ONWARD MARLBOROUGH!

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 167, 17 July 1920, Page 3

ONWARD MARLBOROUGH!

o~ (Kaikoura Star.)

The Wheel of Progress is always turning, and Marlborough, a land that has been dreaming in sunny abundance, has at last awakened sufficiently to realise that wheels that turn have energy behind them, and it is well to link up with such progressive movements. A movement or this kind has been gathering momentum in the north end of this province—which too often counted itself as the whole of Marlborough, forgetting the rich lands of Kaikoura and the Coast. But such presumption has become a thing of the past, in proof of which we point to the visit of Mr Will Lawson, the Organiser of the Marlborough Progress Committee, and a visible sign of progress was in town last week. The organiser will be .often seen in Kaikoura, for he recognisesl the importance of this centre in the Marlborough scheme of things. To say that Kaikoura welcomed Mr Lawson and endorsed all that he and his committee are aiming to do is to state an obvious fact; and we are sure, too, that while we learned something from his visit, he, too, knew more when he left than when he arrived, of Kaikoura's needs and operations. First in the programme of the Marlborough Progress Committee stands the railway—-the completion of the! line between Picton and Christchurch. This is one, of the matters concerning t Marlborough which has the support of the Wellington and Canterbury, and, maybe, of provinces further afield to the northward and southward. Its completion will affect the whole of New Zealand beneficially, and will entirely alter the whole aspect of travel between this country's extremities and intermediate points in the two islands. It is true there are some who say they would as soon travel by the night ferry between Lyttelton and Wellington. To those we say, why not travel by sea, then, between Lyttelton and Dunedin, or Wellington and Napier? Once the railway is here the people will use it and make a fast ferry run of three hours between Picton and Wellington, with only one hour in. the open straits. To impress, this fact upon the Minister for Public Works, and the public of New Zealand, a large and convincing deputation is being arranged for on Monday next, when it may confidently be hoped that something tangible will be gained. The organisation of the progress movement in Marlborough has taken time; a few public-spirited men .started it a year ago. " It happened that Will Lawson came along about then to write a tourist book of Marlborough Sounds and grand coastal drive. Since then he has been in fairly close touch with the committee. First he was commissioned to write "Marlborrmgh the Golden, ■' and before the book .was out of the press this writer had'agreed to come here as the organiser of the progress movement of Marlborough, including Kaikoura—and the last clause xs written in all seriousness and not at 'all sarcastically. ,• Next ten the railway, hi the Progress Committee's plans, comes the question of hydro-electric power. Here the distance between Kaikoura and ■Blenheim appears .to debar the two places from arriving at a scneme which will he of mutual benefit, Rather recklessly, it scorns to Kai-, kourn people,. Blenheim linked fortunes with' Nelson and the West,, to harness tho povvcr .at Botcati. and Rotoron.. The power will have', to be clan-ied ~8 miles to Blenheim, over 100 .miles to Ward, and 150 miles to Kuikouru., vhcre the product of hydro-electricity a.t tho Lakes will be doiiv-erod next door to one of the finest ticurccs of power in the world—- j the Clarence River. Wo ;r.ro not critieifaig at this stage of tho proceedings, bat ivo would like to ask the northern .lembors of ©vr provincial family to loo!: through tho telescope the right way raand and see 100,000 horso-powevr being developed at the Clarence and taken along the coast to them, dropping ' units <at every homestead and spreading its reticulation as it readies wider lands, less than 70 miles away, till the whole of Mni'lbO'i-o igh throbs with, light and power generated within her own radius. Heart and «>ulj Kaikoura and the Coast are with, tho Progmss Committee, and its emissary and guide, Will Lawsou, in their :-chcmcs for t*he advanooment of onr isolated province, andl we would" like to foel tha.t in all their counsels our end of the province receives its- duo. Wo have grave doubts at times, for example, when tho Minister for Public Works was at Blenheim, which—to an unbiassed mine!—ivps the more important matter to briug^beforo him and show him tho route of—-the Wairau-Tophouse Road or the South Mand Main Trunk Line? Yet, Mr Coatesiwas motored ■out to the Wairau, ias was the delegaticn of, business me.n from Blenheim some months ago, and never shown tht> southern highway where the railway must coone. We noted that* the .Auckland Weekly News published ■illustrations of the Minister's visit to tho Wairau. Now, if tilio same gentleman could have teen depicrted in the smmo wkk'ly road paper, on the route of tho unfinished national trunk line, how much more it would have advertised, what Marlborough. most urgently need?.

Our brot'iorsi in tho north are losing business by be:ng ou!t of toucli AA'ith us. Avhile "the roads between hero and Parnassiis teem Avith vehicles, v-'hich n,ro symbnls of our trade, with Canterbury. Why is it? Is Marlborough really Avido .aAAiako, or is it only jial!'-an-eyo that, is open to her opportunities? or dc they forget that Kaikoura is MJarlborough too, and in.oi'O than ready to do her share in jjuKh.'njx the province nlong the paths of progress —and pay'her sliare, too?