VIEWS OF AN AUCKLAND PAPER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 203, 28 August 1913, Page 2

VIEWS OF AN AUCKLAND PAPER.

"CINDERELLA OF; THE

SOUTH."

!In the course of a leading article 'on the South Island Main Trunk ; Railway, the Auckland Herald says: i Among the very few railway pro- ' posals from the South Island which have any reasonable claim to recognition is that dealing with the extension of the South Island Main Line so as to complete the railway system running from end to end of the island. The Herald has always admitted ' that this project may be lesritimately separated from the generally preposterous claims coming from the long dominant provinces, ■which, have .systematically endowed themselves with unnecessary and unprofitable lines inspired by the gratifying knowledge- that"the constantly recurring deficits on these political jobs will be made up by increased charges upon ♦ railways in the North. ■ Marlborough is the Cinderella of the South, as Auckland is the, Cinderella of the North, and can-fairly claim consideration from a Reform Government which ought to deal equitably with all parts of the Dominion, and can only do so by paying special attention to districts which; its predecessors have more or

less deliberately ignored. Just what vote is fair to the South': Island Mam Line Extension ;.and precisely what route this national undertaking should follow are which may not easily be ■answered, for they depend entirely upon the local conditions. No representative North Islander will object to a reasonable allocation for such a purpose, although it is absolutely necessary, to insist that this is an exceptional case and is not to lie taken as an acknowledgment that Northern claims to paramount consideration are. thereby waived or modified. Northern claims to paramount consideration are so unassailable that they cannot be weakened by generous '■ ■Lhoineiit lor the only ■ part of the Soutii Island which has not been prodigally U'.eatied in the past. When the Bubiic $or.ks problem ,is treated broadly it is" unchallengeable that the most wilful' Waste of -public money: has taken place in South Island railway constxucftiori, with the result that national-finance and railway business •literally 'staggers under a monstrous and crushing burden ot unprofitable debt. As a corollary ot this indefensible maladministration we Have in the North Island huge and desirable districts which are without railway facilities, and are conse- ! Quently undeveloped, unproductive, and non-contiibutory to the consolidated revenue. We are repeatedly told that these unpleasant facts, 'should not be mentioned, but _ unless they are ceaselessly reiterated what hope is there of reform? The public conscience, is sti|l rso embfyotic that it does not stir to voluntary repentr anoe districts whicih have profited by plundering the ' public purse, and only the. indignation of the provinces and districts which have suffered grievously from the plundering will i-ruse ministries and parliaments to remedial action. Many politicians naturally regard the securing, of a party majority as the most important purpose in public life, and quite naively resent and, deprecate every independent assertion' of the public interest. . This is why they perpetually exhort the North not to say anything' which may estrange Southern sympathies., and why it is so 'essential .that frank and unflinching advocacy should be given to our legitimate Northern demands. The North asks no favoritism-,- no unprofitable gift, no squandering of public money; but the North must insist that it shall be developed upon sound business-like and- nationally advantageous lines. _ If we a.re asked what is sound, business-like, and nationally advantageous, we can answer easily and convincingly." It is not sound to raise money at a Hate of interest higher than the railways constructed by loan money can be expected to pay. It -is not business-like to overcharge railway* users in the North in order that railway 'users in. the South may have themselves and their goods carried at less cost. It is not nationally . advantageous to leave •great tracts of desirable country Ull7 railed, undeveloped and unproductive in the North in order that the whistle of the locomotive may echo in desolate Southern valleys and penetrate into, the heart Of Southern ranges. The railway construction policy of past administrations has. loaded the- State with loan-investments which do not nay interest and which the North Island railways are "sweated" to make good and has throttled Northern expansion to the immense detriment of the national production, revenue and prosperity. The Reform Government has received this legacy of unprofitable Southern railways and undeveloped Northern land, and is further hampered by the unrepentant spirit of provinces which have become habitual .>ffenders- against economic ecufity and political" justice. A veritable river of reform will have to be" turned by Mr Massey and his colleagues into this -Augean stable of sectional injustice, which will not be cleansed . until our Northern Trunk lines are completed and branch lines constructed wherever branch lines will pay. We should only accumulate evil upon evil, wrong upon wrong, if we demanded that more, worthless lines should be built, more public money unprofitably squandered; but we may legitimately and honestly demand, and should demand, that the national credit should be pledged as freely for sound railway ! investments as it had been pledged for unsound railway investments, and that the North should get something more from the inter-insular partnership than the privilege of making up the everlasting deficit upon the working of unprofitable-Southern railways.