RAILWAY POLICY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 16 August 1924, Page 11

RAILWAY POLICY

IN SOUTH ISLAND

A CHRISTCHURCH COMMENT

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In an edUwtal Inst night’s Sun hiiikes lilts tollmving cohinieht r—Otteb again the t\ut*»Uoft of biidgih& “the jjftp;” .that vaihV’AyloSS I'eVHl'orV l)btvveefi, Gleilhopi and ihitfigftjiuit Junction; luis been hrtuiihu before the lion. J. G. Coates. A deffuLUion of Westland and Nelson M.’Slb yesterday stressed the need for completion of tlie line and the establishment of the Smith Island Main Trunk system. The last vote of £30.000 was criticised. Mr Atmore doubted if that sum would provide for much more than a mile of the line. Mr Hudson said that the DepurlhilUit tv its merely “playing with tlie job.' Hie Mhrcliison County in particular if! deeply interested in the gap railway scheme. The country round about Murchison township is rich in minerals, and outcrops of coal arid limestone. There is good grazing land in the district and a prosperous dairying industry has sprung up. Lack of transport facilities greatly hampers the fanners. In some cases wool has to be carted 30 or 40 miles ahd stock for Addington markets, has frequently been driven Over the ranges to Culverden, a distance of 80 miles. There are still some 25 miles of the line to be laid before the Nelson railway reaches Murchison, t!m estimated cost being £450,000. Rryotul this township, the country is rugged. Mr Contes considered that an additional million pounds would he necessary to carry the line through to Innngnhua. The Westlanders claim that, regarding the work ns the completion of a trunk line, this expenditure would be justifiable, but'Mr Coates, who has many such gap-filling projects in view, does not see eye to eye with'them. The southern Main Trunk line is a scheme which the Government is bound to carry out at some time or other, but at the present juncture, it can hardly be constructed as a work of immediate importance. Mr Coates bus innumerable claims for better railway facilities, the most important of which, sp. far as the South Lsland is concerned, is. the improvement of communication between Christchurch and Lyttelton. That should take precedence over all the workscheduled on the Minister’s “little list.”