THE SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 129, 2 June 1908, Page 6

THE SOUTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY.

The majority of the delegates to the Provincial Conference of the Farmers '. Union took a Very sensible view of the proposal to push on the construction of the South Island Trunk Railway. Mr Leadley, for the sake of being consistent, urged that the Govern- . ment should not be encouraged in the expenditure of money on public works, and Mr Dixon, on general principles, warned his colleagues against any departure from a policy of thrift and economy; but the rest of the speakers recognised that the line was absolutely necessary for the proper development of the" country lying between Cheviot and Blehheiin. Mr Jones and Mr Evans, two practical men, who have lately enjoyed special opportunities tor ascertaining the needs of the rural districts, both predicted that the railway would prove a sound business investment by bringing a large area or good agricultural land into easy communication with its natural market. Mr Jones, just to show, we suppose, that he was no partisan m the matter, added that the mistake the Government was making was in going in for too many yote-catching railways and not spending sufficient,on mam lilies" and we are inclined" to agree with him. But the 'fault is not peculiar to the" present Government, which succeeded to a policy of ' fair distribution of public money,' a vival of the old provincial days .which has done more than aything else to delay the adoption of a really national scheme of railway construction. , The North Island Trunk Railway, which now approaching completion, is the first line in the Dominion that has been widely regarded as a Colonial work, and apparently our friends in Otago,and in the North Island arede- * termined that it shall be the last. As -a matter of plain fact, the completion of the South Island Trunk Railway is not likely to confer any greater benefits upon Canterbury than jit will upon Otago and Wellington, but our neighbours seem to imagine that the local agitation is inspired by the very narrowest ' parochialism. However, the endorsement of the line by a representative body like the Farmers' "Union, which is riot suspected of Keing too favourably disposed towards the Government, will be of very Material . assistance to the advocates of the extension, and ought to satisfy the Premier and -the Minister \ lor Public Works that the connection betweenthe two ends of this island is very urgently required.—Lyttelton Times.