THE PREMIER ON THE WEST COAST.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVII, Issue 5, 7 January 1905, Page 5

THE PREMIER ON THE WEST COAST.

I Per Press Association. Hokitixa, This Day. The Premier, replying to a deputation said it was necessary to return to "Wellington at once, owing to important duties including the settling up of the Land and other commissions, but ho in- : tend to ask Parliament next session for a special grant to carry telephones to the back blocks. The Midland railway should have been completed five or six years ago, and the colony had been re? tarded for year* by the delays arising from the contract. The {line stood on an equal footing with the Northern Island Trunk Line. He hoped for the early completion of the Stairchase section, but at the present rate of progress it would take four years. He hoped Parliament would provide funds to complete that portion in two years at the most. He urged local bodies to. set aside a portion of the gold fields revenue each year for the specific work of prospecting, and he asked them to suggest an alteration of the mining regulations for help towards the work. The Premier, finding there was a difficulty in getting miners to work in the Westport district to load the Mercedes with ceal for the East, appealed to the heads of the miners uninns when the men promptly agreed to load the' boat without delay.