MAIN TRUNK LINES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 26 April 1930, Page 21

MAIN TRUNK LINES.

MARLBOROUGH POINT OF VIEW. A firm believer that the completion of the South Island Main' Trunk railway will be a payable proposition from an economic standpoint, Mr. W. T. Churchward, chairman of the railway committee of the Marlborough Progress League, is at present visiting Auckland. Mr. Churchward was one of those who prepared for presentation to Parliament the Marlborough case favouring the pushing ahead with the linking up of the gap in the line between Wharenui and Parnassus. The completion of the railway, said Mr. Churchward, was supported by the Marlborough League on three main grounds. Firstly, because it was part of the Main Trunk system between the Bluff and Auckland; secondly, because it would develop the Marlborough district, increasing the production in that province by 50 per cent straight a-vay, and doubling it in about five years; and thirdly, because it would be a payable proposition from an economic point of view. Referring to progress being made svitb the scheme, Mr. Churchward said the first 21 miles of the 75-mile gap between Wharenui and Parnassus had been surveyed, and 220 men were working on the section which, it was thought, would be completed in about twelve months owing to the absence of engineering difficulties. Over the Clarence River a big bridge would have to be constructed, and as the work would take a year or two, it was advisable that it should be carried out by contract. The section between the Clarence and the Hapuka Rivers was now being surveyed. Not so much work had been done at the southern end of the gap, however, because of the importance of deciding which was the best route through the hills to the Conway River. ' "It seems to me that the Government could easily put a lot more labour on the line now that the trial surveys have been completed," added Mr. Churchward. "It is generally thought by advocates of the scheme that when the route to the llapuka crossing has been fixed there is quite an extent of track beyond it on which much labour could be employed owing to the easy going.'