Page:The Coming Colony Mennell 1892.djvu/98

 the concern is £1,240,000, in 20,000 ordinary shares of £6 each (£1 called up) and 40,000 founders' shares of £1 each. The money for starting the construction of the line was, however, mainly drawn from the proceeds of the sale of £500,000 of six per cent. first mortgage debentures, forming part of an authorised issue of £1,000,000, the whole of which was subscribed on the London market at the time, but owing to the financial depression following the issue, a portion was surrendered for non-payment of calls.

I will not entirely trust my own judgment as to the general value of the Midland Company's concession, but will quote the opinion of a gentleman not famed for giving rose-coloured re­ports of the properties even of his clients, as many of the latter have found to their grief. Writing on the subject towards the end of last year, Dr. Robertson says: "The district intersected by this railway, and within your area of selection, contains, I think, beyond all question the richest and most valuable agricultural land in the whole colony. Portions are of importance in a mineralogical aspect. The selections of the Railway Company will, undoubtedly, embrace the very eyes, or most valuable areas of agricultural land in the colony.

"The settlers along your line of railway are men who, as a rule, commenced with no capital, yet who have struggled bravely through many vicissitudes and years of trouble success­fully, and have eventually made money. They are not a complaining class, but men of individuality and courage, sturdy yeomen, worthy of the old land from which they came. Hitherto they have been unable to till the soil in a way or to an extent that, with the convenience of a railway and enlarging markets, is now possible. Systems of husbandry hitherto unpractised will by degrees be introduced, and crops and products best suited to the soil, the locality, and the climate, be raised. This is particularly the case with cereals, vines and oranges, in the cultivation of which great ignorance prevails. In respect to vines, the absurdity of growing many varieties in one plot or locality, and of attempting to make as many varieties of wine, badly, is a feature of the eastern colonies; instead of which, greater success would assuredly reward the efforts of those who,