Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1929. WHEN COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 112, 11 April 1929, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1929. WHEN COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS.

The member for Avon, Mr D. O. Sullivan, has been spending a holiday in the Auckland province and, in communicating his impressions to a newspaper correspondent at Wellington, he stated, as reported in a special message, that “nine out of ten people he met in Auckland district approved of the Government's discontinuing the Ro-torua-Taupo railway, as it was thought better to sacrifice £50,000 now than to lose it annually on an unprofitable line.” Concerning the South Island Main Trunk railway, Mr Sullivan said “the northern attitude was not so clearly defined. . . He had met northerners who took the view that inasmuch as the north had its .main trunk line, the south was also entitled to the completion of its main trunk, but,” he added, “the . southern Press, progress leagues and members of Parliament can serve the South Island at this juncture by stating the case for this line.” Mr Sullivan leaves us in doubt whether, personally, he approves of the discontinuance of the Taupo line or the completion of the line uniting Picton with Christchurch, but his references to the subject suggest that he approves of the announced policy of the Ward Government in respect of both lines. We hold no brief for the Taupo line, but if it comes to a question of the actual loss the country is likely to be put to by the construction of either, then it would appear that there is greater justification for the Taupo-Rotorua than for the Picton-Ckristchurch connection. The southern Press has not waxed particularly enthusiastic over the completion of the latter line, but the Auckland Star had an illuminating word or - two to say on the subject the other day, which is decidedly interesting. Noticing the Government’s “evident determination to go forward with the completion of the main East Coast line in the South Island,” it puts the very pertinent question whether Cabinet has given consideration to the question of filling the gap by any route. It points out that “there is on file, in the department an

official report against the completion of tiiis line joining Picton with Christchurch. The whole question (it says) was gone into in 1926 by Mr E. Casey and Mr S. E. Eay, and their conclusions were that, with or without a trainferry across the Strait, the line was not at present a sound economic proposition. They estimated the total additional annual loss at £236,000, with a train ferry, and at £140,000 without a ferry.” In the latter case the loss would, therefore, be nearly three times as great as the estimated loss on the Taupo-Rotorua connection, and more than four and a-half times greater than the estimated loss with the train-ferry service. The Auckland Star also gives publicity to the fact that the existing service via Wellington to Lyttelton supplies a quicker service than could be given by the train-ferry and Picton-Christ-church run. “From Picton to Christchurch alone (it says) would occupy eight and a-half hours, possibly longer, whereas, if the ferry steamer Maori is pushed hard she can cut out the whole distance between Wellington and Lyttelton in about nine hours.” The Railway Board, it is to be noted in conclusion, accepted the opinion of Messrs Fay and Casey that the completion of the line was not justified, and the Star (a Government. paper) asks: “What has the Government to say to all this?”