Manawatu Evening Standard. Circulation, 3,500 Copies Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1910. NORTH v. SOUTH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 9186, Issue 9186, 9 April 1910, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. Circulation, 3,500 Copies Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1910. NORTH v. SOUTH.

The Hastings Chamber of Commerce makes the timely suggestion that a league should be formed with the object of conserving the interests of the North Islaml as regards railways. While any action that will have the effect of setting the North Island against the South must be deprecated, it is too much to expect that this part of the Dominion will remain inactive while its requirements arc being neglected and its rights ignored. Differential treatment of the two natural divisions of the country will inevitably bring about a cleavage that will militate against national progress, and such treatment has been experienced for many years past. The Government does not appear to recognise that while the South Island has gone past the period of its greatest development, the North Island looks forward with great hope to the time when its vacant places shall be peopled and its locked-up lands made to contribute their full share of wealth to the general benefit of the Dominion. Yet we continue to be badly served so far as means of communication are concerned, and there will probably he no improvement until the Cabinet coases to bo dominated by Southern Ministers. A few figures may be quoted as illustrating the effects of that dominance. Last session the Government asked for and obtained for Southern lines votes totalling £449,-500, while the neglected Xojfth Island only got £287,500. This was done with the full knowledge that already there were 1571 miles of vailway in the South as against the North' Island's 1135 milos, and that the earn-

ings of the former averaged only £314 per mile as against a return of £416 per , mile from the latter. In view of facts like these there can be no doubt in the mind of any reasonable man that the North Island is not receiving its dues. Tlie proposal to form a Railway League comes with added force at a time when the Minister will probably be prepared to review hi 6 policy after a study of Australian methods. It is suggested that a congress should be held of representatives of Northern public bodies for the purpose of taking the first steps in the desired direction, and Auckland is naturally desirous that the conference should take place there. It would, however, be more convenient if the gathering Avere convened to meet at Palmerston, which is the natural railway centre of the greater part of the population, and is now within easy access of Auckland itself. The local Chamber of Commerce, which has already arranged several representative railway conferences, would bo well advised to communicate with the Hastings Chamber, which first mooted the matter, and point out the suitability of Palmerston as the meeting place of such a conference.