ELECTRIFYING THE RAILWAYS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14192, 15 October 1906, Page 6

ELECTRIFYING THE RAILWAYS.

j Probably tlio deputation that waited ! upon Mr Hall-Jones to ask for tlio construction of a railway line between Miaisterton and Waipukurau would bare j been bettor pleased by a ready assent j to its request than it was by the Minister’s very interesting statement regarding the development of the latent I water-powers of the colony, but tiro j public at large will be glad to learn [ that in twelve months time the Goi vernment will he prepared with proposals for electrifying at least a portion of the railways. Both Sir Joseph Ward and Mr Hall-Jones have talked on- this subject before, and their ideas : have been favourably discussed by practical engineers. New Zealand is par- ; ticularly wealthy in water-power, so | wealthy, indeed, that one of the difficulties of the Government seems to be to know where to begin their development, and perhaps the Minister of Rail- ■ ways is nofo too sanguine in expecting to. see several of them turned to account- in the immediate future. The country certainly would not grudge the expenditure of £50,000 or so on a preliminary experiment, and for less than j this sum one of the 7 streams that have i been recommended by the engineers could bo effectually “harnessed.” Canterbury people, of course, would prefer to see the Waimakariri River or Lake Coleridge taken in hand first, but they realise that this is not a provincial question, and that the Government must be guided by its exports. There is, however, one matter in connection -with the electrification of the railways in which Canterbury is specially interested. The Lyttelton tunnel is becoming a greater trial : to travellers every day. The smoko ' nuisance is sometimes so bad that even strong men are affected by the fumes, hand the damage to rolling-stock and to * passengers 1 ’ clothes in the course of a year must amount to many hundreds of pounds. Surely it is not necessary, to wait for the harnessing of any of the Canterbury rivers before, electrifying the short length of line between the City and the Port. More than the interest on the cost of the work would be returned by the additional traffic, to say nothing of the saving in wear and tear, and a very useful lesson would bo obtained in the application of the new motive-power to the rest of the railways. Mr Hall-Jones could easily obtain a reliable estimate of 'the cost from an engineer on the spot, and wo think it would show that the undertaking is well within the moans of the Department., If the province were relieved of the tunnel smoko it would be less inclined to worry the Minister about the tunnel rates. -