Evening Post. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1886. THE MIDDLE ISLAND MAIN TRUNK LINE.

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 18, 8 June 1886, Page 2

Evening Post. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1886. THE MIDDLE ISLAND MAIN TRUNK LINE.

¦j ? So far as wo nre able to ascertain there is a very general opinion amongst members of the House that the proposed allocation of £100,000, out of the million and a half loan, to the Blenheim-Tophouse line is neither necessary nor desirable. Various reasons are assigned for tlrj opinion, and some of them are very strong indeed. In the first place, it is contended that, even assuming the lino to be a necessary portion of the Main Trunk line through the Middle Island, it cannot be of any use; to conhtruct it earlier than through communication can be nstablished between Blenheim and Christchurch. In other words, there can be no use in the \ino from Blenheim reaching the Tophouse until the line on the other side from Christchurch reaches the point of proposed junction. The construction of this latter line is to be entrusted to the Midland Railway Company recently formed, and it is very unlikely, we believe, that the company will be able to even approach the Tophouse for several years to come. Certainly, they will not be able to do so anywhere nearly within the period which the present loan is intended to cover. Why then should such a large sum of money as £100,000 be spent on a work so far in advance of the period when it can possibly become useful or in any degree reproductive. It will be time enough a couple of years hence to provide for this .Blonheiin-TophoußO line, assuming that it is finally decided that this is the best route by which the trunk railway can be carried through. We do not think this point is by nny means satisfactorily established as yet, but that, on the contrary, the balance of evidence^ professional and otherwise, is decidedly against such a conclusion. The construction of the Midland Railway by a private company certainly lessens the objections to the Tophouse route by reducing tho length of tlio lino required to be constructed by the Government, but against this may be placed the inconvenionco certain to* arise from a middle suction of the main trunk line of railway being in the hands of a private company. If the Government made tho line from Blenheim to Tophouse, the natural and almost \inevitable result would be that the colony would have to buy out the Midland Railway Company, and take over the West Coast and Nelson sections, as well us the one descending to the East Coast. This would certainly not bo v desirable bargain for the Colony. We do not intend, on tho present occasion, to enter into a consideration of tho engineering and economical objections to the Tophoutic route for the trunk line, but wo may briefly say that no "feeding" traffic would bo obtainable along the lino for which the Government proposes to allocate tins £100,000, as a first instalment of a much larger sum. Tho greater part of the country through which the lino will pass is less capable of being inudo productive than is the country between Kaitoke and Cross' Creek on the Bimutaka line. If tho TophouM) line is made it will have to depend wholly and solely on the through traffic derived from its junction with tho Midland Railway. For many reasons we do not think this would pay working expenses over the line. The extension of the Middle Island Main Trunk Railway to Picton or Port Underwood is a matter of very great importance, especially to Wellington. Tho original scheme of the Public Works policy was a railway from the Bluff to tho Bay of Islands, interrupted only by a ferry -across tho Straits. This we hope to see ultimately carried out, and at no distant dato. No part of the colony would benefit more than Wellington by tho realisation of this liope, and we should therefore be sorry to throw cold water on any proposal likely to advance it. Wo want to see the best line adopted however ; the one which will most encourage traffic, yield tho greatest profit, afford the easiest means of transit, and do most to promote the settlement of tho country. We believo that carrying the i trunk line by the East Coast, so as to open up the Cheviot and Kaikoura country, would bo the best means of promoting all theso ends, and therefore the most profitable to the country. It is, of course, argued that this line would pass mainly, if not entirely, through private property, tho owners of which, and not the State, would therefore benefit by its construction. This is a very short-sighted objection. It can be met at once by the reply, Would it not be better to open land fit for settlement, oven though private owners will benefit, than to make a line which will open no fit land belonging to the State orto any oneelae ? If tho Tophouse line would open to settlement lands owned by tho State, it might be a good argument for preferring it to ono which would only open up private property. In this cave, however, there is no rivalry in this respect between tho two routes, and to object to a line simply because while bene-. fiting tho State it would also benefit some individuals, is simply an argument of the. dog-in-the-manger class. In these days, when wo hear so muoh said about the desirablenessoftheStateresumingprivate lands for purposes of settlement, the objection has even less force. Probably tho owners of the lands which would be opened up by the East Coast route would bo perfectly willing to make terms with the State of a mutually advantageous character, and to allow the' public to participate in the profits accruing

from the construction of the railway. If there is any real statemanship amount our rulers there should bo no trouble in disposing- of the objection we have alluded to.