THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14427, 18 July 1907, Page 6

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Ihe Government has taken, the courageous course, and, in the circumstances, entirely the right course, m accepting a tender for the construction of the Arthur’s Pass tunnel. This means that the East and West Coast railway should be completed in five yea re, as it will be necessary, of course, to carry the construction of the line to the two ends of the tunnel in order to facilitate the work. The agitation which Mr Quane has led so ably is largely responsible for the progress that is -being made with the line, and doubtless the Government was helped to a decision by the representations of the formidable deputation which waited upon the Premier the other day. But it must be remembered that the Midland line has had no value as a piece of political capital. Canterbury has always desired to see it finished, but the province has never dreamed of making it the price of its support to the Government. Copi-pai-ed with the North Island Main Trunk line, in fact, the Midland line simply did not count politically, and if the Government had desired to us© railway appropriations for mere vote catching purposes it would have concentrated its attention on the continuation of the East Coast line. Probably the worn has been helped more by Mr Hall-Jones’® emphasis of the strategic and commercial importance of connecting the West Coast coal measures directly with the East Coast ports than by anything else. The Imperial value of the line has been impressed upon us from time to time by naval experts and by the Government’s military advisers, and in Mr Hall-Jones’s eyes the expenditure of money on the Midland Railway was an important and necessary contribution to Imperial defence. Commercially and socially the advantages of the East and West Coas+ connection are obvious. In Westland it is confidently believed that the completion of the work will lead to the speedy development of the resources of the Coast and the return of its old prosperity. We shall be disappointed too, if the line does not become one of the most popular tourist routes in the colony. The expenditure of £600,000 on the great tunno] will not be a very formidable burden if it is spread over five years, and the acceptance of the tender is in keeping with the Government’s wise policy of completing the main trunk lines before distributing money in small sums over many lines of less importance.