The Press. THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1906. THE CANAL SCHEME.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12452, 15 March 1906, Page 6

The Press. THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1906. THE CANAL SCHEME.

The.Harbour Board could do no more and no kes with regard to the drip canal schemes than they did at y«>tordaj's meeting. Hiey 'could not, in face of public opinion, let the matter rest where it is at present; still lew irould they havo been, justified in discarding the ongineer's report altogether, while, oonftidering tho huge, sum involved in either of the canal projects, they could not be expected to come to a decision as to the merit* of one or the other without procuring further expert advice. ,Mr Williams's able and

interesting report hae done a groat deal to arouse public interest ia the question, but it did not pretend to be more than an outline which will serve ac a useful basic for further and more detailed work in. the same direction. The resolution which was finally carried yesterday, by which, the Board agreed to oommunicafce with the Hifih Commissioner with the object of afiiertaining the oofit of procuring the bce£ expert advice on the question, vras undoubtedly the best. There is no necessity for the Board to confine themselves at this stage to anyvparticular firm, and it is quite that ty giving Mr Beeves a free hand ia t!hie respect the oast will be leee. It will amount to a considerable enm in any case, but the money will be well spent no matter what tho nature of tho report may be. If it ie unfavourable, from either c financial or an engineering point of view, or from both, the subject may, we presume, be considered to have been finally settled. If, on the other hand, it is favourable, we shall be co much, further on tie road towards carrying tho project into practice. No one, except perhaps persons interested in Lyttelton, can doubt the great benefit that ChrWtchnrch would derive from having a harbour at her doors if it con Id be obtained a€ a cost that would not unduly burden the district. The question whether this can be accomplished ie not to be settled off-hand by aaßertione, based on an extensive ignorance of engineering problems, that it is a physical impossibility to make a first-class harbour at Sumner—where, by the way, it is not suggeeted that a •harbour should be made—exoepfc at ruinous cost. Tho impossibility of making a ship canal from Sumner to a harbour on tho outskirts of Christcbrrch has vet to be proved\ With regard to the battalion, of figures wljidh Mr Laarenson brought up to support his argument, it will be noticed that he estimated the total cost of a harbour at Linwood would bo two and a half millions, instead of the one and three-quarters of a million of Mr Williams's calculations. The additional three-quarters of a million was made up of interest on expenditure during construction, and tho cost of overcoming springs and other obstructions in tho canal. As the construction of thecanal would not bo carried out in the dilatory and wasteful manner characteristic of Government railway construction, the interest may be a good deal less than Mr Laurenson estimates. The calculations ac to tho cast of overcoming the springs and obstructions were so neatly worked out to -bring tho total up to two and a half millions, that they make one suspect that their chief purpose was to give I verisimilitude to Mr Lauronsoa's pessinyietio narrative. As to tfie railway returns 'quoted so generously by the same gentleman, it ie sufficient at pre- 1 sent to point out that they were controverted by co experienced a business man ac Mr Kaye, and were opposed to the engineorV; figures, which were taken from the Railway report. The weight of evidence, on tho face of it, appears to bo against the arguments of the member for Lyttelton. He has, how-, ever, one weapon in his armoury which he might use with good effect against tho-o who support the canal. If he ■were to devote his influence and energy to inducing tho Minister for Railways to abate to a reasonable degree the heavy railway rates now charged between Lyttelton and Christenurcb, he would do a great deal more to check the present agitation than ever he will ac-| complish by gloomy predictions. Until j

however, that urgently-desired reform is brougTit aT>out, the agitation irill grow •in strength, as affording hope of reHef from the unjust handicap on the commerce of the whole district.