The Grey River Argus MONDAY, January 10, 1944. SOUTH WESTLAND RAILWAY.

Grey River Argus, 10 January 1944, Page 4

The Grey River Argus MONDAY, January 10, 1944. SOUTH WESTLAND RAILWAY.

Provision of means of transport adequate for industrial and pastoral development has become again a prominent question in South Westland. Scarcely any stretch of country of such a length and worth remains without a railway elsewhere in New Zealand. Means of up-to-date, road, rather than rail, transport, however, for a stretch forty miles south of Ross, has recently been advocated liy the Borough Council of that town, which, at the same time urges that, the road from Hokitika to Ross should be likewise modernised. The reason advanced for this' preference is that of ecenomy (in immediate capital outlay. A correspondent to-day questions whether Rossites would prefer themselves to rely on road transport, and recalls that they welcomed the railway as far as it l(as been extended from Hokitika. It might be added that as a source of revenue and of interest oh capital this particular railway extension bears very favourable comparison with any. What has given rise at present to the agitation for the Government to operate a railway service south of Ross is the existence of one already established by private enterprise with obviously beneficial results alike for the owners and for others. Though up-to-date roach transport might be provided mora cheaply, it could never cope wtth anything like the traffic whidh a railway of the standard capacity could conduct. It is not b,asy to foresee adequately the scoptp of a railway until it is in being. \ An

instance is afforded by the newlycompleted Buller Gorge line, which, as well as affording an outlet alternative to the local port is meantime to afford this district a connection with a sea outlet as an alternative to a railway outlet. Other lines in hand beside that o-f the Buller are now nearing completion, and pile for South Westland appears a timely proposition. The desire for the time being is a forty-mile extension, but it ought to be also emphasised that this would take the railway a long way towards the finest scenic region of the Dominion, a region which ought to be. and must be, made for posterity much more accessible than it is to-day. South Westland may posses pastoral, forest and mineral assets capable of great development, but its scenic assets, from a national as distinct from a local standpoint are greater still. For the individual tourist going by road, there would be more than a score going there could it be done by railway. An extension from Ross, whilst it might immediately be a distance of only forty miles, would give a good return, but it would moreover be a step towards incalculably a greater revenue that must accrue when the glacial region can be reached entirely by rail. Rail transport from areas further south will mean the bringing of more land into pastoral use, an increased population and better utilisation of the timber resources. Railway extension has always been on the West Coast a m&ans to these things, as well as a. payable investment for the State. In the period when rehabilitation will call for reproductive expenditure, South Westland is a very suitable locality to include in the national policy. Incidentally, the coastal route throughout is comparatively level, and free from many an obstacle which has had to be overcome on other lines. Taking a long time view, good though reading undoubtedly is at the outset, a railway into South Westland appears a wise proposition.