WILD-CAT RAILWAYS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 688, 13 December 1909, Page 8

WILD-CAT RAILWAYS.

THE-FATUtTY OF PIERCING THE ALPS. : : ■ ■.•■-'■' TO rLACAT:TM.P/S." • ■ ■ . (Br -.a..Pkotesting Citizen.) :■'',. .'■"-' .The .increasing -interest which is being taken by .the taxpayers of this conntry.in the:doings of our Government and.'.in. its. finances must he, gratifying to leaders of public opinion like The Dominoi. , , which has done a' great deal to arouse a healthy national sentimenti and to create: a spirit of independence and self-reli-ance.. At this juncture, whon "little Now Zealand", has been committed by the Government (without any authority) to an enormous expenditure in the shape of a wholly unnecessary gift of a warship, involving a largo permanent increase to our already enormous dobt; .when with an affectation of 'practising),' economy, thoGoyenuncnt' turned out hundreds of unfortunate Civil Servants to face starvation, while extravagances are being 'committed. : : in erecting numerous -costly public buildings, which .the country could very well' dispense with for innny years to come; in invoking the attendance of members of Parliament twice in one year so as to enable'our extravagant' Prime Minister ;to, take an unnecessary, jaunt .to London 1 for his pirn personal gratification at the public expense, and in numerous other , ways, it may be of interest to'make some remarks upon ja" piece of railway construction which bids fair to bo a curse .to the country... .'. LaWrence-Roxburgh: Killed and Not Mourned. It,;was with feelings' of deep thankfulness and satisfaction that the people of this Dominion learned that at last the Prime Minister, as tho head of a Ministry that landed tho conntry in, enormous debt—debt' .which those.who have to bear it contemplate with extreme seriousness—had decided,that work on the Lawrence-Roxburgh line of railway be discontinued. ;This line is .one of the political railways, which hav.o added greatly to the burden of Vrar debt, but I' think -I shall be able to show: that its cost, both actual and contemplated, is only small compared Vith that of other lines now in , process of construction.. . 'Anyone who knows anything at all about what a'railway .should do towards the material development ;of a country' has only to go from Greymouth to Springfield, or vice versa, to see the awful waste of money that is going on in that part: of the Dominion. ■ , . ■ The Iron Horse in Unpromising Places, ' , Say yon start from .Greymouth for Springfield.. ■ The. train leaves' the.- former . place and runs to Brunher through a small valley,' in which there are a few settlers, and'proceeds to Stillwater, the -junction of the. Rceftori line. Thence it, runs through fairly' level country, in most places covered with dense bush, from which, practically aUtIW available milling timber has-been cut, to Moana, on lake Brunner. Except fora few. settlers, : sawmillers.and their employees, ..there are scarcely any inhabitants in that distance of .about 14 miles, andon each side away from the line for at least 15 miles. The land cleared of the bush is mostly useless, being, where not liable to flood, grayel'terraces and swampy!' The milling timber within-acces-sible distance to the -north' of ■■ Lake Brunnor has nearly'all'been'cut, and "the,work of cutting js'being carried'on in the'.country about the upper or southern end of the lake;.where in a few years it will have been cut out. ; ; From' Moaria to Roto-mana,-the country is much the same,, only- that the mountains on the eastern: side "of the lake, come down close to, the railway line. From Roto-mana to Inchbonnie the line passes through a small area ol fairly .decent land, on.which there is a:flaxmjll, and a ..few- settlers' carrying on, a .little dairying. .-■.'.■•'■. - ; = .' ..:-;.•'-. ! '\'.': : ■ '■;' ■ ; The tract of conntry from Stillwater to Inchbonnie, if seen for. the' first.,time by 'an intending,'settler,", would, cause, himv.to;wonder why such'a .very-Jargc' tract, of .fairly' level country should continue- unsettled. ; : .Bnt'' he. wonld pretty <;6on find: the cause if he came fo examineit or take it up. The land is not worth the cost of clearing. , This area of country is about 28 miles by 30 miles in extent, and,', outside of the few mill hands engaged on'.it, it does not carry 500 settlers. "Now,,.mark, you, this country has been known at all events from the time of the West Coast diggings, aperiod of About 46 years.: WJiat greater' condemnation ,■ could, a conntry ; want ?'■'■ Surely tbero; wero thousands of people who wonld hare'gone upon it'if it was worth'.settling, and particularly as it was not -difficult'country -to- get 'into',-end yet there Nature 'made,. W," fejitf "there it will remain, .though there is: earth hunger. ; . : . : . ■.: ■■'.' ■ '• : ."-'• ■ : . '; From Inchbrinnie .the. line runs up. the riverbed of the Teramakai until it turns'up - tho Otir'a River, and ends for the present at the CStira township. • Until the tunnel .operations began this "towniship" consisted of a hotel and some few houses bccnnietV by rnilway officials. In this stretch—a distance of 15 miles—thero areinot, outside tho-Otira./residents/ more than a dozen inhabitants, and never could be. Five Ghastly Miles of Tunned ; , ■ /■}■.' ; 1 The line from Otira will run up'the ri»erbed ;until.-it;comes to the,;tunnel on.' the easteniiside. of the;Bhlleston ! Eiver. '. At Otifa a great, deal qf• most expensivo;.Jv6rk has been done, in connection with the railway bridge' at Goat Greek, and,- from all appearances, that creek will 'be. nn endless source of expense. The tunnel, .'a little ■■ more ' than' 5} ' mills' in length, is being ■constructed 1 ' throueh." the flanks of Mount-E-olleston -to- theßealey. It is supposed that it will be finished for about £600,000 in five: y«ars from' the ■ signing of the contract. ,Will it? : ' .':■■: \ '-.■■ ;■"•-■' Now ..comes one of the most-expensive, mat-ters-jn connection .'with this; tunnel. The: en; fines .'will 'have- to" be .changed from steam :'tb slectrio,' -in consequence, of. its length, there being no shafts* or adits. .This item alone.will sntail an enormous and. con. tinuons expense.'.There will have to-be donbk staffs; for each form of fraction at each end of, the' tnanel, and' generating,-' pwer.. sites al each' end;, each- requiring three' sets of eniployeee. '.At ■■ present it; is i-not fjnite - certain where the power will be obtained at the Otirs end, but "its. production : will be. ;costly in anj case.'-":.' 'i ■ ''-"'' ': ■'.. . ''; ■'- : % \ ' ;. ■'■■-~'"•:' \'. ;.' :^ : : A\'y Prom , the Beiiley end of the .tunnel the.liin will, go; down; the Bealey. .River, ' then by.ai Bxpensive. bridge oveT, the Waimakariri -Rive] to Broken River, through' country-' bristling with' difficnltiesfor railway work. From Otin to' Broken -River, a distance of ■ '411 miles; th( country; is .absolutely nsdless for\ven'moderately close settlement.' ;On the'Christchurcl 3ide of .the Waimakariri up to the land is. held by two or ..-three run-holders ind, ..if cut np, wonld perhaps V.allow ;of t hundred settlers, who make a living i! the, winters .were favourable.- FrOm- Broker River, to Otarama, the country , ifi' praoticallj useless : for-close settlement;- 'Now,' the .wh'oh if this line'from Greymonlh .to Otarama, ■( listance of .99. miles,, will not up oni mile of country that can. be. used foi sven, reasonably close settlement. As Ihavi ilready pointed out, if the 'land through whicl the ;lino mns from' Greymonth to,Otira/ h'a'i been usefnl! for-the,various' purposes of settle nient, it would have been settled long ago, a it is not, difficult of access. ' ' ' ~ '■' .'", The cost of the line from Otira; to Otarama iricluding the-"tunnel,' but Without ■ any acces »ry' work for the running of the railway, wil be' : nearly :,£2,000.000 before.it is finished.' Th' interest on this sum alone, at the low .'rate' o 3'per "cent;, is'JE6o,flOO a-year.' r To this ha toibe added the. working- cost. Will. th Minister for Railways, prove that .this-lin will-payP The purpose of the constructioi of this railway is well known: , It is.'a'poli tical- job : pnre, and simple. Tlie votes of th Westland and Canterbury', members'' were neces Bary, and ; they, had'" to bo secured—and more-' monstrous ■, work'-'was' ■ nerer:,-.undei taken by anv Government. ■■ Canterbury ( sa; that they will get cheaner coal by rail thn , that carried by sen.. That is a fallacy. I is not the taking of-Hie"coal from Groymont to Lvttelton that is the expensive part, it j the (li?tribntion afterwards. The timber whic' the Prime Ifinister'stated would last,o7 year lit' the rate 4f1,0f10.C00 feot a year lids -yet to h jrowii.' Can timber be railed from Hokitika. tal ing that town ne the centre of the timber area t Christchtiroh more cheaply than it can be cai ried by sea? Isaythatitcannot;, and.auain.i Canterbury the only place to be supplied? A to any minerals, .that .will. be. found in th n.onntry. tlirough whi.cn -the line passes," th Prime Minister does not. even make a; I sav that none nf value will he found, ami am certain Dr. Bell .will; confirm this.-: . If M.P.'s inspected It— ' ' : 'i jMombora'of Parliament, would: only.be-.doir their duty to the country'if,they would vis the locali'ty in question, and give an; nnbias.l opinion on this one point. Supposing thi were directors of a company formed for. cor morcial purposes, mid' an offer was made them to-'construct a: railway such as that'no being constructed, for the purpose of carryu timber, coal, and other products to-,.Chris church, oil condition that they should I remunerated :by the. profits of: the: railwa would they ..construct; it?: It would bo, -,a 'goi tiling for■tltt>:cfl'nntty,'..i{ the Govcniment.wijii nirrunse with,-ir.bii contractdi-s;for • tho tiinn to pftv.thpm'fl pro' rata-portion.of their, bs mated profits- on /Um 'eonstruenon. of ■-■ t]

