PROGRESS OF CANTERBURY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15899, 10 April 1912, Page 5

PROGRESS OF CANTERBURY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —At the meeting on the 2Sth, held to take into consideration the progress of Canterbury, there was a storm of opinion, cyclonic in its character, carrying the meeting off its feet or rashly declaring, in favour of adopting the canal commissioners’ recommendations. During the height of a storm it is wise to how to nature and seek shelter. After a while, when the fierceness of the storm has abated, it is allowable, I hope, to peep out therefrom and humbly ask some questions. This I now do. Is it true that from 1876 to 1907 the Chamber of Commerce by numerous deputations to the Government, complained of hindrances put on our trade owing to heavy railage charges, shortage of trucks, double handling and delay? One resolution is so strong that I (juote it: “With a view to tho more efficient equitable management of the railways constructed, it is desirable, in the opinion of this meeting, that such management should be relinquished by the Government,' arid be vested in a non-political board.” Now, I ask were the said members who made these complaints level-headed, or were they suffering from hysteria all the time ?

Have the commissioners suggested any remedy to remove these disadvantages? I say “ no,” emphatically. They propose to incur a heavy expense, some say approaching a million pounds, in pulling down a hill and enlarging stations. Will that be likely to reduce charges?. Obviously, it must increase them, in order to liquidate the increased cost for interest and depreciation on the sum invested, leaving all the drawbacks previously mentioned unaltered. I must lie,re draw attention to a paragraph in to-day’s papers regarding shortage of trucks at Dunedin to the effect that the trouble will always be a recurring one. Mental scientists say, if you will only exercise your mind ancl believe you are not ill, you won’t be ill. Some go so far as to say one can counteract the effect of poison taken. Similarly; the Mayor proposes to alter the name of Lyttelton to that of Port Christchurch and then exultinglv ' imples “There now, what becomes of the drawbacks complained of?” This reminds me of the Yankee trying to sell his horse of doubtful character, saying “Put him at the bottom of a hill and you’ll find him thar.” Now, I want the citizens of Christchurch to join with me in expressing amazement at the unanimity of opinion arrived at at tho meeting in question. How ca'n it he accounted for? Surely there was some occult influence at work. Tho story is told in “ Midsummer Night’s Dream ” that fairies anointed the eyes of sleeping men, and the result was that when they awakened, the very woman that they previously loved, they now hated, and her that they had hated, they now loved. The idea is that the fairies had played their pranks on all the members of the Canal League then present, who had given evidence to the commissioners in favour of the canal—all, I say, except Messrs Allison and Scott, who had, somehow or other, escaped the anointing. Or we may account for the metamorphosis by saying as was said of the' “Pirates of Penzance” —“that they were noblemen all gone wrong.” Now what is to be done? I think the first thing is to take steps to counteract the effect which the said meeting is calculated to produce, though it was, in my opinion, "farcical. Says the Mayor as reported, “ All I want you to do is to sink parochial differences, drop the canal agitation and strive for the advancement of the province.” What a jumble of ideas! The advancement of the province can be accelerated by cutting up lands into smaller farms and by using manure and intense cultivation, thus increasing the exports. The advancement of Christchurch can be accelerated bv the removal of trading disabilities. But shutting your eyes and wishing for things will do nothing. Practically, I move in the direction of getting a stay of judgment, and Ij submit that the time is opportune now to elect n mayor who will have the interest of Christchurch more at heart than has the present one—a mayor who will take steps to submit the question to the public which, after all, must be the final court of nppeal—and let ...um decide whether they will consent to a largo sum of money being spent that will injure the future prospects of the town.—l am, etc., „ JOSHUA LITTLE. April 8, 1912.