THE MINISTER AND THE TUNNEL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 55, 6 March 1911, Page 4

THE MINISTER AND THE TUNNEL.

iWe have no doubt that Mr. Millar is perfectly sincere is ftia belief that he has not attempted to coerce"or threaten the people of Auckland into relinquishing their demand lor the duplication of the Earnell tunnel. At the e&rne time we must point out to ihim that when he tells us <bhat if we get the tunnel duplicated ■Wβ cannot have new goodaeheda as -well he is getting, perilously close to tie faint line which sometimes separates .-argument from intimidation. If Mr. Millar did not regard the new goods-sheds 4b necessary, our case would' not be so etrong. . Hut ha ban frankly admitted that we absolutely need more accommodation for goods; and when he tells us that if rwe insist upon having another tunnel we' shall not have the goxVbtfthad, which,, lie has already eaid, we badly, need, he has only himself to Mame if his word* are construed aa a threat. Wβ must own {hat we can see no rational excjise for Mr. Mil lac's. attitude .fiver ifchi* question. It is ludicrous to talk about this duplication of the tunnel as if it involved an enormous expenditure of public funds. We believe that £30,000 is a very high, estimate of the cost, and that it has been stated on good authority that the work could be done for half that amount. Mr. Millar has not given us his own estimate. But we know that the construction of one single tunnel on the DunedinHosgiel tine cost five or cix times what thie duplication would ,cost; and the huge sums spent in duplicating the Wellington-Hutt line and the DunedinMoggiel line, have aroused no. criticism or remonstrance ia the South. It seems to us that Government, aa to often before, is once more making Southern requirements a pretext for' ignoring Auckland's needs; and we hope that the ! people of Auckland ar4 by this time tired [of such unworthy treatment. If th fl duplication of. Farnell tunnel .ia necesearyj let' Ministers keep to their h£i : gain. But in any case, Jet the question stand or fall on ita own merits, without any reference to the mean the extraneous considerfttionß— imported into the argaaumt by, Mi. *