 When he presented his report to the council the following 1 April, he enthusiastically supported the project and was confident that construction should only take 3 years with work starting simultaneously at Nelson, Cobden and Westport.Though the financial requirements of such a project were beyond the means of both the provincial and central governments at the time, it was suggested that a British firm be engaged to finance, construct and own the line as had already been successfully done in other developing nations.As a further incentive, Wrigg suggested that the Brunner coal mine be given to the successful tenderer as an immediate and certain source of income.