RAILWAY TO WEST COAST.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XII, Issue 586, 1 February 1881, Page 7

RAILWAY TO WEST COAST.

We observe that some of the up-country 'papers in Otago are agitating for the construction of the Otago Central Railway, and its extension to the West Coast, upon a plan similar to that recently submitted to Government by Canterbury. The way in which it is proposed to do this is to form a company of contractors, who will make the line, taking payment therefor in land, which land we believe is already reserved for the purposes of railway construction. The railway would be handed over to Government as fast as each section was completed, and it would be their duty to provide the rolling-stock and to work the line. We may say at once that if such a proposal could be entertained, Otago has greater claims than Canterbury to have its railway constructed, but we feel sure that Parliament will not consent to give authority to either Province to make lines in the manntr suggested. Canterbury grounds its claim almost entirely on the fact that a more practicable route has been discovered than those surveyed by Government. The comparative ease with which minerals and timber could be brought by it from the West Coast to Christchurch is their chief reason for asking for the construction of the line. In Otago, on the other hand, nearly one-half the proposed line has actually been authorised, and its construction is only delayed for want of funds. Part of it, a most difficult part; has been formed ; the expenditure of a few thousands more would make the first section available for traffic; and as its construction proceeds, town after town would be tapped, and traffic be furnished which the rival route cannot hope to obtain for many years to come. But we must not shut our eyes to the fact that the Colony cannot afford at present to sanction the immediate making of a through line either from Dunedin or Christchurch. We shall have quite enough to do to get along under easy sail for a year or two. As the Railway Commissioners well observe, a great mistake has already been committed in constructing railways in advance of existing settlement, for that has resulted in the amount of traffic being inadequate to pay for the working of the lines. We hold that the opinion expressed by the Commissioners must for the present serve as a bar to the prosecution of either of the lines mentioned, even under the tempting condi'ions offered by those interested in their construction. The large cost and limited traffic of the proposed Canterbury line, and the somewhat similar objections to the Otago Central—(it would cost more than a million storling to take it to Cromwell) will necessitate their postponement until money is more flush, the price of land higher, and the settlement of the country a little further advanced.— Morning Herald.