SOUTH ISLAND RAILWAY SYSTEM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 16 August 1924, Page 4

SOUTH ISLAND RAILWAY SYSTEM

EACH year prior to the preparation ot the Public Works Estimates, the Parliamentarians of Nelson and the West Coast wait on the Government, pointing out the need for the early completion of the South Island railway system by the filling of the 60-mile gap in the 700 miles of railway between Nelson and Invercargill. The deputation tlie othe>day brought the essentia) facts clearly before the Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works. The Nelson Progress League is also actively engaged and is also to wait on the Government in the near future. So long as various parts of the system are isolated so long will progress he retarded and the separate lines be unable to pay interest on tlie money invested. It stands to reason that a railway ending nowhere in particular is at a tremendous disadvantage. It loses all interchange of goods and passengers between the various large centres of population, lit the case in question. Nelson lias much that the West Coast and Canterbury require and considerable local supplies can also be drawn from those districts. Access will also be obtained to valuable coal fields and large areas of agricultural land. Given good facilities for placing produce on the southern markets, there would he a. wonderful transformation in this district. The Canterbury Progress League is to make another visit to the district in the near future, and it is a matter of extreme gratification that tins live bodv does take the trouble to investigate matters at first hand. When the delegation from the Canterbury League was in Nelson in September, 1921. Mr Marriner, the representative of the Chamber of Commerce on thal 1 »“'>'• said that “earlier in the evening (24th September) be bad expressed the intention of reporting to his friends m Christchurch, that Nelson’s demand tor the formation.of a railway down the Buller Valley was not a reasonable one, as t ic; country through which it would pass was not sufficiently productive. Lut in the light of the facts that had been placed before tlie meeting that evening, he had entirely altered lus opinion. He was now prepared to report that toe Buller Valiev lection should certainly bo completed as soon as possible as an indispensable part of the South Is and trunk railway system, quite upai the productivity of the country through which it would pass.’’ Once the essential facts of the position are fully grasped, there will be overwhelming support for completion of the line. Toi t e emment to lqa.m matters as they are u illogical and absurd. To push on at a o Imnet Loti. W}l3t IB snail’s pace is almost as required is a vigorous policy that ml each year see a big reduction m the gap.