing track for horses has been
    completed from Cobden to the end of the Seventeen
    Mile Beach, Northward. From Cobden, up the
    Grey, to the Twelve Mile, the old foot track has
    been improved by making side cuttings round the
    rocky spurs, and metalling the places that required
    it, making a useful road for horses and stock. In
    connection with this road a substantial cart bridge is
    being erected across the Coal Creek at Cobden.

From the junction of the Little Grey, up that river
to the saddle, into the Inangahua, and down the
Inangahua to the Buller, a good horse track has been
made in length about forty miles.

An important improvement has been effected in
the communication with the upper Buller district, in
that portion of the road which had always been most
liable to get out of repair. Several miles, commence-
ing at the bottom of the Blue Bush, and extending
over the saddle at the head of the Black Valley, have
been well metalled, and the various bridges, culverts,
and fords have been thoroughly repaired.

A very great improvement has been made on the North
Buller road, from the Lyell to the termination
of the old horse track below the Maruia, a very rough
and rocky piece of work formerly left unfinished. On
the track below the Inangahua, along the south bank
of the Buller, a party is also at work engaged in
finishing, for horse traffic, those difficult and rocky
portions along which only a foot track was formerly
carried.

The vote of £1000 passed last Session of
Council, for the improvement of the Dove Dale roads,
was intended to have been expended in making the
existing bridle tracks into dray roads. This has been
done, but at a cost considerably in excess of the
estimate. The importance of the object to be gained,
that of settling families permanently in the locality,
seemed, however, to justify an extra expenditure, and
the district is now easily accessible for dray traffic
from Waimea West, and also from the Moutere by a
continuous line of road, of which about sixteen or
seventeen miles have been improved as intended,
besides a further portion being cleared on another
line of road leading into Dove Dale, giving access to
the Orinoco Valley from the Wai-Wero road for a
distance of nearly three miles.

The past year has been rendered memorable by
the atrocious murders within the borders of this pro-
vince of no less than five Marlborough settlers.
These murders were not committed by our
own settlers, nor do they indicate any deterioration
in that high moral position of which the settled por-
tion of our population has so long been able to boast.
On the contrary the outburst of well-founded indig-
nation which so simultaneously moved the whole
population to a determined search for the concealed
bodies of the unfortunate victims, and
precluded the possibility of shelter to the