THE CATLIN RIVER RAH,- WAT.

Evening Star, Issue 9154, 8 June 1893, Page 1

THE CATLIN RIVER RAH,WAT.

The Catlin River Railway is one of those unfortunate, lines the progress of which has been, as the poet expressee.it, " small by degrees and beautifiUly less." Origin : ally included in the scheme of railway construction proposed by the late Mr Macandrkw when Minister of Public Works in 1878—the.estimated cost being £95,000 —it yet halts short of being completed to a point when it will be useful and reproductive, and is one of the monuments of the "how not to do it" policy which lias distinguished successive Governments in respect to works where no effective local pressure has been applied. The present Minister was not very reassuring in his statement last year; he simply took a vote to cover existing liabilities and " to provide for the resumption " of the works on the section beyond the "tunnel'towards the end of the financial " year," which ended March 31 last. We are not able to state precisely what has been done, but our impression is that it has been little or nothing. The line, so far as it is open, terminates at present at Glenomaru, which the misguided people who availed themselves of excursion trains last summer fondly imagined was a township, or, at least, a village, but found themselves landed in a desolate bush swamp — not a house in sight, and no means available for refreshing the inner man. The amount required to complete the construction to Owake (the Catlins distriefetownship) is so moderate that we hope it will be provided for in the Public Works appropriations, for the year. It may be that the line should never have been undertaken, and that the money would have been better devoted to roads ; but so much has been already spent, and so little really remains to be done, that to grudge the few thousands now required would lie much akin to " spoiling the ship for the sake of saving a ha'porth of tar." Mr T. Mackenzie made out a very good ease at the special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on Monday. The district to be opened up, ho. stated, comprised about 200,000 acres of good land, suited for pastoral purposes and for farming, and it was "what might be called a good poor man's "country. It was a country where "a man, if he had energy and a "family to assist him, might take " iip 300 or 400 acres; and, although u he might have hardships to encounter at " first, he might look forward during the " course of his heavy work to acquire a "home for himself and fanfily during the "remainder of his life. 1 ' Most of the land still belongs to the Crown, and what is settled is in the occupation of a very industrious population. The distance by the railway route from Balclutha to Owake Flat is nineteen miles. Of. that twelve miles are already open for traffic. On the next section, on which is the heaviest work, the tunnel is completed; and on the liext three-mile section the rails are laid and the line ready for traffic. Beyond that again a great deal has been done, and nearly all the heavy cuttings are finished. Two miles only remain which are yet untouched, but the route is over a level piece of countiy, and there are no engineering difficulties whatever. Not more than £II,OOO, Mr Mackenzie asserts, on expert authority, is required to complete the line as projected ; although a further extension may be found desirable when settlement has proceeded, Mr Mackenzie pointed out the many advantages, direct and indirect, which would result from the line being carried through to Owake. The land is for the most part heavily timbered, and the timber could be cut and prepared for the market, instead of being destroyed for the purposes of clearance. It would be available at once for Central Otago, where it is so much required, and an extensive field for employment would be opened. "He ven- " tured to say that they would get good "interest on the whole cost of construe - " tion." On the motion of Mr F. H. Chapman, the Chamber resolved—" That, "in the interests of Otago, the Govern- " ment be requested to place on this " year's Estimates a sum sufficient to "enable the work to be completed." In introducing the resolution Mr Chapman made some pertinent remarks. Catlins district, he said, was a place where hardy men could put in their labor profitably. " The question was constantly Wore the "Government of finding cmploymentforthe " people, and various suggestions had been "made for employing those out of work ; " but this much was certain : that the best "way to employ the people was to give "them openings where they could emploj' " themselves and teach their families to be " dependent on their own work." He knew no better district, he said, in this island than Catlins that would make men hardy ana self-reliant. The question of this railway was not a-very large one so far as the expenditure was It did not conflict with the main question they must have before them of opening up the remote interior by the Otago Central Railway. "It was a question of spending a'very moderate sum of money to "attain a definite result, and that was " placing the bulk of the Catlins settlers " near a railway which would bring their "produce into' town and take their.sup- " plies out." The resolution adopted, on the motion of Mr Mackkrrak, set forth another phase of the question. The attention of the Government was directed to the " large numlwr of residents in the " Catlins district who aro out of, and " urgently in need of, work " ; and it was suggested that the l>est method of relieving the distress was to "expend the allo- " cated moneys in pushing on the Catlins " Railway." In expressing his thanks to the members of the Chamlwr present for the action taken, Mr Mackenzie stated his conviction that it would not interfere with the prosecution of the Central—a work of very differenCimportance and magnitude. We can sec no reasonable cause for apprehension. Financially, it would be " penny wise and pound foolish" not to at once complete the nearly finished line to Catlin River, upon, which £91,000 has been spent, and which neither does, nor possibly can, give any returns until the completion at least to Owake. Those who know the country arc unanimous in the opinion that an immediate return of from 5 to 6 per cent, on the cost of construction may be depended upon ; whilst abundance of employment would be available in bush felling, splitting, etc., independently of more strictly rural pursuits. The object of our citizens should be to develop the whole of Otago. The Otago Central would do a great work i\\ this direction, but under the Ijest circumstances time must elapse before fruition. The Catlin River district may be made available for close settlement throughout within a few months, and the completion of the line should not in any degree conflict with the pushing, forward of Otago Central