A REPLY TO "ROXBOROUGH."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 586, 14 August 1909, Page 10

A REPLY TO "ROXBOROUGH."

Sir,—Your., correspondent "RoVborough (August 7, 1909) has drawn attention to one of the grossest politioal.railw,ay..jobs ,of the Seddon regime;-and continued'.by,his successors, viz.. thevWcstport-liiarigahua-lmo, tho construction 'oPwhichy had,the Treasury been overflowing and> tho, country,/free- of debt,, would have been aduxury, but .under tho circumstances was :a ; grievous ;wrong . inflicted on the country'to satisfy.;the greed of a part of a West Coaßt' constituency, viz., the town of Westport, jwhich is/filled; witlr jealousy of the neighbouring port* of Grcymouth.;. ■ For "RoKbprough" and 6thors o£'''yoiir readers', I;. may "say that the supposed'objective'-of.tltis line is/the town: of Reefton': (that is'speaking within the time- ' limit of the'present generation), a small : niihing 'town mainly supported by. the monthly pay-sheet of the Consolidated:* Gold Mining Company- (an English company), which for many vears past has-been connected byrail witlr the port of Groymoutk.' The line from .Grcymoutb to Reefton is part.of. the Midland Railway, scheme,,and.was taken l ovor from that unfortunate company by the , 'Seddon Government., It passes, through a I fair amount of. timber country, carries the i Blackball coal for, about ,18, miles, 'passes through tho oldest .settled farming, country., i on the Coast,, and: is .fed .by several .small; i townships and mining.country generally,,on :. -its way. from Gfeymouth.to Reefton, but;its t financial history is a poor one. ; -I question.if 3 it is on the: Jist of paying lines. :, .... ,; - ■ Now, let us look at the Westpork-Inanga-i hua line. ,It. is being made from',,Westport t to. ,ihe ferry, across the .Bnller', generally I known as'tho, Nine-Mile, .although, the diso tance is really, seven miles.."Hero.it,taps tho i] entrance'',to. tho; Buller 'Gorge:.,', The dand !i along this distance (Westport to Nme-Mile), e is limited hi. area by high, ranges on one i side and the river on the other, and is about s as hungry, a country-as.you.will moot with, t The line is constructed on comparatively level if land, speaking from memory there is not a i, cutting in it,, but it is, currently 'reported. II that it is costing' £6000 per'mile. From this is. point to the junction of the Buller'and In-' s' tingalnta Rivers'tho lino must, pass through Is the Buller Gorgo for:a distance of, .say,,:2o )- miles, one of'tho roughest iri.the Dominion, and'if tho present work at the Westport end . has cost six thousand, pci\ mile, the Gorge will cost, sixty. From'the, junction to Rccfton station is about 20 miles, and along this ■'■ distance the lino is under construction by the ... usual leisurely co-operative method, which has v served'the Government so long and so well' C as "a vote-catching-and-keeping machine at a ,t ruinous 'cost to the country. Seven, miles , short of Reefton thorc is a small/place called. a • Coronation, to which tho line is complete and ;, opened (after many years), 'and.tho Govern.nent commenced its uso by running a train in "and out, oil'two days' of tho week ;- this service has now been reduced to one'day, viz., on Saturdays'/■■■•■ ;..-. , .„.'■,: , _• , The country between; Junction, and Reel:-, ton.is, generally speaking, rough and poor. There arc some small farms hero and there along, the. present .coach 'road, but tho methods of tho occupants appear to be of the, most primitive description. • The, possibility of a railway paying between these points is 1 looked upoii as a joke;' of courso, it will bo a costly one,'but that great and good man Mr. Seddon taught us how to get used to such pleasantries; and ;the gontlemon on whom his mantlo has Collectively fallen intend to keep the fun going. .■-.... .., ■. I am inclined to the.opinion.that the curtailing of our borrowing powers will prevent our statesmen from tackling the Gorge, and so it is difficult to see of what use the seven miles-at the Westport.end will bo, but those in the know say it is all right, as tho work will bo pushed oil to a point where certainWest Coast people hold, a coal lease that thev intend to exploit -the market with,' to which end they will bo. largely, assisted if the Government wilr finish the- line that far; and.surely wo ought not to grudge them-this to'-help in such p. noble and disinterested work. There is.just one'littlc fly in the ointment, however. The same little svndicatc has hold a property a few years, and, according 1 to -the man in tlm street, it has been floated with a capital of,half a million two or three times, but. uilfortimatel.v for tho Coast,, and -especially for Jlo • syndicate, some hitch has "occurred every time. Certainly there were, drawbacks,.,.! law amount of cnpital would have been required to bo MJWt in jpchmLoMy. yoilt. so I

think it is up to the Government to make I tho Wostporf end of tlio Recfton lino right i up to tho aliened coal mine, and so coinpen- v sate these public-spirited men by letting them i havo tho solo uso of ft lino costing sixty or 1 seventy thousand at the usual running rates; 1 that is, I moan,' if they inanago to float a' ' company. Trusting that "Roxborough" will j appreciate tho trouble-1 have gone to in ex- 1 planation.—l am, ctc.> . v. .■■'•;■,■. •.•:-■' - ; ;i■•■■:•' -i ... PATRIOTISM.; 1 . l'.SyrrTho new way of spoiling this word. ; is by three, letters—£ s. d.—but I prefer the. \ old ono., lam old-fashioned..■..-■•'..•:'; ■ . ,