was laid before the Provincial Council in October, 1859. It dealt exhaustively with three different routes. The high level Sumner route viâ Evans’ Pass was condemned out of hand on account of its steep grades and sharp curves. The Gollan Bay route was also condemned, and the line of the present Tunnel recommended. Mr. Stephenson’s estimate of the cost was £250,000, at which he thought it would be possible to obtain an English contractor of repute to undertake the work. The Commissioners were so favourably impressed with Mr. Stephenson’s report that they took the responsibility of asking him to find a contractor, and this he did, Messrs. Smith, Knight and Co. offering to construct the Tunnel for £235,000.
The Provincial Council had voted a sum of £4,000 for preliminary expenses, and the Commissioners entered into a provisional agreement in September, 1859, with Messrs. Smith, Knight and Co., under which this firm sent out their agent, Mr. Baynes, and an engineering staff to make a preliminary investigation, and undertook that if they found the conditions were as represented, they would sign a definite contract. The Provincial Council was only committed to the payment of a fixed sum of £3,000 for preliminary expenses, and was not bound to proceed with the work if it proved impossible to pass the necessary legislation.
The two Bills, the Railway Bill and the Loan Bill for £70,000, were introduced and passed in December, 1859, not without serious opposition. The Railway Bill came up for consideration on December 15, the eve of the ninth anniversary of the Province, and Mr. J. Hall moved that its second reading should be taken that day six months, but this attempt to kill the measure was defeated. Public opinion was undoubtedly at the back of the undertaking, but many people thought the responsibility of carrying out so gigantic an undertaking too great for a community of only about 10,000 persons. It must be remem-
