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Lyttelton Times, Volume LXII, Issue 7412, 1 December 1884, Page 4

Tub most important of all the ones, tions mentioned in the address or the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce i» the question of the West Coast railway. Ail other questions sink beside it into more or less comCtive insignificance. The const rueof that railway means employmeat for labour and the rapid dovelopment of groat resources. Its benefit to the Colony in general, by of it* benefit to Canterbury

atul Wcfttlatul in particular, }» Him ply incalculable. The nuuumiecincut officially rnnfto by the Chair* man of the Chamber of Com* moron that the mercantile community in straining every nerve to show Now Zealand, now that the Uailway Bill hiw te'emne law, Hmt limy won> in earnest in unking for thal Hill, 1h vrry re-asauriug to tin* public of Canterbury. We may add that, now the Bill in law, wo hoar on all sides of converts to tho Wont Coast nilway, who, liko all now Indievers, «r« hoth onthnsiantip ami determined. Wo hope tho efforts of tho mercantile community, to which roforom’o was made on Friday, will result in tho signing of a contract, Imforo next Hoosion, for tho construction of this railway. In the meantime we may mv that the temper of our repre«enttttivcH on this subject is most excel, lent. The Minister of Public Works said tho other day to a deputation which wailed ujwm him, that if private enterprise failed, tho railway would have to be made, whatever Government might bo in power. At tho banquet which his justly appreciative constituents gave him a short time before, Mr Holmes said tho same tiling. In this them is reason to liehevo that these gentlemen spoke the sentiments of the groat majority of their fellowmembers. Wo hope, for reasons that are obvious, that the great political struggle which this implies may be averted by the construction of the railway by private enterprise. But it will bo well for all concerned to know that if they do not make haste to get a share of the good things that pertain to this construction, public opinion is ready to agitate for construction by the State, and probably able to make tho agitation immediately successful.