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Evening Star, Issue 12982, 19 June 1908, Page 4

Lecky, the historian, once said: "It is "impossible to lay down a CI««lng "railway without creating an ILttr.y " intellectual influence." The Strwt. Government might parody •this dictum and say: "It is " impossible to suggest, anything about the "Dunedin railway system without creating "a disturbance." Tha't the policy (actual or foreshadlowed) of the Ministry in regard to tho railway in .this City has been a disturbing rather than an intellectual influence is not the fault of the citizens. The present posi/tion of affairs, so far as the railway station and access to the foreshore ore concerned, was not unexpected by those citi. Zens who at the (time warned the Government of the probalble consequences of their action, while Mr Millar's announcement that Rattray street would "certainly" be closed fell like a bombshell upon the City. The only course left to all who have tho interests of Dunedin ait heart is to oppose by every legitimate means tho intentions of Ministers in this particular relation, and to insist, on adequato access to the foreshore being provided. There is just ca-uso for adverse comment, that a large section of the people should be, compelled to enter upon an arduous agitation in order to obtain the expenditure of a few thousand pounds for a short and direct route between their homes or workshops and the City. But vexatious as the situation is, and wholly unnecessary as we know it to be, it is fortunately merely a matter of time before it will be removed. An infinitely more serious question has been raised by Mr Millar's reference to tho closing of Raittray street. This is a proposition over which there should be neither delay nor division.' Calmly regarded, wo are disposed to believe, with His Worship the Mayor, that the Government cannot be in earnest. There is more than a tcich of the farcical in the suggestion that a largo commercial City mus't prepare to have the main street to its wharves, factories, and shipping permanently closed. We can conceive of no possible combination of conditions or alternatives that would ;nduc? the citizens to accept the Ministerial fiat. Rattray street must not be closed: that is the irreducible minimum which must form tho foundation of every future negotiation upon tho subject. We confess to a feeling of weariness when we are reminded, as we often are, that Dunedin has the finest roadway station south of the Equator, and that we are somewhat ungrateful in objecting to pay the price asked. Had we known what that price was to be, we should never have consented to its erection on the present site. As it was, this journal dfd protest on. every Teasonalble occasion, because we feared that what has happened would occur. But we did not anticipate, in addition to the closing of Stuart street—which was to be met promptly by a subway or overbridge—tihat the City would be asked to face a depreciation in tlie vaUue of its harbor reserves, and that the closing of Rattray street would follow. The position, however, has to ibe faced, and it is for the citizens to say whether the plans and assumed wants of the Railway Department aTe to prevail over their own material interests. We regret that we cannot altogether free the Harbor Board, who are vitally concerned, from the charge of neglecting the irfbereste committed to their keeping. The great .mass meeting in this City, the weighty and largely-stftiscribed Petition to Parliaanenit, which in pari reflected the indignation of the citizens over wliat was termed "the Government steal," were not followed up as Strenuously as tihey might have been. For aB the general public know to the contrary, tihe fervid protests and impassioned declarations ended in smoke. And for this the Harbor Board are to blame. It is they who, for reasons best known to themselves, specially requested a postponement of the further consideration of the Petition last session. Councillor Burnett is in error in laying the blame for what has happened upon the local members of Parliament. We have reason to know that each of these gentlemen has done his beat, and that the City members were ready art. any moment to press the matter to finality, had they been .required to do so. Tho Harbor Board reserves and tho threat to close Rattray street are sufficiently grave matters to ensure the best services of our citizens. The first involves the status of Dunedin as a shipping centre; tihe second, though ominous of danger, is, however, so wild a project as to be its own refutation. We are I disposed to believe that it has never yet been considered, much/more determined, by Cabinet. But that fact cannot rid either the City Council or tho ITarbor Board of their duty, which is to he ever watchful and on the alert to prevent such a calamity | as the closing of Rattray street would involve to the present well-being and future expansion of Dunedin w a commercial and manufacturing centre. The suggestion I imusfc not bo tolerated.