338 



propose to say anything more on the short railways constructed by private 

 companies, or to draw any illustrations or inferences from them. To make my 

 remai'ks as intelligible as possible, I shall confine myself as near as possible to 

 round numbers, calling the length of the lines 250 miles, and the capital 

 expended in their construction £8,000,000. Thus, the prime cost of the 

 Victorian railways, including stations and the first outlay for I'olling stock, 

 was no less than £32,000 per mile. Perhaps a very miniite analysis of the 

 difierent classes of expenditure would biing out a slightly different result, but 

 dealing, as I do, with round numbers, this is accurate enough for my purpose. 

 Now, when it is considered that the Government had no jiarliamentary charges 

 to pay, beyond the ordinary expenses of printing a public bill, that the 

 necessary legal expenses were included in the genei-al legal expenses of the 

 law ofiScers' department, and that there was very little to pay as compensation 

 for land taken, the cost J3er mile must be considered large ; but it had been 

 deliberately decided by the Legislature that the railways should be constructed 

 in the most substantial and durable manner ; and so far as Vietoi'ia is concerned 

 — a wealthy country without debt — I believe that decision to have been a wise 

 one. Moi'eover, it should not be forgotten, that owing to recent improved 

 methods, the work could now be done much more economically than was 

 possible twelve years ago. In this colony, where we have to cover a great 

 extent of country with orily moderate means, so costly a system Avould be 

 altogether inapplicable, and it is anticipated that our railways will not cost 

 more than one-fifth or one-sixth of the above sum. This may, perhaps, turn 

 out to be a somewhat sanguine estimate, but if we fail in the end to obtain 

 1500 miles of cheap railways for seven millions and a half of money, the 

 ultimate total will not fall many hundred miles below it. 



Now, oiir New Zealand railways are at present so completely in the womb 

 of the future, that I must necessarily resort to what has been done in Victoria 

 for the principles upon which I am about to expatiate. I am not disposed to 

 deal in the speculative, but I think you will perceive that the inferences which 

 I am about to draw, apply to our case as well as to the case of Victoria. The 

 diflference between the two will be a difference of degree only. 



I will begin with the loan. Here I must remind you that the condition 

 of a colony presents economical features the reverse of those presented by what 

 is called an old country. In England, everything is abundant and cheap 

 except land ; land alone, in relation to capital and laboui', is limited, and 

 therefore dear. In the colonies, on the contrary, everything is scarce and 

 dear except land. Unoccupied land is abundant and cheap. Capital and 

 labour are among the plentiful and cheap things in England ; they are 

 among the scarce and dear things in the colonies — meaning always in 

 relation to land. What Mr. Wakefield called "systematic colonization," 

 as distinguished from mere emigration, consists in transporting what is 



