Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY JULY 10th 1908. WEST COAST RAILWAYS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 July 1908, Page 2

Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY JULY 10th 1908. WEST COAST RAILWAYS.

Tim Minister of Finance lias evidently been soliloquising on the fact llinl; the present is election year find that a large donation to the Public Works Fund will have to bo made, if only to let the electors see that the; Government is in earnest in its promises, which have been liberally scattered throughout the dominion, that an active policy will be pursued in regard lo this or that. work. The result, has been the production of a Loan Bill, empowering the Minister to raise up to £1,250,000 lo meet the current year's demand. The usual amount has been a million a year but another quarter of a million t.iiis time will be extra handy if only to tide over the general elections. The Bill will go through and then there will be hope for all—even in regard to some of the West Coast railways, progress on which has been painfully slow of late. The Blackball line is an apt illustration of the lethargical policy pursued by the Public Works Department. For over four years this work has been in hand and even at the present time the completion does not appear to bo in sight, though the Ministerial statement, a rather nebulous one, is that "the line will be ready for traffic early in the New Year." Past experience almost, prompts the question, why the Minister did not definitely state which "New Year." We sincerely hope that it will be next year. Writing on this matter, our Blackball correspondent yesterday had the following:—"The Government have some fifty men employed on this end of the lino, and arc pushing the work ahead. It has been declared that the Government intend having the railway finished by the end of the present year, but in the minds of many there remains a doubt." It is hardly necessary to refer to the importance of the work being pushed on with in order to cope with the large traffic bound to result from having two collieries to feed the line nor yet to the desirability of making the money already sunk in the enterprise interestbearing. These matters are self-evi-dent in the district, where the "crawling" policy adopted is strongly resented. .More life is wanted ; more energy needed to complete the undertaking by the end of this year. If the Government do not adopt a vigorous policy in regard to this matter they will be breaking faith, not only with the district, but with the Blackball and Paparoa Companies, who have guaranteed the interest charges on the cost of the line, so that, so far as the Railway authorities are concerned, the line must turn out a splendid investment. It is the duty of the West Coast members to ventilate this question in Parliament and prevent further procrastination on the part of the authorities. Similar remarks apply with equal force to the Ross railway. The progress of the district should no longer be retarded through the non-completion of these important works.