Bevicw of Reviews. 1/0/13. PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. 



665 



remaining sections of the North-Coast 

 railway, the line to Dorrigo, and the rail- 

 way from Condobolin to Broken Hill. 

 These railways are badly needed, 

 though not, perhaps, so much so as the 

 duplication of trunk lines, but the Gov- 

 ernment has neither the plant nor yet 

 the organisation to construct them. But 

 Norton, Griffiths and Co. (an English 

 firm of contractors in a large way) offers 

 to supervise the whole of the work, and 

 see it through, only charging \ per 

 cent, on the cost for their trouble. "They 

 go even further. They express their 

 willingness, if the Government decide to 

 raise a loan for the necessary ^^3, 000,000, 

 to underwrite the whole sum in the or- 

 dinary way. What more could an\- 

 Government want ? On closer scrutiny, 

 however, the scheme does not seem quite 

 so satisfactory. There appears to be no 

 definite limit as to the cost of the works 

 in question. Presumably the Company's 

 supervision will only end with the com- 

 pletion of the railways. Clearly, tlien, 

 it must be to their interest that the cost 

 should be as great as possible, seeing 

 that the supervision charges will be 

 thereby increased. The high reputation 

 of the company, Mr. Griffiths, the State 

 Minister for Works, considers, is suffi- 

 cient guarantee against this. But the 

 existence of a proper guarantee is not 

 mentioned m the published details of 

 the agreement. It is true that the agree 

 ment may be cancelled if the work is not 

 conducterl economically, but that in 

 itself is scarcely sufficient, even though 

 the company is to put up ;^50,ooo as a 

 guarantee for faithful completion of the 

 contract. 



The Underwriting Provisions. 



A far more serious Haw in the scheme 

 is the underwriting provision. The 

 State Governments have been for years 

 receiving the assistance of a body of 

 underwriters in London, who have done 

 all in their power to raise money when 

 required. Now the Plolman Minislr\- 

 proposes to throw these uncierwriters 

 over for Norton, Cjriffiths and Co. The 

 State Minister of Works holds that with 

 the support of that company it will be 

 easier to raise the three millions re 



quired than it is at present to obtain 

 funds for normal pubic works expendi- 

 ture. This is a distinct confession of 

 weakness. It is a confession that New- 

 South Wales could not go into the Lon- 

 don market and raise ;^3,ooo,ooo with- 

 out the assistance of Norton, Griffiths 

 and Co., except at a higher price. Such 

 an admission is a decidedly damaging 

 one to the Holman Ministry, for it pre- 

 mises that the State's credit has so fallen 

 during its tenure of office that the exist- 

 ing underwriters and their supporters 

 have lost confidence in New South 

 Wales, and in its future. One thing is 

 certain, if the underwriting of the State's 

 loans be given to Norton, Griffiths and 

 Co., for this particular loan, it is highly 

 probable that .the present underwriters 

 will refuse to float further loans, except 

 on terms unfavourable to the borrower. 

 Mr. Wade tabled what was practically a 

 motion of censure on the Government, 

 condemning the whole arrangement. 

 The Premier announced that the measure 

 would not be taken as a party one, but 

 voting followed party lines, Mr. Hol- 

 man securing a majority of six. 



MK. KI.\VOt>n MK.VD. 



