The Press. SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1902. THE CHEVIOT RAILWAY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11305, 21 June 1902, Page 6

The Press. SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1902. THE CHEVIOT RAILWAY.

The unanimity and representative character of the meeting held yesterday to advocate the completion, of the Cheviot Kailway ought to convince the Government that the heart of Canterbury is thoroughly set upon getting this important work finished. It is quite •true, as stated by some of the speakers, that Canterbury electors usually submit very quietly to the injustice which has been systematically inflicted upon this part of the colony in withholding from it its fair share of public works expenditure. Nothing but a very strong sense of the importance of this railway, both to the people of Christchurch ■ and to the country settlers at Cheviot and along the route of the proposed railway would, we feel sure, have sufficed to move 1 them on this occasion. Apart from the mortification of seeing trade, which ought ,to come to Christchurch, being diverted to ! Wellington, the commercial men who were so strongly represented at yesterday's meetI ing, feel that it is a thoroughly unbusinesslike and wasteful policy to dawdle over any railway in the way in which the Government are doing in this particular instance. For years they have been pottering away lat fne first section. of some 114£ miles, and although this is the easiest,, part *of the line, not a mile of it is yet open for traffic. Meanwhile interest on the cost of construction is being wasted, the portion of the work already constructed is going to decay, the settlers are suffering -for the : want of easy communication to their ! natural market, and trade which ought to ; be coming to this city, is going to another port. It is not a mere political railway ; with no prospect of paying when it is finished. There is no question that when it is completed it will soon become a divi-dend-earning concern. If a private company had the work in hand it would have been completed in a year or a couple of years at the outside, and the settlers would now be reaping the benefit of work. As Mr Turobull pointed out, there is room for great expansion all along the line in all directions—agricultural, pastoral and dairying. The whole district is being kept back because of our miserable system of dealing with public works from the point of view of political expediency, instead of acting on sound business principles for the benefit of the colony at large. The only argjument which is likely to influence the Government in a matter of this kind is the application of strong political pressure. We hope, therefore, that the Canterbury members will "all join together and present a firm front -in insisting that the Waipara-Cheviot railway shall be pushed on to completion with something like reasonable expedition.