THE WAIPARA-CHEVIOT RAILWAY.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10991, 14 June 1901, Page 2

THE WAIPARA-CHEVIOT RAILWAY.

MR G. W. RUSSELL'S RECENT VISIT. 1 Mr G. W. Russell, M.H.R., paid a visit 'fo tits • railway construction works on the Wuipara-'Cheviot line on Tuesday. Mr J Russell was accompanied by Mr Jack, en-gineer-in-charge, and was shown over as much as possible of the section. In conversation yesterday with a representative of : "The Press," Mr Russell stated that the first i part of tiie line from the junction with the main north line is now ready for the permanent way, the bridges are well advanced, and the whole of the woi'k seems to ba proceeding most satisfactorily. The men ara engaged in sections, all on the co-operative ejvtam. Some are bu I fling embankments, others jnjttin£ in culverts, and the remainder variously employed. Altogether there are probably eighteen or twenty parties at woik on the section, totalling about 180 men. The wort is baing picked up at several different points, so that the whole may be completed simultaneously. It is expected, Mr Rus?eU says, that the first fourteen miles of line will ba ready for traffic in January next, and, in 'his opinion, the traffic on it will be much greater thun many people anricipite. It \vti3 a surprise to him, in travelling to and fro, to note the traffic en the roads, and it was, he hold*, evidence of an existing and developed trade, to say nothing of the undevtl'oped trade which must come to ills, railway when it is opined. ■jit Russell states that to bim'tlia most surprising thing of all was to Mnd the line running through such a large ami of apparently unoccupied land. Ha consideied that yeara ago the Government ought to have resumed the Glenmark estate for Crown tenants, and that, it ought to have been secured w&en Cheviot was tak«n. There is a lot of country in the locality highly suitable for small grazing runs, aad he holds that a great blunder is being made in constructing the railway without land settlement going on side by side with the work. As to the co-operative works being intended to provide employment for aged men, that idea, .the member ifor Riccarton says, can be written off as exploded. JTcail.y all the men he saw at work ware young, active fellows, in the prime of life. Some, he bef

lieved, were compamtively WC eat Brrhsk' in tii-o colony. The railway nawj- of &^ ! Jen's time, or the tarn graduating <u.d-mining distriote, appeared to l*r» ;)us<?ed a way, atid given plasii -non of tha agricultural labourer «li«w «!» ipncai-ed io Imve realised that at suck Uiey could ittake. more than at •lgricultural operations. . *■ ,f^*'\ Air Russell considers that tJiff.ijj&Lgi credit is due to iht> engineer for menls. Thenieo appearedtliorouAVj^ , . litd with ths fairness of their fctfiijafo and ' the pay for their work. Of cotijisSVJK?-' , inevitable grumblers were ioaai,<-is& iha number was almost iho Avork undertaken was of-*sjHfo(jj tura, but-what is completed Seemed-ta 'hava been , well earned out. - : /'%y.?'vi'V i '