The Press. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1912. SHOULD THE MIDLAND RAILWAY BE STOPPED?

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14522, 26 November 1912, Page 6

The Press. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1912. SHOULD THE MIDLAND RAILWAY BE STOPPED?

I It is not often that wo havo to differ Jj from our contemporary, tho "Otago I Daily Times," but an article in yester-' J day's issue of that ably-conducted :| journal on tho Otira tunnel cannot t*s 4 allowed to pass without rejoinder, it ■J urges that it will bo "throwing good d "money after bad" to complete the jmj. Midland railway! Usually when our $ contemporary takes a lino on any mi A - jwrtant question of publio policy it g adduces facts and arguments in support li of its views, but on this occasion it Vias M contented itself with broadly laying $j down a truly amazing proposition, and $ treating it as if it wero an article of |j faith to bo accepted on pontifical au'M thority. Tho position at present, as ■A our readers aro aware, is that the sum II of closo upon a million and a half |i of money has been sunk in constructing |i a railway to each sido of the dividing P ran&o, that a tunnel has been bored

about one-third of tho way through tho Alps, and that it ip estimated it will cost about half a million of money to complete tho railway. The only hope of making tho undertaking pay anything towards its interest is to finish it, so that it may not only bo available for passengers, but also for goods traffic. In its present stato it fs obvious that it cannot pay oven working oxpenscs, and if the tunnel is not to bo completed, tho logical courso would bo to pull up the rails beyond Springfield, and possibly, also, thoso on the other sido of the On the other hand, there is very strong evidence that if the railway is completed it will at once become far moro profitable than tho Otago Central railway is likely to bo during tho next quarter of a century, and that in the course of a few years it will becomo a commerciallypaying undertaking.

Some of tho reasons for believing that the railway will pay were set out by Sir Arthur Guinness in a speech of considerable forco delivered in tho Houso of Representatives just before the end of the session. He pointed out that tho Wcstland district and the other West Coast counties contain 39,000 people, and on the Canterbury j-ido of the range there is a population of 173,000, so that there is at present a population of 212,000 which will bo served by the railway. An important argument in favour of the lino is that the two populations aro essentially different, both in their requirements and in what they produ-.ie. Tho West Coast produces coal and timber, Canterbury agricultural produce, so that there would bo a interchange of products which. could not fail to bo mutually beneficial. It is said that sea carriage will always compete favourably with land carriage, and that is truo when the conditions aro fairly equal. Doubtless it will bo cheaper to deliver coal in Lyttelton from Greymouth by steamer than it will by rail. On the other hand, thero is every reason to believe that when tho line is completed it will be cheaper to rail coal to Christchurch, and all stations this sido of tho lyttelton tunnel, than it will be to load it into steamers at Greymouth, unload it at Lyttelton, and train it to its inland destination Sir Arthur Guinness says that at present rates tho cost of convoying coal to Christchurch by sea and rail is J2s 9d per ton, as against 10s 7d by rail, thus showing 2s 2d per ton in favour of tho railway carriage. Again, Mr Martin Kennedy, formerly managing director of the Brunner Coal Company, gave evidence before a Royal' Commission that ho would prefer to pay 2s 6d more per ton for coal carried by rail as against that carried by sea, because that would represent tho loss in slack and dust through repeated handling. Canterbury already uses about 200,000 tons of coal a year, tho railage on which would amount to £105,833 a year, so that on this item alone a handsome revenue is assured to tho railway. In the same way Sir Arthu* Guinness showed that on present rates timber would 4s 10d per 100 ft by sea and rail, as against 3s 6d per 100 ft by rail alono. The timber exported at present to Christchurch ho put at SO million feet per annum, and he estimated that when the railway wa3 finished it could bo increased to 100 million feet, which, at 3s 3d per 100 ft, would yield a revenue to the railway of £162,500 per annum. These are statomenta which, as our j readers will admit,- are not to bo 1 brushed aside by the "ex cathedra" cxi prcssion of.belief by any newspaper, however influential. Tho only sem. bianco of a reply which the "Otago Daily Times" ventures to mako is that Sir Arthur Guinness does not seem to havo taken into account tho probability that the cost of water carriage would bo reduced whenever tho railway became a direct competitor for tho oonvoyanco of goods from tho West Coast. If that result was produced, Canterbury would reap a very substantial benefit from tho railway in the shdpe of cheaper coal and timber. It is clear, however, that no steamship- company will, for any length of time, carry coal at a loss for tho purpose of spiting a Government railway, and it is difficult to believe that present sea freights leavo a margin of profit sufficient to cover not only the 2s 2d per ton difference in cost of carriage, but tho 2s 6d per ton deterioration which, according to* Mr Martin Kennedy, coal undergoes by the repeated handling when it is brought round by sea and rail. Feeling, no doubt, that it is on weak ground in advancing the argument, our contemporary, as a final "clincher," quotes tho opinion of a correspondent "who does not profess " to be a geologist," but who has taken alarm at tho "wet places" met with in tho tunnel, and espressos the opinion that tho route of tho tunnel has, geologically, been wrongly chosen. Our contemporary argues from this sapiont expression of opinion, that < " tho maintenance of tho tunnel, when "completed, may. bo a nover-ending "source of anxiety and trouble." Wo need hardly say that the routo of tho lino was only decided on after taking tho best professional advice, including that of an eminent engineer specially imported to advise on the routo, and that "wet places" are always met with in « tunnel of this description. Apart from thi3, Mr McLean stated emphatically in. his evidence that nothing ' abnormal to causo any difficulty had : been met with in the construction of i tho work; that tho troublo and delay I arose from the labour conditions. ft : is well-known that "Tho Press" opposed tho construction of tho Midland < Railway when it was first proposed, • and incurred considerable unpopularity i for so doing. To stop the work on tlio verge of completion, and to render absolutely useless the million and a half of money already sunk in its construe- i

tion, however, is so completely opposed to common-sense that wo are surprised to find such a suggestion being put forward in any responsible quarter.