work, , 'plus "the' cost' of''material, etc.,-' and wages supplied and paid, nnd so put an ohd .to. this •monstrous undertaking. • . • ,■ Give Each Minister 20,000 Acres. It is for tho future generations that this matter has the most importance,, as they will be saddled for all time with an enormous debt incurred for a work of''tho , grossest political character., AVould that the members of the Ministry would resign office, tako up areas of not less than 10,000 acres each along the line , of railway, from Inchbonnio lo Otarania, and farhi it.iirany manner they choose. It would pay the country handsomely to give eveii 20,000, acres to each Minister, on condition that Ho'gave up office.. . : There must surely be sonic Al.P.'s who dosiro'to be weir thought of by this country, and I should suppose they wonld be glad to make strict inquiry into this business. They would do a real service to the community if they would secure the appointment of an independent commission,, consisting of three practical farmers representing:-dairy, pastoral, and agricultural interests, whoso duty it would be to go over the country through which-the. line passes, from Inchbpnnie to Otarama, und' report :upon. its capacity and sriitability for the various kinds of farming, and whether they, as 'business men, would recommend the construction of such a railway as being a benefit to tho Dominion. I .shall, have something to.say.on another occasion, about other' useless -railways irbich are .bdng constructed iii "dribs and .drabs," in order, to placate niembcrs: who support a Gpvorriment distinguished for gross - extravagance, and-'reckless administration, and skilled in the art of placating those.who have pot them into power. .•■■ . ' : \